You Can Un-Ban Yourself From

As you have no doubt seen in the news lately, Napster has been under attack for "operating as a haven for music piracy on the Internet" according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Of course, no one profits from Napster. That is the part that is hard to defend. Napster is a free program, with no advertising, where people trade music for free. Where is the crime? Who profits from the "crime?"

Meanwhile lame, greedy "artists" like Metallica and Dr. Dre (Who illegally "samples" other musicians work into his all the time and makes a profit from it- isn't that piracy?) worry about their music being freely traded by their fans. Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, said it is "sickening to know that our art is being traded like a commodity rather than the art that it is." Here are some examples of Metallica's "art."

Here are the lyrics to one piece of "art:" Die, die, die my darling Don't utter a single word Die, die, die my darling Just shut your pretty eyes I'll be seeing you again Yeah, I'll be seeing you in hell So don't cry to me oh baby Your future's in an oblong box Don't cry to me oh baby You should have seen it a-comin' on Don't cry to me oh baby Had to know it was in your power Don't cry to me oh baby Dead-end goal for a dead-end girl Don't cry to me oh baby And now your life drains on that floor Don't cry to me oh baby Die, die, die my darling Don't utter a single word Die, die, die my darling Just shut your pretty mouth I'll be seeing you again I'll be seeing you in hell Don't cry to me oh baby Your future's in an oblong box Don't cry to me oh baby You should have seen it a-comin' on Don't cry to me oh baby Had to know it was in your power Don't cry to me oh baby Dead-end goal for a dead-end girl Don't cry to me oh baby Now your life drains on that floor Don't cry to me oh baby Die, die, die my darling Don't utter a single word Die, die, die my darling Shut your pretty mouth I'll be seeing you again I'll be seeing you in hell Die, die, die Die, die, die Die... Reminds you of Mozart, DaVinci and Shakespeare all rolled into one, doesn't it?

POLL: Why did Metallica REALLY sue Napster?

Meanwhile, other more enlightened artists do no feel threatened by Napster, and more importantly, do not threaten their fans either. In fact, Limp Bizkit has begun a free concert tour sponsored by Napster. When is Metallica's free tour again?

Metallica has successfully convinced Napster to ban over 300,000 users of the popular music trading service, citing illegal distribution of the band's copyrighted music. The users were banned before there was any proof presented that they did, in fact, host any illegally "pirated" music from the band. Are we guilty until proven innocent in America? I think not.

Therefore, I am using my constitutional right to stick it up Metallica's ass and get you back on Napster. There are several ways to do this. Your favorite will have to do with your level of computer expertise in most cases.

Solution #1

This is for the person not comfortable with screwing around with parts of Windows that will cause very serious problems with your operating system if they are not adjusted correctly. If this is you (and it probably should be no matter who you are) simply download and use this easy and completely safe program to get you back on. When you finish, go to STEP 5.

Other Un-Banning Programs- Naphack and KillNappy.

(NOTE: Some of these files are zipped to get instructions and the program in the same download.  If you need a program to unzip files, try free Winzip.) 

Solution #2

This one is for more adventurous types who don't mind formatting their hard drives if they screw up:

Step 1: Un-Install Napster:

Use the un-install program that Napster provided along with their software. This should delete everything Napster put on your system EXCEPT the hidden registry keys that got you banned.

Step 2: Opening your Registry Editor:

Go to Start Menu - then Run... In the field that says Open type "regedit" then press the OK button. This will bring up a screen that says Registry Editor in the title bar.

Step 3: Backing up your Registry:

It is highly recommended that you back up your registry before you start changing things in it. To do this go up to the Registry menu item then from the drop down menu select Export Registry File...
Save it under a name and folder that you will remember (I usually save it as the date [ex. 05_28_00.reg] and under a folder in the My Documents folder I made called "backup" now hit the Save button and you are all backed up.

Step 4: Delete the "Ban" Keys from your Registry:

WARNING: EDITING YOUR REGISTRY IS DANGEROUS! ONE WRONG MOVE AND YOU CAN MESS UP YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM (MOST OF IT CAN BE FIXED THOUGH). BE VERY CAREFUL AND FOLLOW ALL INSTRUCTIONS TO THE SMALLEST DETAIL!

Go to Start Menu - then Run... In the field that says Open type "regedit" then press the OK button. This will bring up a screen that says Registry Editor in the title bar. Now go to the menu item Edit then click on Find... (you can also just hit Ctrl+F) this will bring up a window titled Find in the Find what: field type the first of three key's which is 35D38C13-1434-AB7E-003483943341AA (I suggest just copying it and pasting it into the find Find what: field.)

Once you find this key there should be some data in the window to the right of it. it will read something like an ID # similar to "#679845" this is basically the number Napster has branded on your machine. So what you need to do now is do a Find... on that number and delete every instance of it that you find in your registry. You have to delete the folder which it resides in. Once you have completed the first find on the ID # then you can simply press F3 on your keyboard or go to Edit then Find Next. This will automatically search for the next match for that number. Remember to delete every key that this number is found in. So for an example if I found this number in a key called 35D38C13-1434-AB7E-003483943341AA then I would delete that Key, the one I that is I just wrote in bold the 35D38C13....

To make sure that the ID is out of your system I would highly recommend also deleting every single instance of the following three keys which will be in bold

35D38C13-1434-AB7E-003483943341AA

A1AD8C13-1383-5343-DCC38E43FF0AAE

CAD8C813-1F34-1B3E-00CEAE43FF0AAD

Deleting these keys should assure you that you are safe from being banned by Napster. Now exit out of Registry Editor.

Step 5: Restart Computer:

This part is pretty easy just shut down and restart your computer.

Step 6 Re-Install Napster:

Re-Install Napster as you normally would. It does not matter which directory you put it in, but read the next step before you register your user.

Step 7 Re-Register with Napster:

*Note: We now know that Napster does not ban your IP, it simply places that ID # in the registry. Those with static IP's need not to fear!

Happy Downloading!*

When it asks you to register, pick a DIFFERENT user name than the on you got banned with. If you use the same one then you will get banned again and will have to restart the entire procedure again. That can be quite a time waster if you keep having to do it =)

Also if you still have any Metallica songs on your system be sure not to share them, do this by making sure that when it is asking for files for you to share that the folder with all of your Metallica files in it is unchecked.

Completion: Congratulations!! You should now be un-banned from Napster!

NOTE: There are other sharing programs available as well if you want to just forget about Napster all together or trade other types of files besides MP3 (like porn for instance):

Gnutella,   Imesh,  CuteMX  and  Scour Exchange

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