Chat channels link you to the Napster Community by letting you communicate with other Napster users. If you're new to Napster, try joining a channel that interests you to connect with music lovers who share your tastes.

To enter the Chat area, click the "Chat" button on the Napster toolbar. The large text area you see is the default chat room, a private chat room that contains the Message of the Day from Napster. To start chatting with the Napster Community, you need to join a public chat room.

Chat rooms

Note: Right now, you can only chat with users connected to the Napster server to which you were assigned when you logged on. In the future, we intend to link the Napster servers for chat, just as they're now linked for Instant Message, search, and browse.

Bringing up the chat room list

To see a list of Napster chat rooms, click the "Chat Rooms" button in the Chat area, or go to the Napster Actions menu and choose "Join Chat Rooms."

Choosing and joining a chat room

The chat room list shows the chat rooms created by Napster. You can enter one of these chat rooms by double-clicking its name or by highlighting the name and clicking "Join." To leave a chat room, click the "Leave Room" button.

When you join a chat channel, a channel window opens to help you interact with other users. Here's how it works:

1 Chat room topic
Gives the name of the chat room you're in.

2 Main chat window
Displays the messages posted by you and other users.

3 Chat input field
Type the message you'd like to post to the chat room here.

4 Background chat room
Shows a chat room that you've joined, but that's not currently in view. Click this button to bring that room to the front. The "Private" button takes you back to the Napster Message of the Day (what you saw when you entered the Chat area), and can also be used for private messages.

5 Active chat room
Shows the chat room with which you're interacting.

6 Chat Rooms button
Click this button to display the list of available chat rooms.

7 Invite Users button
Click this button to invite another user to this chat room.

8 Leave Room button
Click this button to leave the room with which you're interacting.

9 User name
The user name of another person also in this chat room.

10 Files shared
The number of files this user is sharing with the Napster Community.

11 Connection speed
The speed at which this user is connected to the Internet.

Right-clicking a name inside the user list brings up a menu offering a number of ways to interact with that user.

Instant Message : Send this user an Instant Message.
Add to Hot List : Add this user to your Hot List.
Browse Files : Browse this user's shared files.
View Information : View basic information about this user.
Ignore User : Add this user to your Ignore List.
Unignore User : Remove this user from your Ignore List.

Listing custom chat rooms

In addition to joining the permanent chat rooms created by Napster, Napster users can create their own, temporary chat rooms. To see a list that includes both permanent chat rooms and temporary chat rooms, click the "View All" button in the chat room list window.

1 Permanent chat room
This room was created by Napster and will always show up in the chat rooms list.

2 Temporary chat room
This room was created by a Napster user and will appear only as long as users remain inside it.

Creating a custom chat room

To create a chat room, bring up the chat room list and click "Create." In the text box, type the name of the chat room you'd like to create, then click the "Create" button to the right of this box.

Your user name will now appear inside your newly created chat room. If you bring up the chat room list again and click "View All," you'll see your new chat room in this list.

To remove your chat room from the list, simply leave it. If no one else is in it, the chat room will disappear. If other users are still using the chat room you created, the chat room will continue to exist until everyone has left.

Posting a message

To post a message in any chat room, type your message into the long text bar below the main Chat window. When you're finished, press Enter on your keyboard, and your message will appear in the main window.

Once you've spent some time in the Napster chat rooms, you'll notice that chat text comes in different colors. You can select a color scheme for various kinds of text in your chat windows on the Schemes tab of the Napster Preferences. To set your color scheme, go to the "Color Scheme" menu, select "Custom Color Scheme," then highlight a category such as "My Message." Click the "Item Color" button to choose the color in which text of that kind (in this case, your messages in Napster chat rooms) will appear.

In addition to simply typing a message, you can use the text box below the main chat window for other purposes. Here's a list of commands that Napster chat supports.

/me : Typing /me before your message lets you create an "emotion" by writing about yourself in the third person and in the color of your choice. To choose the color, select "Emotion (/me)" on the Schemes tab of your Preferences, and pick an item color.

Without the /me command, but having set "My Message" to red, you might post to a chat room as follows:

<user name> i am happy to be here

By setting "Emotion/me" to red and typing /me before your message, you can convey your feelings like this:

* user name is happy to be here

/whois <user name> : Typing /whois followed by a user name opens a window with basic information about that user, including how long that person has been logged on, the number of files he or she is sharing, connection speed, and more. You can also access user information from the Napster Actions menu or by right-clicking user names in the chat room user list or your Hot List.

