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I was excited

'cause he was my first.

So i thought, you know,

I really did think

he was gonna conquer the world.

Everybody does

with their first kid, right?

I was born in brockton and uh...

didn't have

the most stable family.

Uh, you know,

they made their best effort,

But i grew up with a stepdad

And we ended up

in foster care a couple times.

Brockton was just a, uh,

brockton was just no good.

[Laughs]

But uh, huh, yeah.

I mean, i don't want to,

I don't want to

talk to much about like

Money situation,

but like you know,

We, we grew up

Like, not too well off you know.

And my mom and dad,

there's five kids

And my dad was

a delivery driver, you know

And they did the best

they could, but...

that's when, he got into sports

when we moved down to the cape.

Being into sports,

i think it got his mind

Um, so that life

was a little easier for him.

I think music helped him too,

like sports.

Every time he was

on the computer,

He had the radio there.

See what i mean, like he was

always listening to music.

So uh, there's really no

surprise there

That he-He-He ended up,

In, you know,

thinking of something

That made sense to him

As far as um,

The music and

the computer combined.

I was fortunate to have an uncle

Who was into technology

And gave me my first computer.

There's a,

there's a lot of insecurity

That comes around being

Uh, dependent on others.

You know, to get by

and so as a kid,

It sort of influenced

My social uh,

confidence at school.

We moved around a lot.

Um, there was also kind of a,

I didn't feel as connected

to my family, intellectually.

And so, um, i didn't really have

Many others at school either

on that front.

So i was sort of,

feeling a little bit uh, lost.

And displaced at times.

Going online and finding people

Who had the same interests

Or i could learn from

and where there was no,

Your reputation

was your own.

It was not about like,

you know the,

How well off

your family was,

Or how well

you dressed.

Um, or how well you spoke

or body language.

It was about the merit

of what you were saying

And i think that...

for me, was just intoxicating.

In the early days of the web,

you know

The first time i ever saw music

That was down-Loadable

Was a song that i put up

on my homepage

On campus internet.

It was an mp2 file.

I guess that would

have been '93,

Around that time.

And there were very few

people out there

Because you're changing

it into another file format

Or have a special card t

o play it.

For anyone who had been

downloading stuff

It was such

a colossal pain in the ass.

It's not funny.

Uh, even for technical people,

It was uh, a process.

And, and a constant,

Like trying to get

bits and pieces of files

And reconnect them all together.

And that was kind of

a pain in the ass.

You know, 1998,

was when it really felt like

Okay, this is real.

This is the way i'm going

to listen to music.

It became clear

that the computer

Was going to be the place

That we would store our music.

Then you started looking

for tools to get the music

Into the computer,

tools to play it back,

Tools to manage it.

I remember the first mp3

i ever downloaded.

I remember the first time

i ever, you know...

basically, ever played

a track from the internet.

And i remember just thinking,

Even though

it's just information

It's just audio, there's such

a crazy amount of emotion.

The fact that you could

Kind of share emotion

over the internet,

Was so, it was really wild

to think that...

something so important to you,

You could just trade so freely.

So i think it was um...

you know, its,

its hard to quantify

How important it was.

I was a freshman

At northeastern university

in boston.

One of my roommates

was into mp3s.

Yeah, he would skip class

and sit home

And download music

and he was always complaining

About how unreliable

the technology was.

Where was his,

what were his favorite bands?

I don't know. He listened to

a lot of really weird stuff.

I had very incompatible

tastes with him.

But, um...

like every roommate in college.

Yeah, which, it, that's why

it was a struggle.

I didn't want to make it

any easier

For him to find that music.

But no and he, you know,

he was complaining a lot

And that sort of signaled

me that

There was a potential uh,

there's a problem

That could be solved

and i just looked into it

And um, came up

with the solution,

Which ultimately

Became napster.

It felt like, you know,

this way of sharing media

Between people

Could be used

for sharing anything.

We started with music,

but it made sense

That it could work

for anything else.

It also felt like...

this whole model f

or sharing media

Was superior to like,

Going and buying an album.

Being able to uh, both... um...

buy tracks as singles

Or share them with your friends

And find stuff

your friends like,

Uh, and then being able to uh,

you know...

basically, to have access

to the entire universe

Of recorded music.

Where independent creators

Could publish directly.

It just seemed from every,

in every way,

It seemed like a better system.

So, i would spend

a weekend working on it

You know, every time

i had to go back to school,

I'd kind of drag myself back.

Two days would become

three days.

I'd miss a day of classes,

I'd miss two days of classes.

It was just becoming

more and more difficult

For me to get myself

back to school

With any enthusiasm.

My cousin was actually

driving me back to school

And when i got there,

i thought about it

And finally realized

Just what a sense

of relief i had

When i thought about the idea of

just, just leaving.

And that was the last time

i really ever came close

To the campus.

Didn't pick up any of my stuff.

Didn't tell my, my roommates.

Just, just went back

and i remember just feeling

So excited.

He came in and he was just like,

I need to talk to you guys,

its really important.

And i go, okay,

shawn and so he came in

And uh, he says, uh...

you're not going to be

happy about this.

And he was looking at me

and i'm like what?

And he was like, '

i'm gonna drop out of school'.

And i said, 'oh no!'

Why would you do that?

And he's, you don't understand.

I have this idea,

i have to go with it now.

I have to do it now.

It's now or never.

I feel like this is

the time for me to do it.

And i don't think

you'll be disappointed.

I actually spent time working

In hole, massachusetts,

which is about 45 minutes

South of boston.

Um, just, this

converted restaurant.

Like three desks in the place.

I just sat there

and worked on it.

Ummm...

for a few months

until it was actually

Building a user base.

I remember i got to go up

and hang out with him

And he'd be like pizza

was everywhere, and...

he was just jamming out

to led zeppelin.

He'd like sleep at the office,

on the floor.

He'd like, he never

left his computer, you know.

Its not hyperbole,

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