Web users still swapping files

NEW YORK (Variety) - Napster may be under the thumb of the California District Court, but that doesn't appear to have dampened Netizens' appetites for swapping music and other media files, according to new data released by research firm Jupiter Media Metrix.

The number of unique users for the newest peer-to-peer services, which have exploded in popularity since Napster's file library was gutted by a court injunction, grew nearly five-fold to 6.9 million in August, from just 1.2 million in March, Jupiter said.

At the top of the list were a set of increasingly familiar names, including Music City's Morpheus, with 2.3 million users; Consumer Empowerment's Kazaa Media Desktop, 1.3 million; and Aimster.com, 927,000. All let users trade text, pictures and video clips in addition to music.

The Recording Industry Assn. of America, the lobbying arm of the major record labels, has slapped the companies with copyright infringement lawsuits not unlike the one that's bringing Napster to its knees. Because their technology is more decentralized than Napster's, however, many of the new services will be harder to shut down