930 Forums
=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: vansmack on October 28, 2003, 09:53:00 pm
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Well almost.
Register before October 29th and receive 5 free tracks.
http://www.napster.com/ (http://www.napster.com/)
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me scared.
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Trying it right now.
System Requirements
PC only, Windows XP/2000, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 or higher, Windows Media Player 7.1 or higher, Internet connectivity
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why not just use the itunes store?
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Originally posted by I am Markie. Annoy Mattie:
why not just use the itunes store?
Napster Premium. For $9.95 per month, consumers can enhance their Napster experience by choosing a premium subscription service that offers Unlimited streaming and downloading and access to professionally programmed radio stations AND JUST FOR MARKIE Message boards to share opinions and offer suggestions
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itunes is hooked up with a load of radio staions..... I guess that is what streaming means?
What downloads is napster giving away with the subscription?
I would suggest they use itunes
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Originally posted by I am Markie. Annoy Mattie:
why not just use the itunes store?
The files are WMA and not AAC so they will play on all of my devices.
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WMA does not work with all devices just like AAC. AAC does work with the most popular device though.
KMA
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Originally posted by I am Markie. Annoy Mattie:
WMA does not work with all devices just like AAC. AAC does work with the most popular device though.
KMA
I said all of "my devices." AAC is not supported by my TiVo or by my handheld or by Smackette's MP3 player, all of which support WMA files.
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sure, pinko. <img src="http://www.gras-wien.gruene.at/pics/napster.gif" alt=" - " />
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Originally posted by I am Markie. Annoy Mattie:
What downloads is napster giving away with the subscription?
It looks like nearly the entire collection (half a million songs), however I haven't been able to burn any of the downloads that I didn't purchase.
I downloaded (but did not purchase) the entire Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Fever to Tell" album and it plays on my laptop, Smackette's laptop, TiVo (so through the stereo), and my handheld, but not Smackette's Mp3 player so it looks like you must have Windows Media Player 9.0 to play it, but you can't burn it.
They're also offering a Napster Player that resembles an iPod - 20 GB for $400 with a 10 hour rechargeable battery and an FM tuner and broadcaster (ie, you can set any stereo to a preset FM channel and the songs off of your Napster player play through your stereo).
Lastly, your rights management is portable. If I go to friends house and sign in to his Napster software with my user name and password, I can listen to all of my songs at my friends house. Again, I cannot burn (not sure yet on songs I purchased, but I'd doubt it).
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so that is a cool subscription service and relatively cheap. It will be interesting to see if napster can make money. Apple have been making big noises about music distribution not being a good revenue earner. Perhaps that subscription might help? Is $10 spent on that really better than XM though?
The ipod a like is from samsung. Its original version had to be changed as apple theatened to sue as it was a bit too close to the ipod.
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Originally posted by I am Markie. Annoy Mattie:
Is $10 spent on that really better than XM though?
That's the Million Dollar question, now isn't it?
I think they're banking on the extras being the selling points - the internet radio and the chat boards, but I think most users can find those things for free so it's moot. They also have videos. Since the security is there, I expect iTunes will do the same very soon. If you don't pay your monthly fee, the tracks you downloaded do not play. It's like leasing the right to listen to music...
I think the $9.95 fee will be good to listen to a lot of albums before I buy them, or better yet, have a copy of an album when it first comes out and then buy it used a few weeks to a month later if you like it. I can see myself downloading the album and listening to it when it first comes out. If I like it, keep it on the harddrive for a while and then when I find it in the used bins at Amoeba.
With the leasing option, I will listen to a lot more music now though.
Bottom line on iTunes vs. Napster is whether your preferred choice of file is AAC or WMA. In a few months when every player supports both and iTunes adds the leasing feature, they will be about the same product. That is when the record companies split their catalogs and we have to use both. Joy joy, looking forward to it.
You're right on the Samsung product. One other cool feature is that it records too, so you can record a live preformance on the radio or through the line in. If nothing else it will create competition and maybe the prices for both devices will come down.
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Oh Ok.
I really dont like the lease idea, and I dont think a lot of potential sustomers will either...... We will see. At least with apple you pay for what you get. But then you dont get to listen to very much without paying
The ipod now records as well, but its billed as a dictaphone. I dont think te quality is that great. I cannot see prices coming down much for a while as those microdrives are still pretty expensive.
I expect a lot of companies to get burned. The is Roxio, Dell, Samsung and a few others all trying to compete with the ipod.... But I see ipods all the time, I have never seen another hard drive base mp3 player either in a store or plugged in to someones ears.
I think you might like this website: gizmodo.com
they focus on phones, but its geek tastic
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Originally posted by I am Markie. Annoy Mattie:
At least with apple you pay for what you get. But then you dont get to listen to very much without paying
I'm sorry, with Napster you can also buy songs for 99 cents a song or full albums for $9.95.
They have 30 second snippets of all songs before you buy.
