Napster ruling leaves users seeking download alternatives

Internet file-sharing host Napster lost a highly publicized legal battle last week when a federal appeals court ordered it to stop letting users share copyrighted material. But experts say it's not likely the ruling will stop the booming business of digital copying.\n"I am pessimistic about (the court's) ability to stop illegal downloads of copyrighted music," said business law professor Thomas Bowers, co-director of the MBA Sports and Entertainment Academy. "Digital copying is so easy that wholesale illegal copying will continue as other services take the place of Napster."\nBecause of the ruling, Napster probably won't be able to create a service users are willing to pay for before its clients have switched to other file-sharing alternatives.\nIts first response was to create a pay service, a plan adopted earlier this year with BMG Entertainment parent company Bertelsmann. \nSenior Mark Haber said he he wouldn't pay for the service.\n"I won't pay a subscription fee," Haber said. "I'll just get it from somewhere else."\nFinding another source for MP3s isn't difficult.\nBesides services similar to Napster, many "How To" guides and help sites are available to assist anyone trying to pirate music.\nMany of these services, such as Gnutella and BearShare, allow users to share not only music files, but movies, documents and pictures. Some services, such as Ukraine-based Ohaha, operate outside the jurisdiction of U.S. courts. \nThe Freenet Project, which began in 1999 in the United Kingdom by Ian Clarke, is a service with the intent to create an anonymous community of free data-sharing that cannot be shut down. Freenet is still in its infant stage and is usable, but not yet user-friendly.\nWhile the music industry searches for a business model that embraces file-sharing technology benefiting artists and consumers, record labels are looking to minimize music piracy.\nTom Donohue of T.D.'s CDS & LPS, 322 E. Kirkwood Ave., said he thinks piracy wouldn't be as widespread if CDs were more affordable.\n"Prices need to come down," Donohue said. "If CD prices are lowered, people will buy more music."\nDonohue said this will result in greater profits for record labels and more compensation for artists.\nAssociate music professor Glenn Gass said while the issues are confusing, artists and record labels have "so much money at stake, that I'm sure a solution will be found and we will look back on these days and these issues as archaic and amusing"