I just registered for a Napster account to see what all the buzz is about. Napster recently announced that it has made available its two million song catalog for free listening. By signing up for a free account on its ad-supported website, you're able to play any song—including those of major record labels—on-demand up to five times each. No credit cards, no plug-ins and no music player downloads. According to USA Today, Napster is able to support free music offerings thanks to online advertisers and approval from the record labels, who "will get a cut of the ad revenue."
So a "new" Napster is back and offering whole song sampling legally, instead of the short clips we're accustomed to. Being able to listen to a song up to five times is really not a bad deal, especially if you want to sample whole albums or new tunes before buying; gives you room for a little musical exploration. If you like the song, you can purchase the track for 99 cents or an album for $11.95.
Once you create an account for this Free Service, you can pretty much listen to anything on the site. The player allows you to fast forward through tracks, and plays the entire playlist or album continuously without any interruptions. As far as sound quality goes, it sounds worst than an Internet radio station. To be honest, I couldn't bear the sound for long. It was giving me a headache after five minutes. So yes, it's free, but the sound quality is not the best at 32kbps. After listening to a whole album, you'll want to upgrade to their Napster subscription which is $9.95/mo, no ads, CD-Quality, no play limits and unlimited downloading. But before you do, read their FAQ. As it happens, all those "free downloads" are only free as long as you pay a monthly fee.
Be aware that if you download songs from Napster, you can't load them on your iPod without first burning them onto a CD. Why? Because they are not compatible with iPods, yet Napster offers an alternative by supporting about 75 other MP3 players. Bummer! Even though the site has banners, I didn't feel overwhelmed by them. Most of the time I didn't even notice them. Overall, I think Napster has taken a step in the right direction by offering this free service. Let's hope iTunes will someday follow.
Is anyone a current iPod owner with a Napster subscription? I'd like to hear about your experience transferring Napster downloads into an iPod?
http://tech.yahoo.com/blog/hughes/112;_ylt=Ag5gEeDnxtpDK86Mu2IwKZoSLpA5
