"System is perfect for people allergic to computers"
Bankrupt on-line song-swapping service Napster is hoping to recapture past popularity with its new big-grassy-field-based music-swapping system.
In its first incarnation the InterWeb company allowed users to swap music on-line for free, until a contentious battle in court with music companies last year forced it to take its services offline. Although plans were in progress to continue as a fee-paying service, this has now been dropped when it was realised that people don't like spending money.
The new system is extremely easy to use. Swappers choose CDs that they like the looks of from a big pile of music, and throw a selection of their own CDs back in. To kick things off, the Chief Executive of Napster threw in a couple of old Status Quo albums, and a Bob the Builder single that he'd received for Christmas, and the collection has grown from there. Whilst there is no full cataloguing system in place at present, the CD pile is fully searchable with spades provided. Napster hold great hopes for the new venture:"We hold great hopes for the new venture," said Napster's Head of Folk, World Music and Nu-Metal, Gemma McToothpaste, "Its a wonderful system that is perfect for people who are missing the happy times they had with good ol' Napster. And of course everyone who never used it. Y'know, people allergic to computers and that. Its darn perfect."
Napster has gone to great lengths to prevent another lengthy legal battle over copyright. Users are forced to promise not to copy any music taken onto tape cassette or minidisc, swearing on the life of a loved family member or favourite politician. Whilst there have been initial problems with cattle eating parts of the shared resources, it is on the whole fully 100% expected that this may or may not be the start of something big.
Recommended Comments