Has anything really changed since Post-Napster?
The biggest issue is the depth of song selection that online music stores will offer. The services still need to figure out complex arrangements to share revenues with a variety of parties, including artists who own their works and music publishers. The record label is also struggling to deal with the legacy of Napster. While the labels have won significant victories so far in court that have defanged their most potent online enemy to date, they have yet to escape Napster's sway.
Despite their legal actions, the recording industry has taken cues from Napster's success to try to replicate its service. Other online companies have jumped on the demand for creating music subscriptions. And most importantly, consumers have woken up to online music's potential.
Participants have pointed out that free music and file sharing remain mercurial and will not go away with the limiting of Napster. Disabling Napster has pushed people to use other free music download services such as Gnutella or Morpheus. The threat from free services still remains. It will be up to the labels to offer people something better than getting free downloads.