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Napster was an online music peer-to-peer file sharing service created by Shawn Fanning while he was attending Northeastern University in Boston. The service, named after Fanning's hairstyle-based nickname, operated between June 1999 and July 2001. Its technology allowed people to easily share their MP3 files with other participants, bypassing the established market for such songs and thus leading to massive copyright violations of music and film media as well as other intellectual property.

Although the original service was shut down by court order, it paved the way for decentralized peer-to-peer file distribution programs, which have been much harder to control.

Napster's brand and logo were purchased after the company closed its doors and continue to be used by a pay service.



Strengths

* Installed base
* Strong contagion effects
* High market profile
* Powerful design features

Weaknesses

* Lack of critical complementary assets
* File selection greatly reduced
* Antagonistic relationship with record labels
* Consumer-to-consumer computing
* Transition from a free to a pay model

Opportunities

* Best Buy acquisition
* Online entertainment trends
* Potential for alliances with record labels
* No focused strategy for record labels



Threats

* Large number of competitors
* Entry of record labels
* Ad-Based Models
* Laws/regulation
 
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