Crooks

In my opinion, Napster is a theft-engine. An accessory to piracy on a mass-scale. They're crooks.

Dave Winer calls Lars Ulrich a "bastard, greedy and stupid". I'm sure he's got two words for ya.

Dave doesn't seem to care that people are getting away with enjoying other people's life's work for free without permission.

Perhaps someone should crack the Frontier application so it doesn't need a serial number. Throw that distribution up on Gnutella, and DOWNLOAD.COM, and let the world enjoy that "Dionysian orgy of passions" that Tom talks about, without that messy $899 license fee to worry about.

I mean really, how hard could it be? Let the orgy commence! And Justice for All.

(Over the course of the day I've figured out that my sarcasm isn't very obvious. The comments about cracking Frontier are purely sarcastic)

If Napster could take the high road and figure out a micropayment system that would guarantee that the correct parties would get paid the amount they've asked for their songs when they're downloaded, I'll be all over Napster. I'll be their biggest fan. I imagine a lot of the music on that high-road Napster would still be free of charge. The more the better, but everyone has a right to price their work however they want. The free-market economy will shake out the new winners and new losers. Until such time, Napster is the theft-engine, plain and simple.

Written on July 12, 2000