With the future of Napster in doubt the hunt is on for the next big music-sharing site. The Internet offers a great number of file-sharing alternatives, some of which charge for material downloaded and others that do not. (http:// www.guardian.co.uk/archive/article/0,4273,4136390,00.html ).

Gnutella is a large, diversified service with no central server unlike Napster, so therefore is impossible to shut down. It is not as user friendly as Napster but has a huge community of users. When you run a Gnutella software and connect to the Gnutella Network, you bring with you the information you wanted to make public, which could be nothing, or a file or even your hard drive! Gnutella is not there to promote the piracy of music. It's a technology not a music-piracy tool. It will also be here tomorrow and does not run the risk of being shut down. (http://: www.gnutella.com ).

Zden is a digital marketplace for files and charges for its services. People can buy, sell and store their own original content. It controls the legality and copyright of centrally stored files and so is therefore more business-focused than the other alternatives. (http://: www.zden.com/html/whatiszden.shtml ).

CuteMX is very similar to Napster, allowing users to swap music and video files for free. It also includes an address for record companies and artists to write in if they feel CuteMX users have infringed their copyright.

Devswap is a new, private, peer-to-peer file-sharing community made up of registered Deviant Art users. It is powered by p2p file-sharing software called Tijit that enables the user to connect to a group of other members in order to chat, swap ideas and privately share files. (http:// www.dmusic.com/news/news.php?id=4343 ).

Amazon.com - 28/02/01 launched its biggest push yet into music downloads offering free songs from hundreds of artists in an effort to help slowing sales in online CD sales. It does not have the depth of Napster but is one of the broadest efforts yet by a major retailer to tap into digital music phenomenon. Songs will be available in the popular MP3 format or a format from Liquid Audio Inc. (Hillis, 2001)

In any filesharing service, the number of users attracted to the site is of crucial importance. Without membership, the service is not feasible to continue running. This is precisely the reason why Napster may be kept alive. It has an unprecedented membership well ahead of its competition.(http:// www.guardian.co.uk/archive/
article/0,4273,4136390,00.html ).