The RIAA launched their action against the company in December, just four months after the site was formed by teenage student Shawn Fannin claiming Napster is robbing recording stars of their wages through lost copyright fees and royalties.

Chuck D of Public Enemy is the first high-profile artist to support Napster and says, "Most of the classic artists didn't own the masters of their past works, me included, which was scary. What I hope came out of it was that the artists in the audience could represent in the new revolution and become participants in a larger global music biz, thus making their own rules for success".

He continued to say, "I've relished in the fact that the majors are reeling from the impact of Napster. If the record companies don't share the marketplace with the advent of more than 100,000 start- up labels coming into the game, then they're gonna really scream when millions of heads all get hip to the 'NAPSTERBOOGIE'."

What started as a debate for or against the ethics of wholesale copying has now lurched into one concerning free speech. Several universities in the US have banned the downloading of the Napster software because campus networks were buckling under the volume of traffic the device was encouraging.