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“We’ll keep fighting for Napster and your right to share music,” Shawn said, urging viewers to e-mail the record companies. He went home and slept badly, trying to get his head around the ruling. He brainstormed about how he could change the system. Shawn had given out one of his e-mail addresses on the webcast and was rewarded with 2,626 messages in support overnight, ranging from the funereal to the defiant. “Napster was my bible for awhile, and I hold it sacred. If there’s anything I can do to help, like creating some kind of petition, please just let me know. thank you for everything you’ve done for us, the true fans of music,” wrote New Yorker Daniel Uhl. Others suggested setting up servers in unreachable countries. Many said they had bought more CDs than ever after sampling with Napster, and more than one credited Napster’s chat rooms for their romantic relationships. Within hours, there was indeed a petition: Napster staffer Nate Mordo spread the word internally about the document, in which thousands of signatories pledged not to buy CDs while Napster was down.

The day after, the Napster ruling made front pages across the country. MTV interviewed Shawn in Napster’s kitchen as less-favored TV crews did stand-ups outside the building. Shawn played it populist cool for MTV, saying he was upset mostly for Napster’s 20 million users. “To me, they were the ones being attacked, not necessarily me personally, or even the technology,” Shawn said. He said he didn’t know how Napster could comply without shutting down but didn’t support a boycott. Shawn was at his best when he was both modest about Napster’s innovations and mystified about the attacks on it. “It was the first application out there that demonstrated file-sharing, so I suppose I’m not surprised that it is directed toward us,” he told the interviewer. “But it is surprising to me to see a technology that is based on fundamental Internet principles of exchanging information and search-engine technology and chat technology be attacked like this . . . it’s just sort of a combination of technologies.”

The number of Napster users soared to the highest levels yet, just as Frackman had predicted. On July 28, as the midnight cutoff neared, traffic to the website alone topped 849,000 visitors. With 22 million users and just $400,000 worth of hardware, the Napster system finally maxed out, and not everyone could connect. That week, “Napster” became the