Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic book, well written, very imformative
Review: I just got done reading this book and I have to say that this is one of the best books I have ever read. You could tell that the author, Joseph Menn, put a lot of work into this with many quotes, facts, and background information on each of the people he introduces. The story that Menn tells is fully detailed and I felt as if I was part of the napster crew myself. The story never has any boring momements and he illustrates the personal relationships between the workers fantastically. I always wanted to know what happened at the napster company and now i know. I recommend this book to anyone who needs a break from fiction and would like to know the story of a kid's idea that changed the entertainment world forver. This book is nothing short of an A+
Rating:
Summary: Great read for all generations
Review: I read Menn's book and it's depiction of how evil and greed over money and
power can take hold in both families and Corporations alike. Don't go into
business with family if your family members name is John Fanning, and do at
least a little research before you start a war with the RIAA.Great read for all generations.
Rating: 
Summary: All the Rave Review
Review: I really liked this book. I am fascinated by the burst of the bubble more than the actual boom. This was a smooth and interesting read.
Rating: 
Summary: Like Napster, it should have been great but it failed
Review: I'd looked forward to reading this book but whilst it was fun in parts, the inaccuracies and wild assumptions coupled with only a superficial grasp of the real events which led to Napster's demise meant it fell drastically short of it's goal. There are some serious journalistic errors with regard to key players which show lack of research and too much reliance on hearsay and supposition.
Rating:
Summary: Joe Menn : A Star invetigative journalist! Great Read!
Review: Joe Menn digs deep to expose the truth behind a great idea, young visionaris and overall; generation Napster. He turns out countless interviews in a timeline of events from a great idea (and their individual backgrounds) to the jouney through the Music Industry and interanl wars, to what eventually brought Napster crumbling down. Joe exposes the truth behind the doors of Napster, while taking the reader through and adventuresome trip to what was the internal workings of greed, frustration and power junkies, and then just plain junkies. Power, Ego, greed, and all of the juicy stuff that makes Silicon Valley and Corporate America a sinfully good read.
Rating: 
Summary: A terribly slow rehash of previously published material
Review: Just finished Menn's "All The Rave," a.k.a. the Napster chronicles.... for what it's worth, i found very little new material here - most of the scoop is previously published.... & to my dismay, nothing is reported on Shawn Fanning's new venture, Snocap. An interesting twist for Shawn with Snocap, several journals are reporting that Fanning's new company seeks to end illegal file-swapping with an avalanche of controls...interesting twist, wouldn't you say for the guy who created fild-sharing to begin with...again nothing of this is reported in Menn's book which feels heavily dated by now. At any rate, the book read kinda slow....though the thing i do appreciate the most is the book's cover art - kitty in black.
Rating:
Summary: A terribly slow rehash of previously published material
Review: Just finished Menn's "All The Rave," a.k.a. the Napster chronicles.... for what it's worth, i found very little new material here - most of the scoop is previously published.... & to my dismay, nothing is reported on Shawn Fanning's new venture, Snocap. An interesting twist for Shawn with Snocap, several journals are reporting that Fanning's new company seeks to end illegal file-swapping with an avalanche of controls...interesting twist, wouldn't you say for the guy who created fild-sharing to begin with...again nothing of this is reported in Menn's book which feels heavily dated by now. At any rate, the book read kinda slow....though the thing i do appreciate the most is the book's cover art - kitty in black.
Rating:
Summary: Deeply researched, well done, and a new picture of Napster
Review: Let me start by saying that I'm very curious about the anonymous Bay Area reviews that say the book is wildly inaccurate. I'm writing a dissertation chapter on Napster (not the company, more the system), and although I didn't comparing every date and name, it seemed accurate. There are also two completely contradictory reviews by people who supposedly worked at Napster, but who knows if they did. I feel this book is better than two other Napster books, "Sonic Boom" and "Irresistible Forces". Menn seems to have done a really good investigative job - he is a reporter after all - and includes people, perspectives, and histories that the other books don't mention at all. For instance, it turns out I've met someone who is mentioned in Menn's book but isn't in the other books. Menn interviews people who didn't invest in Napster, not just those who did. In other Napster stories, John Fanning is a father figure, and it ends there. Menn actually researches John Fanning's history, and it is ugly, complete with lawsuits and a police record. Other sources annoying tease us with hints of who Shawn Fanning's father is, and say he is a famous Boston-area musician. Menn tells us who he is - I'm from Boston, and I have never heard of the guy (Joe Rando). Having read books, business press, law reviews, computer press, mainstream press, and other sources about Napster, I do think Menn does a very good job. Since I was not involved in Napster, I cannot say which versions, which stories, are true. Menn's work, however, gives a much richer picture of the company and the dealings within and around it than other sources I have read.
Rating:
Summary: Chronology of a Boom Turned Bust
Review: Sean Fanning's Napster is widely regarded as the poster child for the dot-com-bubble's bust. In some ways that description is very apt. Characterizing the company as a VC-baby that never developed a business model and whose fame was based on giving away other's property would hardly be inaccurate. But All The Rave author Joeseph Menn goes far beyond the hype and failure to provide a detailed analysis and chronology of the company from pre-inception to post-collapse. Menn, whose resume includes the LA Times and Bloomberg, takes an unbiased look at Napster and the decisions that they made. He documents the internal fighting that he proffers as the cause of the company's failure. He provides details about every Napster transaction, from the original 30/70 split between Sean Fanning and his uncle (respectively), the company's angel funding, investment by Hummer Winblad, the Bertelsmann loan, and the company's eventual bankruptcy. The book, though, reads more like a novel than a business book. The book also incorporates afterthoughts from the company's principals about what they would have done differently in retrospect. With the exception of John Fanning (who ostensibly refused interview requests), Mann incorporates lessons learned from all of the principals both interspersed within the heart of the book and in a post-mortem chapter that serves as an epilogue. For a company that once flew so high to have died so quickly is somewhat amazing (though not as much so today as perhaps it was five years ago). This book chronologies that trip. It is an exciting ride!
Rating:
Summary: Chronology of a Boom Turned Bust
Review: Sean Fanning's Napster is widely regarded as the poster child for the dot-com-bubble's bust. In some ways that description is very apt. Characterizing the company as a VC-baby that never developed a business model and whose fame was based on giving away other's property would hardly be inaccurate. But All The Rave author Joeseph Menn goes far beyond the hype and failure to provide a detailed analysis and chronology of the company from pre-inception to post-collapse. Menn, whose resume includes the LA Times and Bloomberg, takes an unbiased look at Napster and the decisions that they made. He documents the internal fighting that he proffers as the cause of the company's failure. He provides details about every Napster transaction, from the original 30/70 split between Sean Fanning and his uncle (respectively), the company's angel funding, investment by Hummer Winblad, the Bertelsmann loan, and the company's eventual bankruptcy. The book, though, reads more like a novel than a business book. The book also incorporates afterthoughts from the company's principals about what they would have done differently in retrospect. With the exception of John Fanning (who ostensibly refused interview requests), Mann incorporates lessons learned from all of the principals both interspersed within the heart of the book and in a post-mortem chapter that serves as an epilogue. For a company that once flew so high to have died so quickly is somewhat amazing (though not as much so today as perhaps it was five years ago). This book chronologies that trip. It is an exciting ride!
| 
