February 4, 2005
Napster To Go Launches
Staci Kramer has a bunch of good links over at PaidContent. I don’t think it’ll be a total flop, but my own perspective is most similar to Ashlee Vance’s.
Counter to the Napster advertising line, the math doesn’t work out for
me. I don’t think I spend $180 on music per year. I like the idea
of being able to explore Napster’s million track catalog, but there are
plenty of other ways I can discover new music for free (e.g., Internet
radio). What’s more, Napster’s catalog lacks several relatively
recent albums, so I suspect I’d have to keep buying some albums on the
side anyway. And did I mention the DRM? I don’t have a problem
with renting music, but I still want to be able to use my rented music
in legitimate ways. Player compatibility is just one issue – what
if I want to make a continuous music mix for a party?
Looking at the online music market as a whole, subscription services probably will be the way to go in the future, but
I think it’s going to take some experimentation before
they become broadly adopted. Competition and variation across price points, catalog depth, and DRM will be key.
Filed by Derek Slater at 10:58 am under General news
4 Comments
I agree with some of your points about the new Napster service. I don’t use Napster because there are so many record labels I follow that do not sell their music through Napster, so it’s just not worth it to me to use it to get the few pop tracks that I want. However, I don’t understand how you can seriously claim that you don’t spend $180 a year on music. That’s only about 10 CD’s for the entire year. What do you do after you discover new music through another means? It doesn’t sem like you could be buying it.
10? Where does that number come from? Through iTunes it’s more like 18-20 albums (though I have to commit a felony each time I make a purchase there). Used CDs can also be quite cheap. I haven’t paid 18 bucks for a CD in awhile.
Regardless, my point is that $180 is not that much to spend on music per year, and you still really haven’t answered my question.
Chill out dude!!!!!