Napster was released in 1999 by Shawn Fanning. The company pioneered person-to-person file sharing. It was one of the most frequently downloaded software applications in the history of the Internet. Napster was released in 1999, but was closed down in 2001, due to a court order. Since then the Napster brand has been purchased by a number of companies. As of 2010, Napster is an unlimited streaming service. You pay a monthly fee and have access to ten million songs.