Shawn Fanning is an American computer programmer and entrepreneur, most famous for the creation of Napster. It was an online file-sharing service that enabled users to share music and audio files encoded in MP3 format.
Launched on June 1st, 1999, Napster was so successful that at its peak, the service had about 80 million registered users. It made downloading of songs much easier; bypassing other distribution devices like records, tapes, and CDs. However, the music industry in the US was much affected by Napster after their songs started circulating online illegally.
Napster thus came to a halt when it faced legal battles, and the development of software to prevent computer copyright piracy. In July 2001, it was shut down.
The following year, an American software company Roxio Inc. acquired the assets of Napster, and re-launched it in 2003 as an e-commerce enterprise that sold digital music files. Although Napster had a short and controversial term, Fanning’s idea of downloading, storing, and sharing songs through networks caught on.