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A Quick Look At The New $5 Napster

Napster

What Do You Think Of The New Napster?

I've spent some time on the new Napster service over the last few days, and aside from a less than intuitive interface, I can't find much to dislike.  At just $5 a month for unlimited streaming of a deep catalog along with 5 mp3's monthly, the service is effectively free.  And if I'm in Napster previewing a track or album (and since they've already got my credit card), why not just buy it there instead of jumping over to Amazon or iTunes?

Reports are that Napster got a special deal on streaming licenses from the labels…

in part because they tied listening so closely to purchase. There is probably no one size fits all model that will dominate the digital music future. Many (myself included) love Spotify both for its model and an iTunes like interface. But imeem, Pandora, Last.fm and others also each approach music discovery and enjoyment from their own intriguing angles. 

I suspect that there's an audience for the new $5 model, paticularly for those comfortable with the Napster and parent Best Buy brands.  What do you think of the new Napster? Where are you discovering and enjoying music?

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8 Comments

  1. I subscribed when I heard about it; hard to beat, since I use Napster Lite (the purchase only side) as one of my MP3 buying places anyway. There’s plenty of older stuff that I like and don’t have (I never collected all that many CDs), so I can easily find 5 songs a month to download.
    That being said, I don’t usually find NEW music there, though I guess that could change at some point. Right now that’s more word of mouth, Amie St., indie blog, etc. type discoveries. Major labels don’t impact my new music experience much.

  2. My only question about Napster is how is the quality? Spotify’s stream is really really good as they use a higher bit rate Ogg Vorbis stream. Not to mention the streaming is very smooth and I’ve only had interruptions on public wireless connections. I’m really tempted into checking this out, mainly because it will work with my Squeezebox and Spotify doesn’t.

  3. I never considered paying for streaming but when Napster offered 5 downloads and unlimited streaming for $5 per month, I subscribed because I got something for my money and the ability to sample music and take a chance listening to artists and genres that I never would have been exposed to if I had to pay for it. I am not cheap, I spend money on music. I go to shows, buy CDs, subscribe to eMusic, and download singles from Amazon and iTunes. I have discovered bands on Pandora and Slacker and I hope to do the same on Napster. These bands have benefited because I have purchased concert tickets and bought their CDs.
    We can no longer depend on Radio Stations and MTV to expose us to new music. We must rely on the Internet and word of mouth. I think Napster is on the right track and I will continue to support them with this current subscription package.

  4. The price sounds reasonable, but how deep is their catalogue of independent labels?

  5. I actually buy music from download specialty stores like Boomkat because they offer exclusive stuff in non mainstream genres that napster, apple, nor iTunes would ever have or have in inventory at a much later date.

  6. I’ve used them for a while now. I see my friends at iTunes not being able to load their player full of tunes just for the monthly fee and wonder what the hell they are doing. Goes to show the power of marketing, way better service than iTunes in my opinion just cause you can load the majority of music to your mini player. And what can’t you plug a mini player into these days?

  7. I’ve signed up for the same reason listed here. I never thought I’d bother with streaming subscriptions, but it certainly streamlines the search and listen process, and 256kbps MP3s work well for me, though not all available downloads are 256. Jury’s still out over-all, however, as there are holes in the catalog. If iTunes adjusts its offerings I’m sure people will welcome it. Just goes to show that we’ll all keep thinking about what works best for any given need.

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