Napster download feature |
Loading ...In my detailed review of Napster on launch day this Wednesday I didn’t fully explain Napster’s download feature, which does set them a bit more apart from Rhapsody. If you are a paid Premium member ($9.95 a month) then you can download the full songs that are available for streaming on their service to your computer to be able to play offline at 128K, instead of the 96k that the streams run at. Below is a screenshot showing the DRM licensing properties for these songs:
The buzz on the Napster messageboards is that as long as premium members keep paying the monthly fee, the DRM will be renewed before 12/13/2003. So, actually, Napster is giving users a chance to listen should their streaming service be down for some reason. This doesn’t change my grade of a B, because that grade was mostly based on their music selection at the time I reviewed it (which continues to improve, btw), but it certainly does add another dimension to their service. Very cool!
Comments about Napster 2.0:
Dave stopped by from Dave’s Chalkboard and writes: “They are going to have to do a better job than that to win me over from iTunes for songs for my iPod.”
Dave also writes at his blog in Napster 2.0 Review update: Now is Napster’s music player any good. To be perfectly honest, I haven’t been able to tell. I tried to put some of my songs on a different computer into Napster’s player, only to find that Napster’s player wouldn’t show me computers on my LAN.
Dave, should you stop by and read this (I trackbacked this entry to help out), you might want to try the Napster plug-in for Windows Media Player. You can see it running in the screenshot above. Very handy and allows you to skip using Napster’s interface and use Windows Media Player instead.
Napster 2.0 and other Online Music Articles
news.com: Legal Napster up and running
BBC News: Napster still has the edge
TechTV: New Napster Busts Out of Beta
ZDNet UK: RealPlayer Chief says it now has 250,000 online music subscribers
More blogging about legal online music services
Napster 2.0 goes live from Ars Technica
smackmybishop: “kenny freaking loggins? uninstalled.”
Jason recaps his invite to the Napster 2.0 party at The House of Blues and Koga thinks maybe his invite got lost in the mail (j/k)
Daniel thinks Napster is a sellout and modified the Napster logo
Ken Edwards, a fellow Blogcritic who reports from the Mac perspective in his blog, points to my Napster review, thanks Ken! 
Jennifer from Canada is endlessly frustrated that Napster doesn’t say upfront that it is only for US residents
- Listen to Napster streaming songs up to five times for free
- Review: Buymusic.com
- How to access Napster downloaded songs on Xbox 360 without Media Center
- More legal online music services info including prerelease review of new Napster
- Xeni at Boing Boing on Napster-to-Go: “sounds pretty craptastic”
- Diary of a legal music downloader: My new AAA buying strategy
Thanks for clearing up how the subscription system works and what it’s really used for. All the ads say “unlimited downloads” and don’t really mention that it’s really just a better streaming service. Kind of like MusicMatches premium service but better.
As to the Napster 2.0 music player, last night I installed Napster on the machine with all the songs on it and had Napster log all the songs. I was disappointed. It’s about as good as the Windows Media Player. I wonder if Apple has a patent on using Genre to help limit the selection of songs in the interface. I have yet to see any other media player use Genre to limit the list of songs. At least Napster was quick in getting the list up on the screen. MusicMatch is still the slowest.
If I knew that all the songs being sold were also available for “streaming” in Napster, It would be hard to pass up the feature. I have always “complained” that the 30 second preview is useless and I want to be able to hear the songs as I would if I had bought the album. This gives me the chance to determine if I like the album enough to want to purchase it.
I think in the future, these music stores are going to have to do something to help music buyers make that decision. I have noticed that I have purchased many more songs as singles than as albums. I am basically purchasing the songs I like from hearing them on the radio or Internet radio and leave the other songs on the album alone. There are certain bands I buy albums without listening to them because I know I will like them.
I think record labels are going to find it hard to sell albums unless there is some way to let customers “try before they buy”. Hopefully they won’t try making it so that the only way to buy a song is to buy the entire album. That would kill this online music store system real quick.
Comment by Dave — October 31, 2003 @ 9:08 am PST
i am not impressed with napster because i downloaded it and then it would not let me sign in because when i downloaded it, it did not give me the option to make a “member name” and a password, aslo it said costs were free, i have not been able to find a decent free music downloader, i dont remcomend napster to any one.
Comment by lou — August 15, 2004 @ 12:57 pm PST
lou - Napster never says (that I’m aware of anyway) that they offer “totally free downloads” — well, not version 2.0 of Napster anyway. The original Napster did so and of course that helped to spawn all the legal moves over the legitimacy of music swapping online via P2P. Once you pay their monthly fee (10 bucks a month) you can download quite a bit of music for free. Not all their library, though, which is annoying and which I mentioned in my detailed review mentioned above. That whole “buy only” thing is a bummer.
Comment by TDavid — August 15, 2004 @ 1:15 pm PST
thank u very very much 4 the napster i realy aprishiate it!_!
Comment by Omer — April 23, 2006 @ 8:57 am PST