posted
OK, I'm finally going to give up on CDs altogether and buy me some of 'em fancy MP3s I've been hearing so much about.
But which service is better? When you purchase a song from either Tunes or Napster, are you just buying the file or do you get unlimited updates on the version of the song as newer and better compression technology hits the market?
What I'm afraid of is that I might sink hundreds of dollars into collecting music from these services and then five years from now I cannot use any of the files because they are horribly outdated.
I don't have an iPod if that helps the analysis any?
posted
Are you planning on burning all or most of the songs you download?
If so, get iTunes. There's no subscription, and you can do almost anything with the songs once you buy them.
If you're just going to keep them on the computer, get Napster. There's a $9.99 subscription, but you can download a limitless (I think) number of songs free of charge. If you want to burn them, however, the price is about the same as iTunes.
Posts: 2292 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
For one thing, you can convert songs from your existing CD's to mp3's or the mp3-equivalent for free. You certainly shouldn't feel obliged to purchase mp3's of songs you already own on CD.
Besides that, I don't have any good help. I don't think any of them give you free upgrades to newer qualities, but I also don't think it's been really addressed.
Make sure you're not locking yourself into a subscription model, as paying $10/month for life to listen to their music seems a little ridiculous.
Posts: 1892 | Registered: Mar 2002
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I probably won't burn any CDs. My main use will involve playing them on the computer and my MP3 player.
Once you pay Napster's $10 subscription fee, you can download unlimited amount of songs? Will the mp3 files still work if you later on stop paying for the subscription? If the files will keep working, what stops someone for joining for a month and downloading every single song they want and then quitting? Seems like an unwise business model if that were the case. Posts: 1592 | Registered: May 2000
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posted
fairly certain it's only as long as you're subscribed.
Oh, another big issue: Which store has all the songs you want? Now, a lot of bands are on NONE of the stores, but the stores vary quite a bit by the breadth and sheer quantity of their selection.
Posts: 1892 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
iTunes doesn't have everything, but the sure seem to have a lot. They let you authorize the songs to play on up to 3 computers, plus you can burn whatever you want. It's a pretty good deal, in my opinion.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
Annie the new version that came out this week can be shared on 5 computers but a playlist can only be burned 7 times instead of the previous 10.
Napster songs only work as long as you keep paying the money every month.
Posts: 995 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
Heh - I didn't even know there was a limit on the number of times a playlist can be burned. Is that just an intact playlist? Does that go for individual songs? like, could I create a new playlist with most of the same songs?
I don't know that I'd ever be burning that many copies anyway.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
I never new until I read a write-up of the new version. I assume that you simply would have to create a new playlist, since I think they just don't want commercial-type distribution of burned CDs going on. Adding that extra step keeps it from being automated too easily.
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posted
Okay, I have Napster. You can download an unlimited number of songs with the subscription service, and the songs you've downloaded will still work once your subscription expires, so far as I can tell (I set up my subscription to automatically renew itself every month). You just won't be able to burn them. Napster offers a 3-day free trial, so check it out. I personally like it a lot better because I love playing a huge variety of songs that I don't necessarily want to purchase and burn.
I completely lost my train of thought because the fire alarm went off in the middle of this post.
Posts: 9057 | Registered: Nov 2000
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quote:...but a playlist can only be burned 7 times instead of the previous 10.
Once you burned a song onto a CD, couldn't you just extrapolate the song from the CD instead of the original playlist. Sorry if this is a really dense question.
Has anyone tried sharing an I Tunes or Napster subscription with a roomie or a friend?
Posts: 1592 | Registered: May 2000
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quote: Once you burned a song onto a CD, couldn't you just extrapolate the song from the CD instead of the original playlist.
I'm fairly certain you can, though I've never tried it. Actually, I haven't burned one music CD from the songs I bought on iTunes. I don't even have a CD player in my room. Oh, wait... there's this laptop thingy. So... yeah.
edit:
quote: Has anyone tried sharing an I Tunes or Napster subscription with a roomie or a friend?
