Hi,
I think in general that the whole issue brought forth by the record companies was ultimately started when they realized the large number of users and saw them as an untapped market/revenue source.

Clearly, their claims are valid. However, I think Napster is just a scapegoat. Everyone knows that people will always trade music, it used to be tapes, then CDs, then MP3s. I wont stop. The record companies can only hope that by stopping the largest and easiest trading method they can make the process of trading online so hard to use that many users wont bother.

Im not sure how Napster is structured, but from using the service, I think that if they structured it as a file-sharing service, not just MP3s, such as AVI, etc, They could bill themselves as a true intermediary that provides connections among users, not content.

One important thing that I feel the record companies and the recording industry needs to realize is that they CAN NOT stop trading of music. They never will. Even if Napster is shut down, avid Internet users will surely find another way. They should come to terms with Napster, perhaps around $2 or $3 per month per user and try to make some money off of the trading, rather then lose this potential source of income, which they cannont repress.

These are just my thoughts. Please feel free to comment, I look forward to the discussion.

Scott O'Hara