While email will always be the Internet's killer
app, Napster might just give it a run for its money. The popular program lets
users (those without conscience as far as copyright law, anyway) download pretty
much any song they want in MP3 format from a variety of sources. It also comes
with a simple MP3 player so you can immediately listen to the songs you've
downloaded. Follow the simple instructions below to get started with this music
must-have.
1. Download the Napster installation program.
Locate the downloaded file and double-click it to begin the installation.
2. Read the license agreement and click Yes.
Choose the destination for the program. (You can leave it as the default, which
is C:/Program Files/Napster.) Choose a program folder and click Next to install.
Click Close once the installation is complete.
3. Locate the Napster Music Community icon
(there should be one on your desktop) and double-click it. Read and agree to the
terms and conditions of use.
4. Select your line speed. If you are behind a
proxy server, enter your server address and port. (Contact your network
administrator for this information.) Click Next.
5. If you have used Napster before, check the
"Existing User" radio button and enter your name and password. If you
haven't, leave the "New User" button checked and enter your desired
name, password (twice), and email address. Click Next and enter any optional
information you'd like. Click Next again.
6. Click Yes if you want Napster to scan your
hard drive for MP3 files to share with others or No if you don't want Napster to
do so. In the next screen, choose whether you want Napster or your default MP3
player to play downloaded songs. Also pick a directory to keep the music you
want to share, as well as a directory where Napster will save downloaded files.
Click Finish.
7. That's it! Click the "Search"
button at the top of Napster to find music and the "Get Selected Song(s)"
button at the bottom of the search window to download songs you've selected.
When they've downloaded, you can click the Library button to play them on
Napster's internal MP3 player.
Napster Connects for
Those Who Wait
The Napster music community is growing very rapidly, and Napster is doing its
best to keep up with the growth. If you can't connect, it's not necessarily
because you did something wrong. Chances are the servers are just experiencing a
large demand, and you can't squeeze in. Keep trying, and you'll eventually
connect.
Is Napster Secure?
Napster was designed to only detect and share your valid MP3 files. The idea was
that since MP3 files aren't executable, there was no way to send viruses over
Napster. However, a new program called Wrapster
lets you send any type of file over Napster servers. (Wrapster disguises files
as MP3s by putting them in an MP3 "wrapper.") Luckily, there's no way
to download or extract a "wrapped" MP3 file by mistake. But if you're
a Wrapster user, make sure to scan "wrapped" files for viruses before
you extract them. We also recommend you avoid downloading files from URLs (paths
to files outside of Napster) offered by another Napster user unless it is a
trusted source.
Browse the
Music Directories of Other Napster Users
Find a fellow Napster'er with a
truckload of MP3s? Want to browse his or her collection? Easy. From any Napster
chat room, just right-click the user's name from the list at the right and
select Add to Hot List. Then click the "Hot List" tab at the top of
the interface and select the user's name you just added (it should appear in the
Online window); that user's library of shared MP3s will appear in the main
window.
SOME HELPFUL TIPS
-
Search over and over for your favorite
three bands, even if you already have all their songs. When you find users
with those bands in their collections, click their name once and then click
the Hot List button at the top of the screen. You'll see everything else
they're sharing, which likely will be stuff you would like but may not have
heard of.
-
Chat with other users by clicking Chat,
then Chat rooms, and then choose the room you want. The point isn't to make
small talk, just look for users who share your taste in music. Add them to
your Hot List manually by clicking Hot List, then Add User To Hot List, and
typing in their name exactly as it appears in the chat room. Now you have
access to all their music.
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Click File/Preferences/Sharing and choose
how many people you'll permit to download music from your computer. Then
click the Downloading tab and set the number of files Napster will let you
download simultaneously. Even if you have a fast connection, do not get too
greedy and set this number above ten; you'll end up annoyed by lots of
incomplete songs. For this reason, we also recommend selecting Yes in the
"Delete partial files when download fails" drop-down menu.
-
Napster uses many different servers, which
is why your friends probably won't appear online in your Hot List, even if
you've entered them and know they're online. You can get around this by
downloading Napigator,
a program that lets you choose which Napster server you connect to, as well
as access servers outside the Napster system.
-
If you want to use Napster to trade files
other than MP3s and WMAs, try Wrapster,
which modifies Napster so that it can do so. It can be a bit unreliable but
worthwhile if you're willing to experiment.
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Click the Transfer button, and you'll be
able to see how your downloads are going, as well as find out who is
downloading what music from your computer, in real time. Take advantage of
this information by entering the usernames of the people downloading songs
from your collection into your Hot List. It only stands to reason that if
they like your music, you'd probably like theirs, and adding them to your
Hot List
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