I grew up using mIRC and AOL instant messenger as the best parts of having dial-up internet. I remember hearing about Napster for the first time and thinking it was the coolest thing a young musician like myself could ever have. When I first heard about Downloaded, which has a 67% on Rotten Tomatoes, on a Nerdist podcast with the director Alex Winter a few years ago I was intrigued. It took me a while, but I finally got around to watching it.
Downloaded is a documentary that features the rise and fall of popular file sharing client Napster. More than that, it dives into how downloading music changed the industry even if the music business was against it.
THE GOOD
There are lots of great archival footage used to show the events circulating around the rise of Napster and the lawsuits that would follow. The story of Shawn Fanning and Shawn Parker is an interesting one. It’s hard to feel bad for them as they did break the law, but the answer of was it ethical or not seems to still be one for debate.
THE BAD
It’s a little long and a little repetitive. There is some odd choices about when to show what footage. The documentary seems to want to go chronologically, but then opts to randomly jump to current interviews and then back to old interviews with the same people. It makes the story a bit unclear at times and sometimes a bit redundant as the same topics are brought up a few times.
THE VERDICT
I think Downloaded is a documentary that any late 90’s internet users should definitely check out. There is some nostalgia embedded in this interesting story of the rise and fall of a few kids with an idea. I give Downloaded 6 out of 10 mp3s.
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