The comparison to XM and Sirius would make a lot more sense if you could get Napster in your car, too.  They need to leverage something like Verizon’s new high-speed wireless network and convince someone like Samsung to create a Napster-ready car stereo.

Napster’s radio service would be much bigger draw than their DRM’d downloads.  That’s what they need to develop.

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Well, first of all, it actually costs $25 per month (10 for napster and 15 for napster to go).

Also, can you put the napster music on CDs?
If you can then I guess you could pay for one month of the service and then burn thousands of songs on CDs…

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I’m with Falcoboy7.  If I can burn the songs to a CD then it would be well worth the 25 bucks!  Anyone know if this is possible?

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I have XM - and the thing I like best about it is that it gives me the opportunity to find new music (which I then go and buy on iTunes). Picking your own playlist is great, if you have the time to be constantly browsing for new music - or if you don’t mind constantly listening to the moldy oldies in your library.

IMO, there’s a place for both high-quality radio (with good DJs that pick great tunes and no commercials) AND pick-your-songs services.

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I do see some merit in having a Sat Radio system, but the devices are just too expensive for me at this time.  I wouldn’t mind having a XM or Sirius ready stereo in my car but I won’t until the price drops.

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$15 a month is just way too much for most people to spend on music. If it’s really $25 (you sure about that falco?), then no freaking way.

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It’s only $14.95 a month for Napster To Go. Not $25. I have it and I am loving it.

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Ron,

Could you fill us in on the CD thing?  Is it possible to burn these songs to a disc?

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Sure, Napster-To-Go works, but only if you employ those radio services Many people still use free P2P clients, and I can guarantee they feel they’re getting the better deal.

But then, there’s always a better deal for everything somewhere, somehow

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Exactly how does the Ipod, or a CD even, know when the subscription is expired to make the mp3s non fuctional? 

“The kicker here of course is that since you are subscribing to the content, once you decide to end the subscription everything you downloaded goes away.”

Please explain how it goes away?  Magic? A rep from Napster breaks into my place and destroys my CD?  Does my entire collection now become illegal? If so, then I am glad that I am not paying for MP3s. 

Once burned to CD-R, it cannot be written to…duh!

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napster’s DRM stinks, if people pay for something, they want to be able to keep it.

comparing it to sat radio for playlists, ehhh….i can do that already without napster. the issue with sat radio is not that you can make playlists or whatever, that’s not the function of radio. i can hook up my ipod to my car, o rmake a mp3 cd to play in my car, but i still listen to the radio.
sat radio is for those who want more than what’s offered in regular radio, and are willing to pay the premium. its for travelers who actually want to be able listen to one station they enjoy, across the country/globe. you ever take a road trip? once you get past a certain limit, whatever radio statio you were once listening too just faded away, and now you’re listening to the yearly farm report. not cool. in addition, its for those that hate hearing countless advertisements on free radio(although i hear some stations are starting to put ads).  those who pay for sat radio have their reasons, and they feel like its worth it to them. those who pay for napster, are paying for something they don’t even get to keep.

you could try comparing it to cable tv, but even then, you have Tivo and the likes, which allow you to keep the media, and it doesn’t erase if you ever end the subscription, you can just rip the hdd out,lol.

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<p>I think this is more like it</p>

<a href=“http://homepage.mac.com/more4yourmoney/PhotoAlbum1.html”>http://homepage.mac.com/more4yourmoney/PhotoAlbum1.html</a>

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The thing i dont like about it is how we cant access the music anymore once our subscrbtion is over. Its like i paid $15 to preview the songs for a month

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This is actually a good comparison. Napster’s service shouldn’t be compared to iTunes at all. Well, at least it shouldn’t be compared to the iTunes store.
The only thing satellite radio has over Napster is the sports and talk show programming.

A couple of points:
1) No, you cannot burn the downloaded songs to CD. At least until someone figures out a hack for the encoding software.
2) Its that encoding software, no I don’t know what its called, that causes the file to be deleted after 30 days if you haven’t signed in to Napster to automatically renew the license.
3) You can burn CDs if you actually buy the songs or CDs. This part works the same as iTunes. $.99 a song or $9.99 per CD.

