I’ve started seeing posters and commercials and such for Napster alot recently. The way they are mis-representing their service really pisses me off, and I’ve had a few people ask me about them vs. itunes so I’m going to just explain what the big deal is.If you haven’t seen the ads, here is what i’m talking about.
The ad shows the Napster mascot holding a sign that says it costs $10,000 to fill an ipod where it only costs $15.95 a month to fill a napster compatible player. Wow, great deal. Unfortunately it doesn’t say that if you buy a year long subscription to Napster’s service and download a few hundred albums you’re screwed when you decide to cancel your subscription. All those albums you ‘bought’ weren’t bought at all, they were leased. If you try to play the songs that are on your computer after you cancel your Napster account - they wont play. Try to play the songs on your mp3 player - forget it, they wont work either. In fact you have to sync your mp3 player fairly often with your computer so that it can check your subscription status.Sounds a lot less appealing when you realize the $180 you spend on Napster service last year leaves you with nothing this year…unless you spend another $180 with them. Oh, and if you think: “Well, i’ll just burn the songs to a CD and get around that little issue. Sorry. In order to burn songs to a CD, you have to (get this) pay $0.99 per song for that option.
Anyone that remembers cassettes and the inception of CD’s probably already has a fair collection of CD’s already. In fact, 99% of the music currently on my ipod (about 2000 songs) are from CD’s that i’ve copied to my computer. I don’t think I’m alone in the idea that most of the music I will own in my life-time, I already have. So for anyone that has a fairly extensive music collection won’t likely need access to everything in Napsters selection for their monthly fee.
I’m not saying that for some people isn’t a good idea because the subscription idea has merit for someone who’s younger and may not have an extensive collection or who’s tastes change depending on what station of the radio is playing. Just be careful and read the small print before you sign-up for a service like Napster.
