As we noted yesterday, Napster has now rolled out the world's largest DRM-free MP3 store. In the spirit of the Amazon MP3 review we ran last year, I thought I would take Napster for a spin to see how the service works from a Mac-user's perspective.
The first thing to note is that this is a download service. While Napster continues to run its subscription-based service (with downloads limited to Windows computers with Microsoft DRM), you do not need a subscription to purchase MP3s from the Napster Store (though you need an account, of course). Once downloaded the files are just straight 256kbps MP3s that should play without problem on any of a variety of devices. With that in mind, let's have a look at the Napster experience.
Napster has announced that it is now offering DRM-free MP3 downloads that play on the iPod family and the iPhone. Furthermore, the library is 6 million songs which puts it in the same league as the iTunes Store, and indeed far eclipses the latter in DRM-free offerings. The MP3s are 256kbps and cost 99 cents per track with "most" MP3 albums at $9.95.
Personally, I had long since moved most of my download music buying to Amazon MP3 to take advantage of the DRM-free offerings (and slightly lower price) versus the iTunes Store. The main disadvantage to Amazon MP3 was the smaller library; now with Napster offering a similar sized library to the iTunes Store it will be interesting to see if and how Apple responds. Indeed it will be interesting to see if Apple is able to respond with more DRM-free music since it seems clear that the record companies are basically triangulating against Cupertino in a bid to undermine Apple's online music dominance.
AOL's Music Now, yet another iTunes Store competitor, has announced they are closing their doors in favor of lending the space to Napster (disclosure reminder: we're an AOL property). In a press release this morning, Napster announced it is partnering with AOL to integrate their services into the AOL Music Now site, and customers will be notified that their accounts are being rolled over into the new service, with the ability to opt out. Of course, AppScout, who found this, has already asked one good fundamental question: "Naster and AOL join forces to create... what?"
Let us all take a moment of silence for AOL's fallen service.
Wired has a good article up about the various digital music vendors: Urge, Napster, Rhapsody, eMusic and iTunes. They compare and rate the services. In the end, they chose iTunes as their editor's pick, pointing out that although iTunes has no subscription plan at this time, its combination of easy-to-use shopping plus the huge catalog of music, TV and video makes iTunes the most compelling digital vendor. At the bottom of the pack was Napster with its three-device playback restrictions and limited device compatibility. eMusic won on pricing (about $0.25 apiece, if you buy all the tracks you're allowed) and their DRM-free tunes.
You kids and your bittorrents. Why, I remember when I was in college and Napster was all the rage (this was when Napster was new, and still cool). We had one source for our downloads and we liked it.
Now everyone is bittorrenting files to and fro (only open source software and the like, I am sure), and now there is a new OS X bittorent client called Xtorrent. This is from Dave Watanabe, the creator of NewsFire, so you know it is going to be pretty. Xtorrent has a bunch of neat features, and is now available as a beta. Check it out, bugs and all (I mean, it is a beta).
Forget the bluetooth Mighty Mouse, today's huge news is that Metallica's catalog has been added to the iTunes Music Store [iTunes link]. You may remember how vehemently anti-download this band has been since the Napster days. Either the guys have mellowed a bit (isn't that what this movie was about?) or they've seen the dollar signs. Either way, their music is available today.
The
big news of the day regarding your local digital music purveyor is that Napster has announced that it is now free. Sort of. After you register for an account you can listen to any of
their 2 million tracks (in their entirety) five times, the sixth time you are prompted to either buy the track or
subscribe to Napster.
I think this is a brilliant move on Napster's part, though I doubt it will really help
them that much. However, I do hope that this forces the iTunes Music Store to do something similar (those 30 second
clips just don't cut it).
Posted Mar 21st 2006 2:00PM by Dave Caolo Filed under: iTS
Do you remember
when Napster was huge (about ten years ago), and digital file sharing was on everyone's minds? Metallica and The Red Hot
Chili Peppers were sort of leading the anti-p2p charge. Several years later, when the iTunes Music Store demonstrated
that the online distribution of music could be accomplished successfully, the Peppers refused to participate, stating
that (among other things), they didn't like that customers were able to purchase individual tracks, as it interrupted
the flow of the album, or some other artsy thing like that.
Anyway, this is why I was very surprised to find
nine Peppers albums in the iTMS this morning [iTunes link],
including some exclusive stuff and videos. I'm glad you guys have come around.
Napster's
CEO, Chris Gorog, has pointed
a finger at Microsoft for the dominance of the iTunes iPod combination in the digital music market. The frustrated
CEO is upset with Microsoft's DRM technology and its relationship with hardware manufacturers, commenting on what many
feel is the root of iPod competitors' problem: “It’s a lot more complex to get organized properly
than it is to build one device and one service as Apple has done." While the debate surrounding whether Apple
should license their iTunes DRM or open iPod hardware platform has many layers, there is certainly something to be said
with how solid Apple is able to build this platform simply because they manage it from start to finish.
Check
out the rest of the Reuters
article for interviews from both Napster and Real on the state of the digital music market, as well as a humorous
prediction from Gorog: "Ultimately, the consumer electronics giants ... are all going to come to this Windows
Media party," he said. "This is really going to be the ubiquitous format."
As we noted yesterday, Napster has now rolled out the world's largest DRM-free MP3 store. In the spirit of the Amazon MP3 review we ran last year, I thought I would take Napster for a spin to see how the service works from a Mac-user's perspective. 
AOL's Music Now, yet another iTunes Store competitor, has announced they are closing their doors in favor of lending the space to Napster (disclosure reminder: we're an AOL property). In a 
Forget the 
Do you remember
when Napster was huge (about ten years ago), and digital file sharing was on everyone's minds? Metallica and The Red Hot
Chili Peppers were sort of leading the anti-p2p charge. Several years later, when the iTunes Music Store demonstrated
that the online distribution of music could be accomplished successfully, the Peppers refused to participate, stating
that (among other things), they didn't like that customers were able to purchase individual tracks, as it interrupted
the flow of the album, or some other artsy thing like that.
Napster's
CEO, Chris Gorog, has 