The last point is where I think a change needs to be made. If a user subscribes to Napster for $14.95 a month then they should be offered the music at a discount. $.49 a song our $4.99 per CD since they are already shelling out $15 a month. If they did that then I would be a user for life, or at least until the next big thing…

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F that, Napster is a ripoff…

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“Exactly how does the Ipod, or a CD even, know when the subscription is expired to make the mp3s non fuctional?”

They don’t. You can’t subscribe music if you have iPod. You are not allowed to burn to CDs your subscribed music. Legally, anyway. And the music is not in MP3 format or AAC format. It’s in the Microsoft’s stupid WMA format with JAnus DRM.

“Please explain how it goes away?  Magic? A rep from Napster breaks into my place and destroys my CD?  Does my entire collection now become illegal? If so, then I am glad that I am not paying for MP3s.”

The software keeps track of your subscription and what music you play and how often (I like my privacy, thank you) and report it back to Napster. If your subscription lapses, your software wipes out the songs. You can’t use other non-jAnus compatible player because of the encryption. If you load them to a digital player, it has a timing chip that tracks when your subscription ends and won’t play the songs if your subscription lapses.

“Once burned to CD-R, it cannot be written to…duh!”

Once again, you are NOT allowed to burn subscribed music to Audio CDs (and burning them as is to a data CD is useless because of the encryption). That is in the EULA. You pay or your music goes away. Period.

That being said, of course if you don’t care about the EULA or think it’s unenforceable, there are ways to get around it. Google Winamp and Output Stacker to get more info. You can dump Janused-WMA music to WAV format and reencode it to MP3 or burn it to Audio CDs. Thus, you can end your subscription and still be able to play the music. Is it legal? I’ll leave that to lawyers to answer.

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I think, while Napster exists - before it declares bankruptcy - it is a fantastic opportunity to download permanent copies of songs for an extremely small price. 

In the privacy of our homes, we can record all the songs we can play into WAV or direct to MP3s for permanent use in our collections.  All it takes are free utilities such as Winamp, Output Stacker, and others.  These are essentially versions of StreamRipper - an open source program that records internet radio station streams.

Interestingly, you can run as many copies of WinAmp on your PC as your CPU will support.  One person, for example, was able to run 32 simultaneous copies of WinAmp on his Athlon PC.  Each copy of WinAmp you run on your computer can download Napster files in parallel with others.  Thus, on Napster, you can record up to 10,752 hours of music just within the free 14 day period.  This is equivalent to about 161,280 songs (assuming 4 minutes a song).  This translates to 11,520 songs a day that you can record on your computer.

What this means is that on a single computer, all you need is 87 days to download all 1,000,000 songs in Napster’s collection and convert them to all to permanent DRM-less unprotected MP3s usable in any MP3 player including iPods!!!!!  Thus you only need to get a 3 month subscription to Napster in order to download every single song in their collection using a single PC!!!! 

DO THE MATH!!!! 

With Napster streamripping,  you can get 1,000,000 songs permanently in your collection for only $45.00 - to use any way you want - FOREVER.  After 3 months, you can stop your Napster subscription because you now have EVERY SONG in Napster’s collection.  WOW!!!!!!!!!  You no longer need a Peer-to-Peer network.  You no longer need Gnutella.  You no longer need Limewire. 

DO THE MATH:

Napster = 1,000,000 songs for $45 Permanently in your collection !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s a fire sale.  It’s a candy store for free!!!!!  It’s the bargain of a century!!!!!!!

Wow!!!!  This makes it very tempting to subscribe a very short time on Napster!!!!!

Of course, the primary ones who hurt are the artists and record companies. 

At least with Internet Radio Stations, record companies and artists are paid for each song that is downloaded and streamripped.

Napster does the same as an Internet Radio Station but without the per-song fee paid by Internet Radio Stations.

When you streamrip Napster,  you are paying 0.0045 cents per song when you rip using 32 simultaneous streams.  Assuming 20 songs per album, this is equivalent to paying 0.09 cents per album!!!!!!!  How inexpensive can you get?!!!!!!

RECORD COMPANIES:  ARE YOU READING THIS?!!!!!!!

At 0.09 CENTS PER ALBUM, I doubt record companies, not to mention artists, will make much from Napster.  For a record company, this is equivalent to grossing $900 on a platinum album!!!!!!.

RECORD COMPANIES AND ARTISTS:  ARE YOU READING THIS?!!!!!!!

With iTunes,  you have to pay for the song or album first before you can convert it to MP3 for your own use.  Thus you get your 99-cents per track, and more per album.

With Napster, you pay 0.0045 cents per track,

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Although I think that their pricing model is bound to change, I think Napster is not going anywhere.

Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of subscribers are not going to rip their music. Why would they??? Why would they pay $15 a month to rip songs when they can get them for free off of the P2P network?—For half the trouble.

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Ok, Question.  If I subscribe to Napster To Go for a month, or just use the 14 day free trial, and fill up my MP3 player, and end the subscription, will the songs on my MP3 player disappear? Also, do I have to pay for Napster and Napster To Go (the $25 somebody was talking about)?  Another thing, is there a minimum subscription time, or an early termination fee like with phones?  I know I sound completely computer retarded, but I’m just slightly confused.

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Confuscious,
If you sign up for Napster to Go and end your subscription, your songs will disappear within 30 days. It may be only 14 days for the trial subscription, but that’s just guessing.

Looking at the website, it appears to be just $14.95 a month and .99 for each song you actually purchase as your own.

I haven’t seen any minimum subscription time. I don’t see a need. If you don’t pay, your songs disappear.

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Output stacking is cool…. remember that old piece of #### computer u don’t use anymore? put some beefy harddrives in it and encode away around the clock.. who the #### cares. nice math btw.

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I have napster go because when i bought my dell dj 20 gen2.it came with a 1 month trial to napster to go.Instead of a 7 day one.So i read it on it it showed in bold print never pay 99 cents for a song again but the truth is to buy the song it costs 99 cents and to buy any songs you have to have a subscription to napster which costs 15 dollars a month.and some of the songs even with a napster account costs 99 cents. plus the thing that really makes me mad is that they never tell you until you subscribe to napster that you must connect your dell dj once a month to an active subscription or the tracks will become UNPLAYABLE. just like the other guy said i am paying 15.00 a month just to preview songs for a month.

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Hey, how do you do that output stacking thing?  I want ot pay the mothly for napster to go so my dad wont kill me, but i want t keep the music forever, and it sounds like i can convert stuff on the program please explain to me how this works and waht exactly its called.  Once converted, i have music for life, end subscription and im done…? Right?

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Now let’s look at the mathmatics:

Assume each of the 1,000,000 files is about 4MB in size (a reasonable average for music these days) then you will need to download 4,000,000 MB.

That’s 4,096,000,000 KB or 4,194,304,000,000 bytes or 33,554,432,000,000 bits (nMB x 1024 x 1024 x 8).

Now assume you have a good broadband connection of up to 6Mbps (that’s Mega BITS per second - don’t fall for the media hype it’s bits not bytes and the M = 1000 not 1024 because marketing people don’t understand computers!) and that the connection never slows down, streams at full speed all the time, and we ignore the other 3 bits per byte used for error correction.

That means it will take 5,592,405,333 seconds or 93,206,756 minutes or 1,553,446 hours or 64,727 days or 177ish years to download all the tracks!

To fully re-encode them at 4x speed (which is fastest available recoding speed for DRM locked audio) it will take you 44 years to perform the trans-coding. Of course you could do it on the fly - which means the total recoding time would be 177 years plus a couple of minutes for the last track.

Cost: Assuming your broadband connection costs about $50 a month then the total download cost would be $162,000 plus an additional $31,860 for the subscription to NtG, $12,264 for electricity (a 7cents a kilowatt for the average PC)

That’s $206,124 for a million songs. About 20 cents a song.

Now if each song is about 3.1 minutes long (the average for pop rubbish) that’s 186,000,000 seconds or 3,100,000 minutes or 51,667 hours or 2, 152 days or about 5.9 years worth of music - if you actively listen 24 hours a day.

At the end of this amazing feat you would.
1. Have the second largest music collection in the world - Napster would have the largest because by then more than 2,000,000 songs will be available ( or none if you believe the MPAA etc.)
2. You would be listening to music 176 years old and the copyright would have expired.
3. You would have a hard time getting batteries for your P4S (Janus) player because the latest gadget uses quantum encryption tied directly to your brain via a secure audio path.
4. Due to your immense age you will be too busy to listen to the music you downloaded because of attending medical seminars, and game shows to explain how you have lived so long.

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