In a landmark decision this Tuesday, Napster agreed to begin charging its users a fee in order to pay royalties to copyright-holding record companies. Record labels have vehemently attacked the enterprise, demanding that they receive just compensation for the exchange of music for which they hold copyrights. With college students as a significant portion of Napster's users, debate ran high on the Columbia University campus the day following the announcement. Several students sided with the record companies, or more specifically, with the artists.
Artists have to pay the bills too.
Connolly's own mp3 collection, however, does not often lead him to purchase new CDs. I mostly download novelty songs, like something by DJ Assault, that I'd never actually pay money for. For now, plans on how Napster will be transformed into a viable profit-yielding business remain unclear. No official statements have been issued concerning how much the company would charge users, when the fee would go into effect, and what benefits members would receive. Others within the company added that new technology might be devised to impose a time limit on downloaded recordings, giving only paying members access to permanent files.