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It's 1998 inside a dorm room at Northeastern University in Boston.

18-year-old Sean Fanning taps away feverishly at his PC keyboard,

his pale face illuminated by a glowing screen.

Sean, an amateur computer programmer, is working on something that's been taking up more

and more of his time lately, an idea for a new piece of software that allows users to share

digital music files for free.

Sean takes a slurp from Pesodica. His dorm is cluttered with stacks of unread books and piles

of dirty clothes. Ever since he started building the software,

Sean studies, as well as his personal hygiene, have fallen by the wayside.

Deciding to take a break from coding, Sean instead logs into an internet chat room.

This is where Sean feels most comfortable, among his fellow computer wizards.

He types out a message, outlining his idea for the music sharing platform.

He explains that right now, pulling MP3 files off the internet is time consuming and unreliable.

If people could share their digital music libraries,

users would have immediate access to millions of songs without having to buy CDs.

But to Sean's disappointment, nobody in the chat room seems to share his vision,

except for one individual. A message appears on Sean's screen.

It's from 19-year-old Sean Parker, a precocious young tech entrepreneur from California.

Parker likes Sean's idea, and the two teenagers make plans to collaborate.

...