They offer the Premium Service ($9.95 for unlimited downloads or the right to stream full songs/albums if you don't want to take up the harddrive space) on top of their regular service . You can cancel premium service at any time, but when you do you lose the rights to listen to your downloads/streams. Any song you purcahsed you can still listen to.
The services are nearly identical except that Napster allows you to listen to more before buying for a fee. And of course, one is AAC and the other WMA.
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Originally posted by vansmack:
Originally posted by I am Markie. Annoy Mattie:
[qb] I'm sorry [/b]
That makes much more sense......
Competition in this sector could drive down prices..... although apple claimed that their studies showed price was not a mojor determinant in downloading a few songs.
So it comes down to who you trust more. Personally I have more negative connotations with napster than apple.
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Originally posted by I am Markie. Annoy Mattie:
So it comes down to who you trust more. Personally I have more negative connotations with napster than apple.
I hold a tremendous amount of respect for both Steve Jobs and Shawn Fanning. I feel I owe Napster a lot for (a) breaking the ground of mass mp3 downloading [and for taking the fall] and (b) for all the songs I took when they were in their infancy. I feel I owe Apple a lot for bringing the PC up to where it is now. It really comes down to file type for me.
One other thing I just thought of. With this lease thing (and being freindly with your network admin), you could take the entire music collection with you to work via the streaming feature. Now that would be the shit!
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Smackie, I can't burn WMA files either but I can usually convert them to MP3 and then burn them. Have you tried that? Or are they somehow unable to convert? I've run across a few of those.
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Originally posted by Jaguär:
Smackie, I can't burn WMA files either but I can usually convert them to MP3 and then burn them. Have you tried that? Or are they somehow unable to convert? I've run across a few of those.
I have no problem burning most WMA files. I haven't been able to burn the ones that I download from Napster with my subscription without individually purchasing the files (See above for the difference).
I'm working on a couple of different ways to encode the files in either WAV or MP3, but I must say for now, that the lock Napster puts on the files is pretty good.
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anyone heard anything on this site? very little info on their website...
http://www.audiolunchbox.com/ (http://www.audiolunchbox.com/)
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Originally posted by kosmo vinyl:
anyone heard anything on this site? very little info on their website...
http://www.audiolunchbox.com/ (http://www.audiolunchbox.com/)
My friend from Epitaph sent me this today when I asked him about Epitaph artists and Napster:
Audio Lunchbox
AUDIO LUNCHBOX.COM SET TO LAUNCH HALLOWEEN WITH SONGS FROM OVER 35 INDEPENDENT LABELS
ALB WILL DELIVER INDIE LABEL TRACKS FOR .99 WITH UNLIMITED BURNS
"Audio Lunchbox is the premier online destination for downloading the hottest independent music and getting the latest scoop on upcoming and established artists," says Morgan Harris, Audio Lunchbox co-founder. "Our goal is to offer the most complete library of independently distributed digital files in one destination."
Audio Lunchbox, the latest and arguably the most user-friendly digital music store on the Internet, is set for an October 31st launch. ALB will debut with over 40,000 songs from independent record labels in multiple formats for both the PC and Mac platform.
ALB has already secured licensed songs from over 35 independent record labels. Among them, are Epitaph, Artemis, Vagrant, Trustkill, Razor & Tie, Digital Rights Agency and all artists on CDBaby.com. Another 40 labels are expected to follow suit within the next ninety days.
In addition to offering only indie tracks, ALB will boast other selling points setting themselves apart from the competition. First, unlike the majority of download sites, ALB's music is free of DRM (Digital Rights Management), which restricts how many times the user can burn a song or transfer it to another computer. No DRM means that once a user purchases an album or track, they can burn or transfer the files an unlimited number of times. Also, ALB offers three file formats -- MP3s, AACs (format that Apple's iTunes is offering but without the DRM) and Oggs (Vorbis). Oggs are super-high quality audio.
And the best news for the recording industry is ALB is giving users an incentive to buy downloads as opposed to stealing them. Competitive pricing starting with single track downloads at .99 and full-length downloads at $9.99 with Downloadable sleeve art, tracklistings and lyrics available in the near future with most full-length purchases.
"Our goal is to make the purchase of digital music easy and fun," Harris continues. "We don't believe that our users should have restrictions placed on them once they pay to download a song or album. When they download from our site, they can do whatever they want, as long as it's for personal use. Unlimited transfers. Unlimited burns."
ALB is not merely a music download site, but is a lifestyle site as well. Content will also include feature articles on the hottest independent artists, the coolest digital music gear and the newest viral players featuring independent artists. Also, ALB's search engine is "smart". It will recommend other artists to you based upon who you search for.
ALB may very well be a pioneer site that is simultaneously, both buyer and artist friendly, introducing great indie distributed music to the public that they may not otherwise have the opportunity to find on line.
"We're committed to increasing the exposure and availability of independent music to the masses," Harris promises. "We're passionate about what we do and will not rest until our vision is achieved."
