What a year in MP3 software. Winamp became freeware, jukeboxes became the sport utility vehicle of digital music, and just about everybody got bought by somebody else. Overall, competition kept innovation whirring at a blinding rate and anyone who rested found themselves swiftly buried. Here is a look back at some of the most interesting downloads of 1999. Napster Napster Napster revolutionized the process for finding MP3s, making search engines with their frustrating wild-goose chase of broken links a thing of the past.
Users log on and help themselves to the collective files of every other user signed on.
It's as easy as that. CuteMX CuteMX could be heir to the Napster throne. The lifeblood of programs like these is their user base. Right now, Napster's popularity fuels its continued success by providing the most content. But as CuteMX, iMesh and others in the works begin to offer less-buggy alternatives with more features, they should be able to steal away some of Napster's population, and with it their precious MP3 files.