By Antony
March 26, 2006 - 7:30 PMSee Also:
Lesley Ann Warren People Guide,
Lesley Ann Warren People Guide Hello World! Napster is brilliant.
First an education. If, when you hear of Napster, you think of illegal music—think again. Napster is legitimate now. It's not even the same company, the brand was just acquired. Napster is a legitimate source where, for a monthly fee, you can listen to any music they have. And the selection is impressive.
I was saddened to see recently that Napster said they aren't doing as well as they hoped. It's sad because they deserve to do very well because they really do treat music brilliantly. I know everyone is out to make money, and Napster isn't a charity. But still, they treat the end user and music with respect (aside from their idiotic tech support). You can get the likes of iTunes, where you pay to download a song, but with that you have to be sure you like the music. Where is the experimentation, the sheer joy of discovering new music?
Napster is the opposite, it embraces music and encourages you to listen to it. It doesn't lock it away, or make you pay for it, or tie you up with complications. If you're like me, and you like to find new music beyond the pathetic chart music, then Napster is for you.
It is so wonderful just going off on tangents and listening to new artists. If I hear a song that I quite like, all I have to do is just go pop their name in Napster and listen to their entire album. Before I may have ordered it from Amazon, or not bothered at all, and now I can go and listen risk-free. I may love it, I may hate it, but at least I can find out. More often than not I love what I find.
Napster genuinely looks like it enjoys music as a company too. They provided lists of what's new and what's recommended. They have special themed events of music, and get artists to create playlists. Do I want to hear what one band's favorite music is? Well I can, I just go listen to the playlist they've created. There's also exclusive live tracks and interviews.
As an extension of this, I just upgraded to Napster to Go. It costs a bit more, but all I have to do is plug my MP3 player in and then download any music I want to it. I want something fast-paced for the gym? No problem, I'll just download a specially created workout playlist.
So I urge you, if you like music, to check out Napster if it's available in your country. The US website can be found at napster.com, and in my case it then wants to redirect me to my country's website. So it should tell you if you can get Napster.
Why am I doing this? I'm not on commission, I just want to see Napster work. So many companies, like Apple with iTunes, want to make the money but want to box you in. They place excessive restrictions, or make it hard to actually enjoy your purchase. If you've ever bought online video or music you may have been forced to jump through hoops and come across restrictions such as only being able to burn it once or twice, and more importantly none of these other companies encourage you to explore and enjoy what they offer—they just see it as a translation of buying a CD or DVD, and any online sales have happened because they want to protect their income rather than really embrace the medium.
So when a company like Napster happens, where they genuinely seem to enjoy their product and genuinely embrace the subject matter, then they deserve to succeed. That's why I give them my cash each month, and will continue to enjoy new music.
I write this as I'm listening to an album by Jason Collett. He's a fantastic singer who I wouldn't be listening to, let alone have heard of, without Napster. Talk Desperate! threads Chat with other fans at Talk Desperate! Poll Results Below are the results of the most recent Get Desperate! poll:
Who should Susan settle down with?
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Mike |
 68.1% - (92
Votes) |
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Dr. Ron |
14% - (19
Votes) |
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Karl |
11.1% - (15
Votes) |
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Someone new |
6.6% - (9
Votes) |
Total Votes: 135
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,, [an error occurred while processing this directive]Today's Television Listings Tonight ABC airs "Could I Leave You?":
Susan invites Dr. Ron to meet Karl after he finds out about their arranged marriage, Eva and Carlos try to find a beautiful baby to adopt, and Bree—in order to combat Andrew’s extortion attempt—reluctantly joins AA.
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