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.
  
  

• 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.
  
  

• 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