Hot take: The day Napster got shut down in 2001 was the best and worst day for my CD collection

Cora Palmer · 2026-10-11T10:15:03.743766+00:00

I remember sitting in my dorm room in Madison on July 26, 2001, when a friend called and said Napster was going dark at midnight. I had about 80 tracks queued up and only got 12 of them before the plug was pulled. Part of me was relieved because I finally started buying CDs again, but another part was mad that I lost all those rare live bootlegs I would never find in a store. Was it the end of the free music party, or did it actually push us back to supporting bands? What did you do with your burned CDs after that?

🐿️Pinecone Attack

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Hot take: The day Napster got shut down in 2001 was the best and worst day for my CD collection | 90s Internet Memories - Pinecone Attack