Napster Alternatives Let You Download Free Music Sites such as Gnutella may not boast Napster's ease of use, but their traffic is skyrocketing.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)(COMPUTERS MADE PLAIN)

Byline: Nancy Gondo

Online music addicts have been suffering ever since the courts all but shut down Napster. If you try downloading a song from the Internet service now, your request will probably be blocked due to copyright rules.

But Napster's demise isn't keeping Internet users from downloading music. Several Napster alternatives have cropped up. (See related story, top of this page.) And most of these sites, which have stayed out of the courts so far, let you download any music you want for free.

Perhaps the best-known alternative to Napster is a network called Gnutella. Like Napster, Gnutella lets thousands of computer users trade music files that are stored on their computers. And since Gnutella isn't operated by a central entity, it's virtually impossible to shut down.

There's a catch, though. To use Gnutella, you have to download special software that lets you access the network. And once you connect with the service, you'll find it isn't quite as easy to use as Napster.

Even so, the number of Gnutella users is skyrocketing, which means the odds of finding the song you're looking for are great.

How do you get started? First of all, you can't just go to gnutella.com. Instead, you must download software that turns your computer into a part of the Gnutella network.