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SHAWN FANNING

NAPSTER CREATOR

Motivated by his college roommate who was having difficulties accessing the MP3 files he wanted, Fanning spent months writing the code for a program that could provide an easy way to download music.

He developed the program while attending Boston’s Northeastern University. Later Fanning appeared on the cover of Wired magazine and rose to fame. Soon after, however, Napster was the target of several music industry-backed lawsuits, which ultimately ended up causing the cessation of the service. Since November 2002, the Napster name and logos have been property of Roxio, Inc.

In 2003, Fanning opened a new company, along with Jordan Mendelson and Ron Conway. The company aims to be a legitimate marketplace for digital media. That same year Fanning had a cameo appearance, playing himself, in the film The Italian Job (2003). In the film, Seth Green’s character accused Fanning of stealing Napster from him while he was taking a nap. In December 2006, Fanning developed Rupture, a social networking tool designed to handle the task of publishing gamers’ individual profiles to a communal space and facilitating communication between World of Warcraft players.

As of 2008 SNOCAP has been acquired by imeem.

In the spring of 2008, Fanning appeared in a Volkswagen commercial, touting the German automaker’s clean diesel engine vehicles.