Last-minute rush as Napster ruling looms

Fans of the song sharing service Napster have logged on by the tens of thousands for a last-minute grab at music they fear a US court may knock offline.

Nearly 10,000 users logged on to just one of Napster's 100-plus computer servers on Saturday sharing nearly two million free MP3 song files, according to the website. A sample use last July saw 7,300 users sharing 800,000 files.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals is set to rule on Monday on a lower court's injunction against the company. If the court reinstates the injunction, Napster could be crippled.

The recording industry sued Napster in December 1999 for copyright infringement. The appeals court stayed the injunction in July, allowing Napster to stay online.

UCLA student James Papasin, 23, said if Napster had to shut down he could easily find other ways to get free music by massaging the right internet search engines.

"You can just search for whatever music you want and it directs you to links where you can download the music from people's private servers," Mr Papsin said about his Napster alternative.

"It's pretty impossible to police all those sites."

Despite allegations of illegal trading via the service, Napster's base of registered users has exploded and challenged major record labels to consider different methods of reaching consumers online.

Napster has remained confident that its service will withstand the legal test, saying on its website: "We have great confidence in our legal position."

The Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group representing record labels, has argued that Napster illegally connects users bent on giving away copyrighted material without permission.