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Napster sparked a file-sharing revolution 25 years ago

torrentfreak.com

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Re: Napster sparked a file-sharing revolution 25 years ago

#191

Post by xandrius »

tmalsburg2 wrote: post #147

Napster may have started the file sharing revolution. But the exciting part for me was Gnutella and later Bittorrent, peer-to-peer technology in general, and the realization that we could use technology to liberate ourselves. Needless to say, I was young and naïve. That spirit is long dead, and the only remnants are crypto currencies and the community around them, which has tossed all lofty ideals in favor of blind g…

I think you need to check better: piratebay and so many of older tech is still being used, for many different niches (I find each country having their own preferred way to distribute content in their native language).

Nowadays the only people left are the ones wanting to put the extractor effort for the principle of it, the rest can easily find most things somewhere (and if not give up). But there are still lots of us! (or so it feels like)

Re: Napster sparked a file-sharing revolution 25 years ago

#192

Post by lotsofpulp »

wrl wrote: post #126
echelon wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a conscious choice. It's the fact that the convolutions that create human visual and auditory pleasure are simple signals relative to logic and reasoning. Nature itself is somehow shaped such that it is easier to create beautiful patterns than it is to engineer complex logical deductions. It is a fundamental aspect of physics and reality. Beauty is just simple patterns. We figured out that art is simple math…

> We figured out that art is simple math. Engineering and law and planning not so much. Simple math... but mostly a ton of existing human-generated art. Don't act like generative AI isn't standing on a lot of collective shoulders. > Engineering and law and planning not so much. Maybe OpenAI should have trained it on that first? Simple math, right?

> Don't act like generative AI isn't standing on a lot of collective shoulders.

Everything is standing on a lot of collective shoulders.

Re: Napster sparked a file-sharing revolution 25 years ago

#193

Post by xandrius »

_fat_santa wrote: post #100

Napster was a little before my time, though I fondly remember torrenting when I was a kid and oddly enough, it was a small time scam that got me into it. I remember when I was a kid (maybe 13 or 14) I really (and I mean really) wanted to play Grand Theft Auto. My dad picked up a copy of GTA San Andreas for me about a year prior but after seeing the violence and language he forced me to take it back, that put the tast…

This is probably the cutest scam I've ever heard of.

It feels like an old gramp saying "come here, today you will learn 2 life lessons".

Re: Napster sparked a file-sharing revolution 25 years ago

#195

Post by Pannoniae »

Khaine wrote: post #175
steve1977 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And they’re so good at it, that the pirated product is usually substantially better than the official version How so, when most of these products are digital to begin with? If you have the quality of the studio master, then there’s nothing to improve.

I am into Jazz, and would like to buy Ella Fitzgerald's discography. No website will easily let me do that. Pirates do.

Same, and what's the thing about those old records - there are either streaming services which have some of it (but streaming services are garbage so I don't consider those) or you can buy the original records one by one, if someone has a copy to sell. Sure, there are CD compilations and whatnot but usually out of print and they aren't sold digitally.

Sooooo..... soulseek and friends it is:)

Re: Napster sparked a file-sharing revolution 25 years ago

#196

Post by rightbyte »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #186
acchow wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still frustrated that 1080p bluray looks and sounds significantly better than 4k Netflix. Will a lot of quality stuff be lost forever when these companies disappear?

Yes but I also don't think enjoyment is gated behind some arbitrary maximum quality.

Being constantly reminded you are a tool watching some dark filter compressed pseudo-4k video at the mercy of some conglomerate takes away some of the fun in consuming culture.

I feel way freer when watching downloaded films. Like the old VHS days. It is mine.

Re: Napster sparked a file-sharing revolution 25 years ago

#197

Post by TaylorAlexander »

ugjka wrote: post #185
AlexandrB wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Barely. Some artists outright tell you to pirate their music since most of their money comes from touring/merch.

I discover stuff on Spotify more than i would ever from pirating and only then i can go watch their live stuff and buy their merch. If I want a Flac i go to Bandcamp though

Makes me wonder if artists would see the same benefit then if piracy were legal and someone made a nice Spotify-like frontend for it. I think about how places like library genesis have to be so weirdly arranged because of how illegal they are.

Re: Napster sparked a file-sharing revolution 25 years ago

#198

Post by giantrobot »

ethbr1 wrote: post #46
jl6 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could still have been 3 hours as you would have been constrained not only by your own download speed, but also the peer’s upload speed, and they might have been on an even crappier dial-up line or sharing their bandwidth with other uploads.

Curious to hear more informed thoughts from old ISP folks, but afaik one of the things that made Napster possible was that 56kbps connections were roughly symmetrical (~33kbps up?). By capitalizing on the oft unused upload bandwidth, Napster provided a benefit at little cost. Would be fascinated to hear what this looked like on the PSTN backend load side, ~2000.

The 56k specs were asymmetrical, the downstream connection could be 56k (actually 53k) while the upstream connection was only 33.6k. The key with v.90 was the ISP could send a fully digital signal down to the customer but they could only send an analog signal up which was capped by physics to 33.6k.

The later v.92 spec supported a digital upstream and could hit 48k upload.

Regardless, dialup users did not have a lot of upstream bandwidth available. They also suffered through high packet loss and latency making their throughput even lower than their line speed would suggest.

Re: Napster sparked a file-sharing revolution 25 years ago

#199

Post by wavewrangler »

mmh0000 wrote: post #15

Napster was such an improvement over what it replaced, but, it’s funny by today’s standards Napster was so “basic”. I remember waiting 3+ hours for a single song to download. Then discovering it wasn’t what I wanted but a troll who renamed the `Barney The Dinosaur I love you` song. Then I’d spend another 3+ hours downloading a different song. Ah 56k internet, what fun. Today, TPB and a quick search can give you an ar…

[flagged]

Re: Napster sparked a file-sharing revolution 25 years ago

#200

Post by aeyes »

fsckboy wrote: post #87
ethbr1 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious to hear more informed thoughts from old ISP folks, but afaik one of the things that made Napster possible was that 56kbps connections were roughly symmetrical (~33kbps up?). By capitalizing on the oft unused upload bandwidth, Napster provided a benefit at little cost. Would be fascinated to hear what this looked like on the PSTN backend load side, ~2000.

> 56kbps connections were roughly symmetrical I don't think so, asymmetry was the innovation that made 56K possible on POTS (plain old telephone sevice, with only enough bandwidth for squawky voice)

It was 56k down, 33.6k up.
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