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looks like it's going to be iTunes for indepentdent labels using the same pricing model .99 for a single track and 9.99 for the entire record. the key is there no digital rights management (DRM)... damn steve jobs and his pricing structure :mad: it's ruining it for those of us wanting to legally download entire albums without having to pay a hefty price tag. 9.99 is BS for an entire record which can be bought used for less and the files provided are compressed versions of the orginial...
Audio Lunchbox
AUDIO LUNCHBOX.COM SET TO LAUNCH HALLOWEEN WITH SONGS FROM OVER 35 INDEPENDENT LABELS
ALB WILL DELIVER INDIE LABEL TRACKS FOR .99 WITH UNLIMITED BURNS
"Audio Lunchbox is the premier online destination for downloading the hottest independent music and getting the latest scoop on upcoming and established artists," says Morgan Harris, Audio Lunchbox co-founder. "Our goal is to offer the most complete library of independently distributed digital files in one destination."
Audio Lunchbox, the latest and arguably the most user-friendly digital music store on the Internet, is set for an October 31st launch. ALB will debut with over 40,000 songs from independent record labels in multiple formats for both the PC and Mac platform.
ALB has already secured licensed songs from over 35 independent record labels. Among them, are Epitaph, Artemis, Vagrant, Trustkill, Razor & Tie, Digital Rights Agency and all artists on CDBaby.com. Another 40 labels are expected to follow suit within the next ninety days.
In addition to offering only indie tracks, ALB will boast other selling points setting themselves apart from the competition. First, unlike the majority of download sites, ALB's music is free of DRM (Digital Rights Management), which restricts how many times the user can burn a song or transfer it to another computer. No DRM means that once a user purchases an album or track, they can burn or transfer the files an unlimited number of times. Also, ALB offers three file formats -- MP3s, AACs (format that Apple's iTunes is offering but without the DRM) and Oggs (Vorbis). Oggs are super-high quality audio.
And the best news for the recording industry is ALB is giving users an incentive to buy downloads as opposed to stealing them. Competitive pricing starting with single track downloads at .99 and full-length downloads at $9.99 with Downloadable sleeve art, tracklistings and lyrics available in the near future with most full-length purchases.
"Our goal is to make the purchase of digital music easy and fun," Harris continues. "We don't believe that our users should have restrictions placed on them once they pay to download a song or album. When they download from our site, they can do whatever they want, as long as it's for personal use. Unlimited transfers. Unlimited burns."
ALB is not merely a music download site, but is a lifestyle site as well. Content will also include feature articles on the hottest independent artists, the coolest digital music gear and the newest viral players featuring independent artists. Also, ALB's search engine is "smart". It will recommend other artists to you based upon who you search for.
ALB may very well be a pioneer site that is simultaneously, both buyer and artist friendly, introducing great indie distributed music to the public that they may not otherwise have the opportunity to find on line.
"We're committed to increasing the exposure and availability of independent music to the masses," Harris promises. "We're passionate about what we do and will not rest until our vision is achieved."
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great minds post alike...
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Originally posted by kosmo vinyl:
damn steve jobs and his pricing structure :mad: it's ruining it for those of us wanting to legally download entire albums without having to pay a hefty price tag. 9.99 is BS for an entire record which can be bought used for less and the files provided are compressed versions of the orginial...
You're right on the money. But let's see what competition does...
I'm liking the Napster structure ($9.95 a month for unlimited digital downloading and listening, but no burning), then buying the ones I really like in used bins months later. For example Phaser and The Coral, darlings of hipsters months ago, are now $2.95 and $5.95 respectively, at Amoeba.
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emusic is so great they sent me an email saying I downloaded too much, what a bunch of geniuses
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ermmmm
oooops
back to itunes, apple said it doesnt see distributing music as a way of making money. imusic is running at only a modest profit. So either the labels are making tons of cash(but I dont see labels doing well right now) or $10 for an album is a reasonable price afterall.
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Originally posted by pollard:
emusic is so great they sent me an email saying I downloaded too much, what a bunch of geniuses
welcome to the 2k club... or did you get terminated :D
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Originally posted by kosmo vinyl:
welcome to the 2k club... or did you get terminated :D
so i assume you have seen this before? I did not get terminated
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yeah... i just got my first. it was a badge of honor on the old emusic board. having followed the emusic refugees site (http://www.diablo.co.za/mixtape/index.asp) is happening to almost everyone. people don't seem to be getting terminated until they download really excessively 5k to 7k appears to be when some are getting the boot. it's all very arbitary
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The competition among music retailers has begun:
Tower Records has an online sale for $9.99 a CD plus free shipping over $20.
Titles include:
The Postal Service, The Strokes, Death Cab, Thursday, Ima robot, Hot Hot Heat, Wilco, The Stills, The Shins, The Rapture, Kings of Leon, Travis
Any coincidence between the price and the price of a CD on iTunes or Napster?