|
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Million song iPod
and how it was the inevitable next step in portable music. Well ..
sure enough, last night during the Superbowl, I saw the commercial for Napster to go.
With Napster To Go you can subscribe to the 1,000,000 or so song
catalog for $14.95 a month and you can download the songs to your
qualified player. (The player has to be able to run Microsoft's DRM
software). I thought it was a pretty good ad showing the math:
10,000 songs on iTunes + iPod : $10,000
1,000,000 songs on Napster + (lots of players): $14.95 per month
It's a tempting proposition, but Napster itself is a Windows only music
store ... so that's not for me. Next step is to see if Apple follows
suit with iTunes.
|
However, there is a defect in the Napster system that affects the mathematics. See the foot of the page:
When I buy music on iTMS I get to keep it - personally I burn it to CD. With Napster, you are only renting it. So try this math
I suppose it all depends on how long you plan to live whether it's value for money.
S.
Posted by Simon Phipps on February 07, 2005 at 08:47 PM EST #
One thing about the rental model that I really like is the ability to sample an amazingly wide variety of music without any extra cost. If I just listen to the same 50 songs all the time, then it must makes sense to buy the songs, but if I want to listen to <a hrev="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=23258097">Elvis Costello's playlist today and James Gosling's tomorrow and Simon Phipp's on Wednesday it's going to cost me $50 or $100 bucks with iTunes. I think a lot of people are going to like the rental model just for the ability to sample, especially to hear what other people are listening to.
Posted by Paul on February 07, 2005 at 09:22 PM EST #
However, you can get quite a bit of that for free. Have you tried last.fm for example? Or Radio Paradise (click both, they are not the same sorts of thing)?
S.
Posted by Simon Phipps on February 07, 2005 at 10:19 PM EST #
Collaborative filtering is a great way to find new music. I like the audioscrobber / last.fm model - build up a music profile and you are directed to others with similar tastes. But with last.fm and radio.paradise ... since they are streaming services you can't take the music with you, you are tied to your computer ... and when you are hankering to listen to Pickin' On's version of the 'Battle of Evermore' you have to switch models and go to the virtual store to buy the track since with these streaming services you can't get them to play a particular song right now.
I imagine that in the not too distant future, we'll be able to the best of both worlds - the ability to freely sample music, find new music with help from others and take it with us.
I appreciate the thoughtful comments.
Paul
Posted by Paul on February 08, 2005 at 06:16 AM EST #
Posted by Thomas Hawk on February 08, 2005 at 04:32 PM EST #