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Napster.com banned at some universities for clogging networks (2000)

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71–80 of 189 posts

Re: Napster.com banned at some universities for clogging networks (2000)

#71

There was something about piracy in the times of Napster, emule and the like. It really made you feel like you knew some incantation to get access to the whole world's information. In practical terms, I have access to far more content now (music on Spotify, shows and movies on streaming services, tutorials, online classes, etc) and yet our reach doesn't seem as wide as it seemed in those times. Perhaps it was just th…

It's because you were younger. It happens to everyone. You think younger people now don't feel the same way you did? And that they won't wistfully be talking about the times that Youtube gave them all the content they could ever dream of? Maybe. But I wouldn't count on it.

They have never downloaded a video off Napster or Limewire and realized it's actually... well, not the video they wanted.

Re: Napster.com banned at some universities for clogging networks (2000)

#72
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"If it ever gets too bad, they'll just steal again" should hang on the wall of every media distribution company. Consolidation efforts like Netflix prevented piracy, but the splintering of streaming services has encouraged it, and sports (and especially football) has become the great fulcrum. Pirating sports is huge right now, because their distribution is an anti-consumer mess. Cable is using them to cling for dear…

F1's online presence under Liberty Media is a great example of how to do it right. Every race gets same-day highlights on YouTube within hours, along with tons of interview and analysis content. You can be an F1 fan and not spend a penny to watch the entire season. But the premium option to watch full events live is still there, along with merchandising, (quite good) licensed video games, etc. As a result, F1 is grow…

And funny because former owner/director Ecclestone seemingly battled against that for so long. Now he's gone, it changed, and they are doing well.

Re: Napster.com banned at some universities for clogging networks (2000)

#73

There was something about piracy in the times of Napster, emule and the like. It really made you feel like you knew some incantation to get access to the whole world's information. In practical terms, I have access to far more content now (music on Spotify, shows and movies on streaming services, tutorials, online classes, etc) and yet our reach doesn't seem as wide as it seemed in those times. Perhaps it was just th…

Modern forms of pirating still exist give you far more control over how you use the content. I’ll pirate something I’ve bought just so I can fix the subtitle syncing issues that for some reason plague streaming services.

Re: Napster.com banned at some universities for clogging networks (2000)

#74

I was working in IT at a large British university when Spotify launched, and we had to block certain ports because early versions of Spotify used a peer to peer swarm to reduce the load on their servers, and it was so popular with students that it was completely jamming up the network.

I remember hitting something like this in my student halls. Internet provider aggressively throttled any p2p traffic.

I had to use a VPN to get Spotify to play smoothly and not repeatedly buffer when playing a song.

Re: Napster.com banned at some universities for clogging networks (2000)

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's because you were younger. It happens to everyone. You think younger people now don't feel the same way you did? And that they won't wistfully be talking about the times that Youtube gave them all the content they could ever dream of? Maybe. But I wouldn't count on it.

They have never downloaded a video off Napster or Limewire and realized it's actually... well, not the video they wanted.

Actually burst out laughing at this. I almost forgot.

Yeah, those were "fun" days. I'm not sure I'd go back to them.

Re: Napster.com banned at some universities for clogging networks (2000)

#76

There was something about piracy in the times of Napster, emule and the like. It really made you feel like you knew some incantation to get access to the whole world's information. In practical terms, I have access to far more content now (music on Spotify, shows and movies on streaming services, tutorials, online classes, etc) and yet our reach doesn't seem as wide as it seemed in those times. Perhaps it was just th…

It's because you were younger. It happens to everyone. You think younger people now don't feel the same way you did? And that they won't wistfully be talking about the times that Youtube gave them all the content they could ever dream of? Maybe. But I wouldn't count on it.

We were stealing, and it felt good at the time.

It would probally feel better now, but the consequences are too stiff.

It felt good to be a gangster at a time when the laws were grey, or enforcment was not as easy as today?

Re: Napster.com banned at some universities for clogging networks (2000)

#77

The internet at the turn of the century was something special. What we have now, I don't know, feels inauthentic.

Facebook is now using Facebook News to publish positive uplifting articles about how Facebook is a force for good in the world! In other words, pure propaganda.

Re: Napster.com banned at some universities for clogging networks (2000)

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think audiogalaxy was the real pioneer in p2p. Audiogalaxy satellite, IIRC, ran an ftp server on your machine while at the same time indexed your files and sent the list to audiogalaxy, the web service. From there, anyone could search for mp3 and download from users currently on-line. It was the begining. It soon became very clear the problems of centralization for this purpose, decentralized networks thrived. Most…

I remember Audiogalaxy, but cannot remember if it was before, after or basically concurrent with Napster..? Guess couldn’t have been before because Napster was the first right?

Almost the same time, Napster was slightly earlier, at least in adoption for me and my friends. Audiogalaxy was better but didn't catch on as much, that's when things really started fracturing.

Re: Napster.com banned at some universities for clogging networks (2000)

#79
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"If it ever gets too bad, they'll just steal again" should hang on the wall of every media distribution company. Consolidation efforts like Netflix prevented piracy, but the splintering of streaming services has encouraged it, and sports (and especially football) has become the great fulcrum. Pirating sports is huge right now, because their distribution is an anti-consumer mess. Cable is using them to cling for dear…

> "If it ever gets too bad, they'll just steal again" Is it as easy to steal as it used to be? I'm not even sure I know where to get torrents reliably atm. Last I knew pirate bay was always being disrupted. And is it easy to rip stuff when the source is streamed? Like dvds, music, software is easy to copy and distribute when it was just a cd to copy and some authentication to work around. Im totally out of the piracy…

> Is it as easy to steal as it used to be?

Yes. The quality is better and it can be easily automated with Sonarr, Radarr et al. Torrents are not the way to go imho, but Usenet is amazing (notably it isn’t necessarily free).

There is content that isn’t available in my region or the legal options are worse in some way (resolution, app UI etc).

I pay for several streaming services (mainly to keep my conscience clear) but watch their shows via pirated means as the experience is better.

As the provider options get broader, the piracy option also gets more attractive as it’s all in one place.

Re: Napster.com banned at some universities for clogging networks (2000)

#80
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, Hotline… 1998…

Fond memories of Hotline too. Is there a replacement or equivalent for Hotline today?

Don’t forget Carracho, a Mac specific Hotline replacement.
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