Napster's Swansong?

By Stephen M. Silverman

08/19/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Napster was ordered to stop making much of its music available for downloading off the Internet by this weekend. Though the court action by a San Francisco federal judge is expected to be appealed (all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary), yesterday's ruling will shut down the most popular service on the controversial site. Howard King, attorney for rapper Dr. Dre and the rock group Metallica, longtime legal foes of Napster, predicted to USA Today that, come Saturday, the service will look like a "blank screen."