'Downloaded,' film on music downloading, at SXSW

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — “Downloaded,” a documentary film exploring the history of sharing music on the Internet, made its world premiere Sunday at South by Southwest, a festival that marries music, technology and film.

Director Alex Winter focuses on Napster, the file sharing network that allowed 25 million people to share 80 million recordings in what became an early social network. The service allowed users to download music for free from each other’s computers until a lawsuit brought by the recording industry forced it to shut down in 2001.