It would be pretty easy to share songs purchased on iTunes as long as it was on 5 or less computers. iTunes has a thing where you can listen to all the music from other people's libraries who are on the same network.
posted
Itunes sells you the song for $0.99 once you buy it, you own it forever. The restriction on how many times you can burn a playlist should not have any effect on you, it just stops people who are burning a ton of the same CD (most likely to sell). If you change your playlist by just one song you can burn that play list 7 times as well. I have never burned a playlist more than once...so it does not bother me. You don't have to pay a monthly fee. Oh, also itunes is running a thing now where you get a free song every day (they choose the song not you) for a week, next week they will change over to giving a free song every week. It is a good way to be introduced to groups you might not have normally listened to. Another cool feature is the radio charts, you say what radio station in your area you listen to, and they list the most played songs on that station (in case you can't remember the name of a song you heard on the radio). I don't know if they have all stations, but they have all the ones I listen to. Also, before you buy a song you can listen to a 30 second clip.
As for napster, you must pay them 10 bucks a month to access their network. For those 10 bucks you get the right to listen to their collection of songs while you are a member, but you can't burn them unless you pay .99.
Also, I believe the selection is better on itunes.
If you have an ipod mp3 player I would strongly recommed itunes, as they work well together. Also, if you mostly know what songs you want, and wish to own them itunes is the way to go. Also note, for those 10 bucks a month you are paying to napster just to access their system, you could buy 10 songs a month from itunes. However, some people like having access to different songs, and don't mind that they need to be at their computer to listen to them. For those maybe the 10 bucks a month access fee is worth while. I tried it, in addition I also tried rhapsody (a similar service) and came away unhappy. When you are paying a monthly fee you want them to have all the songs that you plan on listening to...and that was not my experience. I don't get as annoyed with itunes when they are missing songs as I don't pay them a monthly fee.
You can always sign up for a free trial of napster and see if you think it is worth 10 bucks a month, or if you would rather use those 10 bucks buying songs off of itunes
posted
Excluding PlayFair, having a file that can only be decrypted at a piece of corporate software's whim is a pretty creative form of "ownership." It all depends on what model floats your boat.
Posts: 1839 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
Lupus: True, I could buy 10 iTunes songs with the $10/month I pay to Napster, but if I were using iTunes, I would likely be paying way more than that just to play songs that I rarely listen to (for example, sometimes you just get into one of those moods where you want to listen to old bubblegum pop from when you were twelve). You don't really want to burn it, and you may not even want to keep it...though you can do that with Napster...but you still want to listen to it.
Napster's had a pretty good selection for me so far. I'd say get the three-day free trial and play around with it.
posted
Thanks for the great responses so far folks, it is great to be among music lovers.
In terms of selection, have you ever had one of those "I can't believe they don't have THAT song" moments with either iTunes or Napster? If so, which son was it?
1) Cheaper to buy albums that way (and you still get a digital version of the artwork)
2) Convenient in the Right-Now way, assuming your download speed is reasonable.
3) Can buy a single song off an album, or three songs off an album.
4) Can browse through music very quickly, previewing songs. Can use popular playlists or "listeners also enjoyed..." to increase music awareness.
5) Because you wanted digital music anyhow, for your mp3 player or to share over a network.
6) Because it makes you hip and cool.
----- Reasons not to use an online store
1) Because you're one of those folks who thinks vinyl will always sound better. (also known as, "my speakers are better than your speakers")
2) Because you don't want your collection split into two (or three if you have vinyl or cassettes, or five if you use those and 8-tracks) and don't want to re-purchase or rip all your current collection.
3) Because you can't control the addiction. Once you join, you know you'll spend hundreds more dollars through the ease-of-use sneakiness.
4) Because you hate computers and everything electronic. You luddite, you. (Also included: you're on a phone-line modem, ick!)
5) Because you're still subscribed to BMG and you can't figure out how to get out.
Posts: 1892 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
I love iTunes and use it everyday but for a reason that you vwiggin might not need. I had a ton of CDs laying around and spent the time using iTunes to import and organize all my songs. Sure Napster is good as well, but I absolutely love the interface iTunes gives me. Right now I imported the 3 LOTR soundtracks and am compiling a "choice cuts" playlist that I might burn to CD and play in the car. Even if you never download a song for 99 cents from iTunes, I still recommend it for organizing the music you already have.
Plus the visualizer is very cool.
But what isn't so cool about iTunes is that you cannot find ANY song that you might be looking for. I have come up empty more than once and that is the only thing that disappoints me about iTunes.
I will say that the Napster symbol-emoticon-doodad totally kicks the inferred ass of iTunes, if it even has one though.
Posts: 1870 | Registered: Mar 2003
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