By RON HARRIS
Associated Press Writer
March 16, 2001
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The number of songs being traded
through Napster Inc. has dropped sharply since the
company began policing its system for unauthorized
songs, a research firm reported Thursday.
Napster users were downloading 50 percent fewer files
as the company beefed up its screening technology
Wednesday, according to Webnoize, a firm that has
followed Napster usage closely.
Before upgrading its system to block access to
infringing content, the average number of files shared
per Napster user was 172. After the upgrade, the average
number of files shared per user dropped to 71, Webnoize
reported.
Napster officials continue to disagree with the
recording industry about the burdens the company must
bear in policing its system for unauthorized content.
Napster told U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel
in a document filed Monday that ``critical disputes''
have arisen with the recording industry.
The Redwood City-based company says the record labels
are wrong in thinking the March 5 order meant Napster
must search for infringing content even prior to proper
notification form copyright holders.
More specifically, Napster says many of the
submissions of copyright works from the recording
industry have no associated file names for the company
to block.
`Where a file name is connected to the work in the
notice, Napster will exclude them. Where no file name is
connected to the work, Napster will not,'' the company's
compliance report to the court read.
The recording industry has said Napster's niggling
over particulars is an attempt to buy more time.
Napster says the recording industry is failing to
share the workload and provide required information.
Part of the problem, according to Napster, is that
the growing costs of implementing the new screening
technology has interrupted other business plans.
Napster claims it has spent $150,000 and more than
2,700 employee hours to develop and implement a
screening technology to block access to unauthorized
content.
On Tuesday, Napster announced it had signed a deal
with Gracenote, a Berkeley-based company that maintains
a database of more than 12 million musical works
cataloged by artist and title, including spelling
variations that may have slipped through Napster's
system in the past.
At the request of Napster, file-sharing firm Aimster
removed from its Web site a program based on pig Latin
that enabled users to continue sharing songs with
slightly altered words.
Related Links:
http://www.napster.com
http://www.riaa.org
http://www.gracenote.com
