Quick: Tell me how old you are, tell me what app you used to download free music. Was it Napster? Kaza? Usenet? Gnutella? WinMX? Morpheus? Pirate Bay? Were you, I don’t know, sending songs to your friends on AIM or BBM? the possibilities are endless. For almost a decade, if you were online, you were probably stealing music.
for this episode of version history, We’re telling the story of one of the last big names in file sharing: LimeWire. If the era of mainstream access to free music (mostly on college campuses and other fast networks) begins with Napster, it almost certainly ends with LimeWire.
LimeWire was, in many ways, specifically designed No Becoming Napster, with a slightly more legitimate and business-focused design. The company tried again and again to figure out how to make money, and create something that actually felt like music streaming, but it got stuck in the same battle it had been going on for a decade. Once Grokster went down, Limewire never really had a chance. And besides, a whole new way of listening to music was just around the corner.
This is the sixth episode of version history(We’re more than halfway through the first season!) If you want to find the show, there are three good places to go:
Thanks to everyone who has already watched or listened to the show, and sent feedback! Were Now! I’m about to start producing the next set of episodes, and want to hear everything you think we should or shouldn’t do or do differently. And we want to hear from you about everything we plan to cover! In the meantime, if you want to learn more about all things LimeWire, here are some links to get you started: