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DEL.ICIO.USOld dog Napster learns new tricks, wins best in show
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Geekboy’s journey through the sad digital landscape that is pay-for-play music websites draws to an end.
So far, Yahoo’s Music Machine and Apple’s iTunes have proven unworthy of my cash.
If you have an iPod, you are pretty much stuck with iTunes. No other pay-for-play site really supports the iPod because Apple doesn’t want them to. If you have a different portable music device, like the very nice Creative MP3 players, you have better options.
Rhapsody, which is owned by Real Networks, the folks that pioneered streaming media, appears to be OK at first. It looks great, burns CDs and has awesome online radio stations.
But the songs you download are in the Real Audio Protected file format (rax) and will only play in Real Player, the most bloated piece of junk software on my computer.
So forget Rhapsody. You can do better.
Napster is like an old college friend who grew up to be a lawyer. You don’t want to like him, but you can’t help yourself.
Napster, if you recall, was a file-sharing program that first stood the music industry on its ear. It was shut down in 2001 after a flurry of lawsuits not seen since the final Ford Pinto exploded.
Napster was created by a college dropout in 1999 during a 60-hour coding marathon. It was brilliant. Napster allowed computer users to share and swap files, specifically music, through a centralized file server. Current peer-to-peer clients such as Limewire borrow heavily from Napster but do not use a centralized file server, making them almost impossible to shut down through legal means.
Now Napster is a pay-for-play music website, the latest incarnation of Pressplay, the much-maligned site first foisted upon the public by a consortium of record companies.
Napster has a great interface; once you see it, you will forget iTunes exists.
And Napster burns CDs with no problems, has the great online radio stations that you can fast forward through, has artist information by the renowned “All Music Guide” and, best of all, anything you download is in a file format WinAmp can play.
For the $15 monthly fee, you’re allowed unlimited downloads. You can put music on up to three non-iPod portable players and log in and listen on up to three computers.
The problem here, as with all other pay-for-play sites that allow you to download a track without buying it, is that once your quit paying the monthly fee, the download quits working unless you have also purchased it.
If you want to keep the songs or burn them to a CD, you have to buy them, not just download them. A song costs 99 cents at Napster.
I bought Elliott Smith’s “Kill Rock Stars” album for $9.99 and burned it with no problem.
Will I pay $15 a month to keep the music playing at Napster? Probably not.
I think the best choice for most people is pretty simple. If you have an iPod, use iTunes.
It is the only site that supports Apple products. iTunes fails on several fronts, however. If you buy a song, your name and who knows what other personal info is included in the file header. If you like having your rights trampled on, more power to you. Also, I could not get the CD burning software to work at iTunes. Other lows are the 30-second audio clips and pitiful radio stations. You can listen to and download the whole song on other sites and the radio stations are much better. Since you can’t download a whole song at iTunes without buying it, there is no monthly fee, something unique in this roundup.
If you have a non-iPod music device, you have choices to make.
Yahoo is cheapest, $12 a month for unlimited music downloads, burnable tracks are 79 cents. The Launchcast radio station sound quality is not as good as Napster or Rhapsody, and overall the user experience falls a little short. I did not try to burn a CD here, but I am told it is possible. Downloads are “wma” format and can be played in WinAmp or most other players, so that’s a plus.
Rhapsody and Napster offer unlimited music downloads for $15 a month, burnable tracks are 99 cents. Both sites are very well designed and I had no technical problems with them.
Both burned CDs with no problem.
But Rhapsody files are in their proprietary “rax” format, which means you have to use Real Player if you want to listen to downloaded songs later. Their software stinks. I refuse to use it as my main media player.
I liked Napster the best. The “wma” file format can be played in WinAmp and the radio stations are awesome. The interface is the best.
If new music is your life, you will like any of the four. If you have a PC, I suggest Napster and Yahoo. If you have an Apple, or an iPod, go with iTunes.
Personally, I will stick to buying CDs from Amazon.com. I can listen to samples there and order what I want. Used CDs on Amazon or eBay are cheap and a factory CD will always sound better than what is downloaded from the Internet. And call me old fashioned, but I like thumbing through the literature that comes with a CD.
