It looks like the days of free file swapping of Mp3’s through the Napster service are coming to an end.  A three-judge panel ruled on Monday, February 12 that Napster was indeed violating copyright laws by letting users swap Mp3 files for download.  According to yahoo.com, the panel sent the case down to a lower court for a narrower ruling to see hwo Napster could block the swapping of copyright protected files on it’s sever. 
      The opinion on this ruling seems to be one-sided “Napster being shut down due to copyright infringement is, I guess, the only right action the could’ve properly upheld the law, said Mr. Lamanuel Compton Jr.  (Freshman-computer science engineering).  “Seeing as how enjoying music is a crime nowadays.”
      Napster responded by saying they were trying to find ways turn into a copyright friendly service.  Napster inter-chief commissioner Hank Barry said it was trying to develop a song-swapping system, for the time-being, that would allow users to download music through peer-to-peer file swapping, but you can’t copy the file to a compact disk.  Napster loyal seems to be against this idea.  On message boards across the internet, they debated this idea with most saying that it defeats the purpose of downloading Mp3’s if they can’t enjoy them on CD’s.
      Napster seemed to know this ruling was coming as they made a deal with Bertelsmann Ag, the owners of BMG music, to turn Napster into a monthly pay service while paying could still run its service while paying royalties to record labels and their artists.  Users seem for this service, but on a condition.  Luke Stimak (Junior I.S.T.) said, “If I pay for Napster, I want it to be the same it was before.  I don’t want to download Mp3 files just from a single record label, I want a wide selection.”  The future of Napster, at this point, is anyone’s guess.  It will either totally shut down, or become a pay service for downloads.  No one really can tell how the story of cyberspace drama will end.