A Service of The Arrow             Saturday October 15, 2000

    With more then 32 million users waiting in anticipation, Napster returned to court on Monday, Oct. 2, to appeal the decision that could lead to the music file-sharing program’s demise.

    "I don’t agree with the lawsuit because Napster isn’t breaking copyright laws, the users are," said senior Lauren Casey. "There is no way to regulate it."

    Napster and the Recording Industry Association of America appeared in the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reach a decision that will decide Napster’s fate.

    "We are very grateful for the opportunity to have our case heard before the Ninth Circuit and look forward to the court’s decision," said Napster CEO Hank Berry in a press release. "We strongly believe that members of the Napster community who share music on a person-to-person non-commercial basis are not violating any law."

    The RIAA is suing Napster because they believe that the company is infringing on copyright laws. They feel that Napster is illegally using copyrighted property.

    However Berry and Napster feel that the company is a great promotional opportunity for the music industry.

    "Napster users are the music industry’s best customers and as evidenced by strongly increasing CD sales," said Berry. "Napster is a tremendous promotional vehicle for emerging and established artists."

    "It is a good discovery tool," said senior Mike Laukaitis. "It gives me a good idea of what bands are out there."

    Reasons why people use the music-trading site vary from just plain music enjoyment to using it to make CDs or mini-discs.

    "(I use it) to download songs to put them onto a mini-disc," said Laukaitis. "It saves consumer money to first see if they like it, because if I buy bad CDs, I get mad."

    Currently the Court of Appeals is undecided on the fate of Napster, but a decision will be reached in the near future.

    "I didn’t think it used to be that big of a deal, because I like music a lot and I like to obtain it," said teacher Grady Bennett. "Teaching Advanced Media and Web Design has given me a new outlook; if people take their things without permission it is not fair. I feel it should be shut down because it is their ( the music industry’s) livelyhood."

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