Napster Creator May Be Set for Comeback

Now Napster the person is trying to do the same with an Internet start-up that could, once again, have a far-reaching effect on the music business.

Napster creator Shawn Fanning is looking for backers of technology he's developing that would let file-sharing networks distribute music without violating copyrights, people familiar with the project said.

Fanning's technology would recognize copyrighted songs on a network and let the copyright owners set a price for downloading them.

That's quite a departure from the original Napster service, which let users copy songs from one another's computers free. Bearing the then-18-year-old Fanning's online nickname, Napster launched in 1999 but quickly drew a copyright infringement lawsuit from major record companies and music publishers, which forced it to shut down in mid-2001.

Regardless of whether the gambit works, it demonstrates that 22-year-old Fanning has moved beyond the service that made him a household name. Yet Fanning, who lives in the Bay Area and declined to be interviewed, is still trying to shape the future of the music industry -- this time by working with his onetime competitors.

Fanning's new program relies on audio fingerprinting that identifies every song being offered by users on a file-sharing network. As the user submits the song, it would be checked against a database at Fanning's firm to see whether it is copyrighted. If it is, the song couldn't be distributed without payment.

Napster Inc. was trying to develop something similar when it ran out of money and filed for bankruptcy protection last year. Roxio bought Napster's brand name, Web address and technology at a bankruptcy auction.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Roxio plans to offer a new version of Napster by March, but it is unlikely to have any of the file-sharing flavor of the original. Instead, it would be built around the label-backed Pressplay subscription service that Roxio bought from Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group and Sony Corp.'s Sony Music Entertainment.

Fanning has been acting as a consultant for Roxio while also pursuing his new file-sharing venture independently. Record-company executives say Fanning has been making the rounds of the major labels in recent weeks, demonstrating his technology and urging them to invest in and endorse his system.