And best of all, once you own the CD, the record companies can’t take it away from you if you decide to quit paying their monthly extortion fees.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By david
February 27, 2006 03:41 PM | Link to this
Between XM and Sirius like what…8 million people are subscribed to sattellite radio
gasp if you don’t pay XM/Sirius you LOSE YOUR MUSIC
geee anything I want to rent i have to keep paying for to use
not a hard concept
By Blonsky
February 27, 2006 03:45 PM | Link to this
Music downloads are subject to the agreements you make when joining. If, for example, iTunes allows you to burn 3 CD’s with the downloaded music, the CD’s become your personal property like any other CD, and you have the right to back it up or rip the songs as MP3’s. One should always back up purchased music, preferably in CD form in case there is a glitch with the computer.
By Mike
February 27, 2006 04:24 PM | Link to this
So if I buy a Creative or toshiba MP3 player and I get Napster at 15 bucks a month, i can put those unlimited monthly songs on the mp3 player or do i have to download them for 99 cents a peice. In other words, you pay the 15 bucks a month just so you can listen to the songs on that computer that you use and nowhere else.
By Julie Greer
February 27, 2006 05:53 PM | Link to this
I don’t think you’ve amplified the difference between owning and renting music enough. Though some rental sites allow purchases, the cost is an addition to their monthly subscription. So, that 89 or 99 cent song as actually costing much more.
Also, the iTunes Music Store offers much more than music. If a person wants audio books, movies, TV shows, and most podcasts, he can one-stop shop there.
Last, but not least, it is really unusual for someone to have a problem with the iTunes software. Elementary school children use it successfully.
By D
February 27, 2006 06:21 PM | Link to this
Just curious: Did you try MusicMatch? Their downloads are 99 cents, play as WMAs on my Rio Carbon, and there is no monthly fee. So far, I’ve had no problems burning to CDs either.
By Geekboy
February 27, 2006 06:38 PM | Link to this
MIKE — If you pay the monthly fee at the non-Apple sites you can slam your non-iPod full of tunes.
You can download as much as you want, I think they all have more than 1 million songs, so it will keep you busy. You don’t have to pay 99 cents per track, just the monthly charge, $15 at Napster.
You only need to pay the per-track charge if you want to burn the songs onto a traditional audio CD.
By Mike
February 28, 2006 12:46 PM | Link to this
I am so glad you added what you will continue to do: buy CD’s. I am a huge music fan. I own about 1500 CD’s and continue to buy them. Like you, I buy almost all at Amazon.com. Just like you, I like better sound quality and the literature that comes with a CD. If you can buy at CD for the same price as downloading it, and end up with something that sounds better, why wouldn’t you do it? I have a Sandisk mp3 player and load it with music all the time. Plus I get to listen to music in with the best sound quality available. To me, that’s what it’s all about…the sound.
By Richard
February 28, 2006 01:20 PM | Link to this
No argument about preferences for music sites that are used for downloading and burning tunes, but I don’t do that, so I find Rhapsody really useful. Instead of the $15 fee for downloadable tracks, I pay $10, which lets me listen to as many as I like on the computer. And since it has a Web interface as well, I can listen at work or wherever I can access a PC. Of course, if I were going to get a portable player, that could change, but for now the lower price and pretty incredible selection make it a good deal for me.
By the way, you’re right about RealPlayer being bloatware, but there’s a free alternative (available at the usual download sites) that’s light, clean and plays Real files just fine, and as far as I know it doesn’t contain any gremlins.
By Geekboy
March 2, 2006 11:23 AM | Link to this
Richard - That’s a good point. Rhapsody does make it easier if you are using the service at work, where you might not be able to install software. Rhapsody works through a web browser, which you should have most anywhere.
By Matt
March 2, 2006 03:48 PM | Link to this
One new problem with buying cd’s is that you may run into copy protection and not be able to burn them to your hard drive. But the sound quality is top for me. I cannot understand why the music sites don’t offer better sound quality for their music.
By ManNMotion
March 3, 2006 09:53 AM | Link to this
Hmmm…
Can accounts at Napster be shared? Kind of like a stolen credit card? Not that I would do such a thing.
By Geekboy
March 3, 2006 12:37 PM | Link to this
I think you can legally install Napster on 3 computers with one account, so yes, it appears it is made to share with people you trust.
Since they have your credit card info, anyone you share with can run up a huge bill rather quickly, so I would only share with the wife, husband, older children, etc.