All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster Hardcover – April 8, 2003

Very interesting book , I discovered alot about Napster behind the scenes and the other people involved

Among the many vast fortunes and colossal failures written about covering the dot com era, we have the story of Shawn Fanning and Napster. Despite a remarkable rise to prominence and infamous downfall, Napster never made any significant monetary impact; however, the company and its founder shaped the industry of online music and peer-to-peer file sharing and left a significant impact.Menn presents a thorough account of Napster's lifespan from Fanning's early work on development, the financial backing by Fanning's somewhat suspect Uncle, obtaining venture capital funding, and the eventual rulings leading to the demise of the company. If you have an interest in the companies that started the internet age and the mindsets and actions that were behind building them, this book will be of interest as Menn does a first-class job presenting Fanning's story and Napster's lasting relevance in the digital age.

Menn writes an illustrative depiction of the complicated tech giant that changed how the world interacted with media. I've had a difficult time putting this book down because of the impressive way Menn delves into the story behind Napster.

This book takes its sweet time to get going. It is exhaustive in its research, which can be a double-edged sword. I find myself getting impatient for the author to get to the next bit about NAPSTER. There's a lot of side quests regarding related events. It's all in there and the crux of the story is very interesting, but I feel like I'm sifting through the weeds sometimes.

Great book, I

An amazing Silicon Valley narrative. The funny thing about geeks is, they turn out to have a lot of personality. This book will introduce you to several such geeks and teach you a little bit about their craft and ethic. You'll also meet the businessmen and laywers who were instrumental in Napster's rise and fall (and learn about their craft and ethic as well). The book puts these characters in an amazingly well-researched and well-recalled narrative, clearly establishing the relationships and roles of the characters in this great story. In particular, John Fanning, Shawn's petulant and self-serving uncle, is singled out as a large contributor to the downfall, and one foil to the tale's numerous "good guys."The book also gives a great picture of the whole dot-com bubble and its mentality. A LOT of time is spent detailing how Napster scraped together the money needed to start and run its ever-growing enterprise. Highly recommended book!

Let me start by saying that I'm very curious about the anonymous Bay Area reviews that say the book is wildly inaccurate. I'm writing a dissertation chapter on Napster (not the company, more the system), and although I didn't comparing every date and name, it seemed accurate. There are also two completely contradictory reviews by people who supposedly worked at Napster, but who knows if they did.I feel this book is better than two other Napster books, "Sonic Boom" and "Irresistible Forces". Menn seems to have done a really good investigative job - he is a reporter after all - and includes people, perspectives, and histories that the other books don't mention at all. For instance, it turns out I've met someone who is mentioned in Menn's book but isn't in the other books. Menn interviews people who didn't invest in Napster, not just those who did. In other Napster stories, John Fanning is a father figure, and it ends there. Menn actually researches John Fanning's history, and it is ugly, complete with lawsuits and a police record. Other sources annoying tease us with hints of who Shawn Fanning's father is, and say he is a famous Boston-area musician. Menn tells us who he is - I'm from Boston, and I have never heard of the guy (Joe Rando).Having read books, business press, law reviews, computer press, mainstream press, and other sources about Napster, I do think Menn does a very good job. Since I was not involved in Napster, I cannot say which versions, which stories, are true. Menn's work, however, gives a much richer picture of the company and the dealings within and around it than other sources I have read.

Sean Fanning's Napster is widely regarded as the poster child for the dot-com-bubble's bust. In some ways that description is very apt. Characterizing the company as a VC-baby that never developed a business model and whose fame was based on giving away other's property would hardly be inaccurate. But All The Rave author Joeseph Menn goes far beyond the hype and failure to provide a detailed analysis and chronology of the company from pre-inception to post-collapse.Menn, whose resume includes the LA Times and Bloomberg, takes an unbiased look at Napster and the decisions that they made. He documents the internal fighting that he proffers as the cause of the company's failure. He provides details about every Napster transaction, from the original 30/70 split between Sean Fanning and his uncle (respectively), the company's angel funding, investment by Hummer Winblad, the Bertelsmann loan, and the company's eventual bankruptcy.The book, though, reads more like a novel than a business book. The book also incorporates afterthoughts from the company's principals about what they would have done differently in retrospect. With the exception of John Fanning (who ostensibly refused interview requests), Mann incorporates lessons learned from all of the principals both interspersed within the heart of the book and in a post-mortem chapter that serves as an epilogue.For a company that once flew so high to have died so quickly is somewhat amazing (though not as much so today as perhaps it was five years ago). This book chronologies that trip. It is an exciting ride!

Good read but overrun with legal jargon. I found myself nodding off at times and intrigued at others. Worth a look!

あれだけの旋風を起こしながら、持続可能なビジネスモデルを打ち立てることなく消え去っていったナプスターは一体何だったのか？以前に日本のレコード会社に勤務していた人間として（しかも違法ダウンロードを取り締まる権利関係の部署）興味をもって読んだ。残念なことに著者の文章が稚拙で事実関係も曖昧だったので読みにくかった。ただし、未熟なナップスター経営陣の浅はかな思惑（「トラフィックさえ掴めば後々レコード会社も折れてくるだろう」）、そして実体性のない戦略を打ち立てていく様子は良く描かれていた。つまるところ、ナップスターは頭脳明晰な少年達が革新的なプログラムを作ったものの、それを利用して大金を得ようとした人達が誤った戦略をもって潰してしまった。そんなところだと思う。ビジネスとは何か？と考えたとき、付加価値を創造し、対価を得て、さらにその付加価値を高める、それの循環だろう。ナップスターは確かに前者は達成できたが、残念ながら後者を達成するための道順を間違えたようだ。