# Napster Alternatives **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 12, 2001, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-alternatives/54161 "2001-02-12T16:38:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-alternatives/54161/21 "2001-02-16T12:19:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE Bo Diddly \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > I done left that scene, my man, and I ain’t never going back! All those popups, blinking gifs, annoying text, etc. just aren’t worth it. No, I’ve paid my dues. Now I just want to get the music > > No way, man, it’s like a treasure hunt. All you “Instant Gratification” types… in MY day, BEFORE this Napster crap, we had to go through the most obscure websites (poking our way through Warez sites and crappy porn sites) to find the music we want. And when we found it… man, it was like finding a treasure trove! You began DL-ing everything immediately, since the sites would only be around for a couple weeks. > > \*\* Or you could just go to the newsgroups, and dl to your heart’s content, which, I might add, are still around. (Although, I’ve done the treasure hunt routine for the occasional song that wasn’t available on the newsgroups and your description is dead-on perfect, except that you left out the bit about having to have a quick left mouse button finger to close all the damned ad-windows that kept popping up.) Fenris ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-alternatives/54161/22 "2001-02-16T14:22:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Peta Tzunami \* > That’s why we (PLD and me) use (and pay for) and highly recommend [Emusic.com](http://www.emusic.com/). I’ve checked it out before, and I checked it out again just now. Typed in names of artist after artist, group after group, without getting a hit. I’ve been through this all before: I’ve never used Napster, I’d like to buy the tracks I want (in a record store or online, I don’t care) and pay for them; I don’t feel I should have to pay for eleven other songs to get the one I want. That, IMO, is an abuse of monopoly power. And if previously released music is no longer commercially available, I don’t see why anyone should object to its free distribution - the companies and artists are getting the same money either way. The problems here stem from the lack of a free market in music (in ways that have nothing to do with copyright protection), hence the lack of responsiveness to customers’ wants and needs. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-alternatives/54161/23 "2001-02-16T14:54:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Derleth \* > \*\*As it is, I’m just looking for single tracks in the public domain your K-marts just don’t have. Yes, I live in the boonies. \*\* In the public domain? Really? You’re only donwloading material that is no longer under copyright protection? I find that admirable, yet utterly unbelievable, considering that copyrights last life+50 for works prior to 1978 and life+70 after. And just because a copyright isn’t registered doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Artists are foolish **not** to register their copyrights, but the work is copyrighted nevertheless. \*\* > [@](#): > > For Real Music, MP3s are sometimes the only way to go. \*\* Oh, Derleth, you’re so hip. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![TheNerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TheNerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheNerd)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-alternatives/54161/24 "2001-02-16T22:05:01Z")
I’m not going to get into the morality of it, but here are some alternatives: Napigator (mentioned above) allows you to use your normal napster client to connect to unofficial napster protocol servers. Pretty good. Gnutella and it’s ilk are good for smallish networks, but due to the design there are mathematical limits to how large it can scale before network overhead dominates bandwidth. Freenet is an arbitrary filesharing system which is fully decentralized and designed specifically to thwart censorship. I haven’t actually used it myself, but it’s apparently a sound design, anonymous, and really cool. audiogalaxy is another service which I’ve not tried myself, but have heard others swear by. imesh is an arbitrary filesharing system, much like napster. I’ve tried it, but had a hard time finding anything good. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-alternatives/54161/25 "2001-02-17T16:12:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Derleth \* > **My privacy is worth more than a CD.** [Why do you value your e-privacy so much?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=60234) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-alternatives/54161.md?page=1)