An opinion - it's a preciouscommodity in a nation of over-commercialized politics. An opinion is somethingpeople want to hear, but by the time it's said, they shove it away because theydon't agree with it. This seems to have been the scene with Napster. For those ofyou who don't know (and somehow I feel like I don't need to be saying this),Napster is an Internet technology that harbors a way for millions of surfers toupload and download CD-quality music in a computer-readable format calledMP3.

Now, the center of the controversy about this little piece offree-music heaven in a world of overpriced CDs is whether it is right to listento any artist for free. Some say there is nothing wrong with this, since someartists have agreed to it. Yet others strongly berate Napster. I'm in the middle,but leaning toward Napster's side.

I do think that artists definitely havea right to say they don't want their music uploaded to the free music community,yet there seems no easy way to stop this practice; their songs will probablyalways be uploaded onto the Internet in some form.

Shutting down Napstersimply will end mass downloading of the music. For the artists who approve ofNapster, however, I think there should be no stopping people from uploading anddownloading their music for a free listen, while music stores are charging insaneprices for CDs. High CD prices may bring in money, but sales are dropping,especially when sources such as Napster offer music at no cost. I can't help butagree with the many people who have stated this fact, as I can easily rememberthe last time I walked into a store to buy a CD and ended up turning around,deciding to just download the song.

So, in a brief, and probablyinsufficient conclusion, I would have to say that I support Napster, but therehas to be some way to protect the rights of artists who do not wish to have theirwork freely distributed. We have to remember that artists do make a living fromtheir music, so they should be protected. For those who will allow their music tobe uploaded and downloaded for publicity, then I say go for it, and nothingshould stop them.