/join room : This command gives you another way to join a chat room.

/part : This command gives you another way to leave a chat room.

Chat room etiquette

Now that you're ready to start chatting, you should be aware of some basic chat room etiquette.

Typing in ALL CAPS gives the sense that you're yelling. As when you actually yell, the people around you tend not to like it - so don't use ALL CAPS often.

While we do have a swear filter in place, the Napster Community frowns on excessive swearing.

Advertising for profit or other commercial reasons is prohibited. Anyone caught posting commercial advertising messages will be muzzled. However, posting information about your personal website or other personal projects is acceptable.

Finally, anything that prevents users from carrying on a conversation is prohibited. The most common disruptive actions are flooding (sending one posting after another so quickly other users can't post their messages) and spamming (sending irrelevant, excessively long, or otherwise obnoxious messages).

You are responsible for the content of your chat room postings and your Instant Messages. Please keep all abusive, harmful, threatening, hateful, and otherwise objectionable content out of the Napster Community. Napster has the right (but not the obligation) at all times to edit, refuse to post, or to remove any messages that we deem inappropriate or harmful to the user experience.

Ignoring users

If you find that another Napster user doesn't follow chat room etiquette, or if you simply don't like someone you encounter through Napster, you can screen out a user's messages by "Ignoring" that user. When you Ignore a user, you will no longer see any chat postings or Instant Messages from that person. The user will also be added to your Ignore List.

There are three ways to Ignore a user.

1. Right-click menu : While you're in a chat room, you can right-click the name of any user appearing in the chat room user list, then choose "Ignore User."

2. Ignore List : You can also use the Ignore List window to ignore users. To view the list of users you've Ignored, go to the Napster Actions menu, then choose "View Ignore List."

   To "Unignore" users from this window, highlight a user name, then click "Remove." Or you can remove your entire Ignore List by clicking the "Clear" button.

3. Instant Message window : Whenever you receive an Instant Message, you have the option of Ignoring the user who sent the message to you. Just click the "Ignore User" button in the Instant Message window.

Unignoring users

You can "Unignore" users whom you've Ignored. When you Unignore a user, you once again see any messages that person posts to a chat room or sends to you privately via an Instant Message.

There are two ways to Unignore a user.

1. Right-click menu : While you're inside a chat room with someone you've Ignored, you can right-click that person's user name in the user list on the right and then choose "Unignore User."

2. Ignore List : You can also use the Ignore List window to remove users from your Ignore List. To view the list of users you've Ignored, go to the Napster Actions menu, then choose "View Ignore List." To Unignore users from this window, highlight a user name, then click "Remove." Or you can remove your entire Ignore List by clicking the "Clear" button.

Chat preferences

The Chat tab in your Napster Preferences gives you a few ways to control your chat experience. To get to the Chat Preferences, go to the File menu and choose Preferences, then click the Chat tab.

Instant Messages

In addition to using chat rooms, you can also chat privately with any Napster user online at the same time as you. To chat with a user outside a public chat room, send that user an Instant Message. Use this feature to get suggestions for new music, to chat about your favorite artists or songs, or just to say thank you for a music file.

Sending an Instant Message

To send an Instant Message, either right-click a user name anywhere in the Napster application and choose "Instant Message," or choose "Instant Message" from the Actions menu in the Napster menu bar. Either action will open an Instant Message window on your screen.

1. Main text window
   Shows the name of the chat room you're in.

2. Message input field
   Type your message here.

3. Add User to Hot List button
   Click here to add this user to your Hot List.

4. Ignore User button
   Click here to add this user to your Ignore List. When you Ignore a user, you'll no longer see any chat postings or Instant Messages from this user.

5. User Information button
   Click here to see some basic information about this user.

Receiving an Instant Message

When you receive an Instant Message, the message will appear either in a new window or in your private chat room, depending on how you set your Chat Preferences.

If you set your Preferences to "Display my incoming private messages in separate windows," each incoming Instant Message will appear in a new window. To respond, simply type your message in the text box and press the Enter key.

If you've chosen not to receive Instant Messages in separate windows, they'll appear in the private chat room in the Chat area (where the Napster Message of the Day appears). You won't be notified when a private message appears in this chat room, so you may want to check it regularly.