All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster

With the reemergence last week of Napster, it's worth going back to read All the Rave, a behind-the-scenes peek at the rise and incineration of the famously failed file-swapping service. Shawn Fanning, a teenager at Northeastern University with a bent for computer technology, built Napster in 1999 into a household name—and a target for record labels unhappy with the thought of users trading copyrighted music for free. So how did a business with 70 million users collapse so fast? The author points a finger at Fanning himself, the hubris of uncle and majority owner John Fanning, and a dot-com culture blinded by the thought of sticking it to the man. (Oh yeah, that judge's ruling against Napster after the music industry pressed suit didn't help). Although plodding in places, this book is good reading for entrepreneurs looking to avoid landmines and be inspired by the power of a good idea to create new markets.