It was just 9 years ago that a young man named Shawn Fanning developed a way to share music over the internet in MP3 format. The service was called Napster, and it didn’t take long before musical acts started trying to take down the music piracy enabling software. The most notable act was Metallica, whose new album, Death Magnetic, will be released worldwide on September 12th.
Being the Metallica fan I am, I’ve been anxiously awaiting the new album, and clicking on the band’s official website daily. This morning, much to my delight, a song from Death Magnetic, titled “My Apocalypse,” was available to listen to. I chose to listen to it in Windows Media Player, which, while listening, I noticed has a Napster logo and the option to “Buy this CD from Napster.” Here’s the screenshot:
Oh the Irony! (Click for full view)
With Napster now being a legit music service, there’s not much Lars Ulrich and company can do about people obtaining their music that way if their label has an agreement with the service. Of course, they’ll actually be making money this time, so I suppose they wouldn’t be complaining much anyway.
On a parting note, here is one of my favorite things to have come out of the whole Metallica/Napster controversy, from the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards:
Tags: 2000 Mtv Video Music Awards, Enabling Software, Favorite Things, Irony, Lars Ulrich, Metallica, Metallica Fan, Mtv, Mtv Awards, Mtv Music, Mtv Video Music, Mtv Video Music Awards, Music Piracy, Music Service, Musical Acts, Napster, Napster Controversy, Napster Logo, New Album, Share Music, Video Music Awards, Windows Media Player
April 18th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
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