Napster to Go
Napster, the bad boy who started the whole internet music thing, is now a legit pay-per-track service, similar to iTunes. Now, they are debuting an unlimited download service. For $15.00 a month, you can download an unlimited number of tracks from a selection of over 1 million. The only catch: the songs can only be played back on a compatible player, and there are only 9 such players. The iPod isn’t one of them.
All the headlines are saying “Napster Takes a Shot at iPod,” but I seriously doubt it’s going to land anywhere close. First, you would need to buy a new music player… one loaded up with ultra-restrictive Digital Rights Management software. Second, your music is locked onto your player… there will be no burning of CDs or listening in your car.
iTunes DRM isn’t great either… but it has a loophole. You are allowed to burn your downloaded music onto a CD… and once it’s on a CD, you can do whatever you want with it. You can put it on any Mp3 player in the world. There is no such loophole for the Napster service… at least, not until the 14 year old in your neighbor’s basement cracks Microsoft’s Janus protection for locking the songs onto your player.
If you already have one of the compatible players, and you don’t mind having your music being locked onto that player, this service might sound pretty good to you. Anyone else is likely raising an eyebrow and asking “so what?”
