Napster
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Over the past few years, a major controversy has risen: the question of whether file sharing over the internet should be legal. This file sharing is done through programs like Napster, Kazaa, and Morpheus where your files can be accessed from anybody, and vice versa. This is called peer-to-peer sharing, or p2p. There are many pros and cons to p2p sharing.
There are many aspects of p2p sharing that make it worth keeping. One excellent reason that it should not be outlawed is the fact that it helps young artists get publicity that they normally would not get. All that they would need to do is record their music and put it on their computer and they are pretty much on their way. The aspect of p2p sharing that brings up so much controversy, though, is that people will be downloading music for free off of the internet instead of buying them in stores, therefore causing the record companies to loose money. The fact is, even people who download tons of music still prefer to have it on cd. "A total of 91 per cent of file-sharers download individual tracks, but more than two-thirds go on to buy the album, with even the heaviest downloaders saying they like to own real CDs"(Smith)...