Prominent websites launched during the decade include IMDb (1993), eBay (1995), Amazon (1994), GeoCities (1994), Netscape (1994), Yahoo! (1995), AltaVista (1995), AIM (1997), ICQ (1996), Hotmail (1996), Google (1998), Napster (1999). The pioneering peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing internet service Napster, which launched in Fall 1999, was the first peer-to-peer software to become massively popular. While at the time it was possible to share files in other ways via the Internet (such as IRC and USENET), Napster was the first software to focus exclusively on sharing MP3 files for music. Napster was eventually forced to shut down in July 2001 after legal disputes over copyright infringement and digital piracy, though it would eventually be relaunched as a music streaming service in 2016.
Prominent websites launched during the decade include IMDb (1993) eBay (1995) Amazon (1994) GeoCities (1994) Netscape (1994) Yahoo (1995) AltaVista (1995) AIM (1997) ICQ (1996) Hotmail (1996) Google (1998) Napster (1999) The pioneering peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing internet service Napster which launched in Fall 1999 was the first peer-to-peer software to become massively popular While at the time it was possible to share files in other ways via the Internet (such as IRC and USENET) Napster was the first software to focus exclusively on sharing MP3 files for music Napster was eventually forced to shut down in July 2001 after legal disputes over copyright infringement and digital piracy though it would eventually be relaunched as a music streaming service in 2016