WI Napster

Apple will dominate the MP3 format wars with the Ipod intro in 2001. Less Metallica whining. Other than that not much
 
Actually, without Napster, I don't think Apple gets involved in MP3s. Steve Jobs only gets interested in things when they are "cool" to the mainstream media, and MP3s were just an obscure way for college kids to listen to music until Sean Fanning ended up on every magazine cover in America. Back then, Rio-Diamond dominated the industry, and the big question was which kind of OEM would unseat them (Creative, Compaq, etc). The "big name" companies like Sony and Apple were ignoring MP3s as a format without a profit stream and a lawsuit waiting to happen.
 
USENET and IRC continue to be the music-sharing centers of the Internet. By 2002, the ability of the two programs to share music becomes widespread. The RIAA begins to crack down on servers hosting music. Programmers release stand-alone music-sharing programs in response, etc. etc.

Basically, you push back the music-sharing phenomenon by a few years. The iPod, even if it is released as iOTL, isn't as successful for two reasons: At first, few people are aware of .mp3s. Then, by the time music sharing becomes widespread, flash memory has become cheap enough that there are plenty of competitors. Apple has a better user interface, but other companies have larger-capacity devices.
 
Torrent engines become way popular...

That was my first thought, too, but the BitTorrent protocol wasn't formulated until August 2001, after Napster had been sued by the RIAA and was being threatened with shutdown. I believe it to be an effect of Napster's popularity, rather than simultaneous with it.

Unfortunately, the DMCA was already passed in 1998, before Napster, so there's no chance to affect that.
 
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