Napster integrates social media – Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Youtube

Music download program Napster has recently integrated with several social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Youtube so users can share their music with friends across several social channels.

Once a cult hit, Napster has been rather quiet over the past years and this seems like a smart move to re-establish themselves with a new user- base.

Napster operated between June 1999 and July 2001, and allowed users to share songs, videos, and various file formats with other users for free – which resulted in the music industry accusing of massive copyright violation which caused the site to be shut down by court order.

As a result of Napster’s instant fame before Y2K, this paved the way for various other peer-to-peer networks to be born, which have been much harder to control.

When Napster was shut down, their logo and name were sold to another company and used as a pay service. The Napster name and logo has been through several hands since, once owned by Adult Entertainment company – Private Media Group.

Napster was purchased by US electronics retailer Best Buy for US$121 million in September 2008.

Napster now has in excess of 10 million songs for download.