New AOL Program Gnutella Mimics Napster

By Sushuma March 15, 2000 12:05 PM

(WSJ)-A group of software engineers who work for a unit of America Online Inc.?has released an early version of a program that mimics the operation of Napster, popular Web software that allows for the free trading of music files, including pirated ones.?The team, which was also responsible for one of the most popular MP3 players, called Winamp, which is widely used to play MP3 music files, released a preliminary version of "Gnutella" yesterday.?Immediate demand for the product was so great that the group was quickly forced to take it offline, lest its computers crash.?Napster has become one of the most popular online destinations in recent months because it allows computer owners to easily swap MP3 files.?MP3 is a popular standard for listening to music on the Web.?In recent days, more than a million MP3 files have been available on Napster, which is operated by closely held Napster Inc., of San Mateo, Calif.?The site has spooked the record industry, which in December filed a suit to shut down Napster, charging copyright infringement.?The new Gnutella software was developed by a team of young software programmers headed by Justin Frankel, who as a college student wrote the Winamp player program.?Frankel's company, Nullsoft Inc., was later bought by AOL, giving him a net worth exceeding $70 million.?