# Napster

11 Hacker News commenters recommended Napster and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People remember Napster's peer-to-peer music sharing for social discovery through others' shared folders. Critics find its AI companions page unsettling.

## Why people recommend it

- Discovering music through others' shared folders (3 comments): "My favorite manual discovery/social was Napster, for that moment that you could view other user's entire shared music folder" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46268392)) "It was so interesting to find house music and be digging through the tastes of someone in London." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46268233)) "finding someone's stash of music you like surrounded by things you've never heard of" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47178511))
- Disruptive, pushed labels and studios to change (2 comments): "Napster was a fantastic and disruptive product, the likes of which arguably has no equal to this day" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49911584)) "it pushed musicians and studios to do something that they were reluctant otherwise" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48223298))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Spotify](https://hackerapproved.com/p/spotify.md): 299 recommend
- [Apple Music](https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-music.md): 131 recommend
- [Tidal](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tidal.md): 48 recommend
- [Qobuz](https://hackerapproved.com/p/qobuz.md): 31 recommend
- [Pandora](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pandora.md): 29 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Napster", https://hackerapproved.com/p/napster/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).