Napster

Napster detonated the music industry's old distribution model and taught users that songs could move like messages.

Napster made another person's music collection part of the search experience. A track could be discovered through the network rather than a shop shelf or a broadcast schedule, changing the expectation of how quickly recorded music might be found online. The download became a central action of listening culture.

The original file-sharing service is distinct from later businesses using its name. That distinction matters because the strongest nostalgia belongs to a particular desktop program and a particular change in access, not every subsequent product carrying the Napster brand.

Copyright lawsuits forced the original peer-to-peer service offline.