VIEW TRANSCRIPT OF INJUNCTION AGAINST NAPSTER

WHAT IS AN MP3?

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"I WANT my MP3!"

Cry of freedom? Subversive message? Depends on which side of the political fence you belong.

This is MP3, shorthand for MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) audio layer 3. To many music fans and technology enthusiasts, MP3 is a cool digital audio format boasting CD (or near-CD) sound quality. Great compression technology giving you bite-sized soundbytes that don't take up that much space on your hard drive and that you can download relatively zippity quickly from the Net even on dial-up access. Unless, of course, you have MP3 files galore on your PC, which means you oughta think about upgrading your hard disk or storing 'em on a Zip drive or online storage site (Xdrive at www.xdrive.com comes to mind).

Cool technology? Future of music? So how come some groups see MP3 as the devil's tool-maybe even devil stool or some other variety of manure?

Some bands apparently want it banned, at least the MP3 file-sharing technology that they claim encourages music piracy to proliferate online. Some music artists see MP3 as a way to reach out to a larger audience, but others march to the beat of a different drummer. Maybe that of Lars Ulrich, who carries the big sticks for Metallica, which is sticking it to Napster (www.napster.com), as Chief Handenbum might put it, where the sun don't shine, with the band's high-profile legal assault on the MP3 file-sharing software and distribution network. This in the wake of the Recording Industry Association of America's (www.riaa.com) court case against Napster. RIAA is apparently playing musical chairs, first putting MP3.com on the music piracy hot seat, then Napster, and, as of July 20, Scour Exchange (www.scour.com).

MTV I Like. MP3 I Like? Flashback to the MTV Video Music Awards 2000 at the Radio City Music Hall. Sound of silence, silence is golden, gold a metal, metal band. Silent protest on behalf of digital sound at the raucous video awards. Napster cofounder Shawn Fanning wearing a Metallica T-shirt. Metallica's Ulrich, instant narcoleptic, anti-Napster crusader feigning to take a nap.

Her name is Rio and the Rio owns the distinction of being the first portable MP3 player, created by Diamond Multimedia. Its name is RIAA and it's headed by president and CEO Hilary Rosen. Ms Rosen says (in effect) she will bury you, if you promote technology that could be used to spread piracy.

But if a growing number of music artists themselves are supporting MP3, what's got the recording industry association and major record labels up in arms?

Sept. 6 in Washington. US District Judge Jed S. Rakoff rules on Universal Music Group's lawsuit against MP3.com, ruling that the MP3 site willfully infringed on Universal's copyrights and setting a per-CD statutory damage amount applicable to Universal at $25,000. MP3.com has a personalized service called MyMP3.com with software that allows you to rip music from a CD you own and upload it for storage at the site.

Cary Sherman, RIAA's senior executive vice president and general counsel had this to say about the ruling: "We're obviously pleased with today's ruling. This should send a message that there are consequences when a business recklessly disregards the copyright law. We trust this will encourage those who want to build a business using other people's copyrighted works to seek permission to do so in advance. That's the best and quickest way to create a vibrant marketplace for music on the Internet."

True, some-maybe many-users of MP3.com, Napster, Scour and other MP3 distribution technology might be listening to and exchanging pirated music. But do you shoot the messenger? Do you blame the technology? Do you say the MP in MP3 stands for music piracy?

Enthusiasts and advocates of MP3.com, Napster, and Scour are rallying support not only for the future of this technology, but over issues of freedom of choice and individual rights. Cry freedom? Check out the Scour Technology Freedom Center at www.scourfreedom.com and engage in the debate. If you haven't downloaded these programs yet, try them out before you start condemning. Also, you could try the program that got away, the Gnutella client that, like Scour, not only allows you to search for MP3s but also for other file formats like MPEGs and JPEGs. Gnutella's becoming almost as popular and as controversial as Napster, but is based on a more decentralized network model than that of Napster. You could download a Gnutella client from http://gnutella.wego.com or www.zeropaid.com

This is the story of the MP3 battle that might decide the future of music. This is a story written under the effects of nicotine withdrawal, third day absolutely without nicotine-well, almost. But if MP3 is also a drug, can you imagine the effects of MP3 withdrawal? Still, for every RIAA, there might be a Rivermaya, the Filipino band making its new album-aptly titled "Free"-freely available both on CD and as downloadable MP3 files.

This is the story of a story that's still being told, of the birth pains of a new technology and the age-old tale of piracy in different forms. This is the story of how the price of music might be determined in the future, whether the recording giants with their high cost of royalty or the artists or the audience, who might be setting the barometer by their patronage of free or almost free music and-let's face it-piracy. We didn't start the fire, but maybe as some commentators have put it, history might be on the side of Napster and its ilk.

Twenty-four years ago, the movie industry sued Sony over the Betamax, saying that the newfangled videocassette recorder was an instrument of copyright infringement. Of course, the Betamax format eventually lost out to VHS, but VCR technology was vindicated nonetheless.