Napster enabled pirating from such folk as Madonna, Britney Spears, Metallica, and REO Speedwagon without paying for it. But that was not the ONLY good thing it did. It enabled people like me to explore what was out there and listen to a lot of music for a few times (MP3's do NOT sound as good as CDs) and then decide what was worth buying. I found out through Napster there WAS such a group as the Austin Lounge Lizards. Went out to buy their albums. Next day, no more Austin Lounge Lizards on Napster. A close call. Now so many more people will not even know they exist.

Many people distributed music no longer commercially available.

What will follow? Something even harder to extinguish such as peer to peer sharing. Napster isn't the antichrist. It's large, overfunded labels which are trying to dominate the airwaves and commercial outlets, sucking in credulous young ears like so much plankton.