You say you want a revolution, well, you know--first the software has to 
work. Napster's does, and that's why it's the clear choice over similar (but 
much balkier) file-swapping services Gnutella and Freenet. Record companies 
that consider music-swapping copyright theft are trying to shut down Napster. 
As long as it's open, it's the easiest to use.

                      Napster      Gnutella         Freenet
                    napster.com  various sites  freenetproject.org

Ease of Use            CLICK        MISS             MISS
Napster's a snap.
I had it configured
in a few clicks and
was listening
within minutes.
Both Gnutella and
Freenet require
overly complex
steps for people
uncomfortable with
their PC's inner
workings, and I
couldn't get either
to work easily.


Community              CLICK        MISS             MISS
Part of the Napster
experience is well-
populated chat rooms.
With Gnutella,
community is limited
to inadequate responses
to tech questions and,
at leading site
gnutella.wego.com, a
rather snotty warning
not to ask stupid
questions. Freenet is
designed to be anonymous.
Stealth in snagging music
is a higher priority
than community.


Content
On Napster you can     CLICK        MISS             MISS
download files from
users who are logged
on while you are,
offering a few thousand
collections at a time.
Technical difficulties
with Gnutella and Freenet
prevented full evaluation.
However, their designs
allow direct contact
with few users at a time,
limiting the availability
of tunes.