Well personally, I prefer the idea of buying something and having a permanent copy of it. I don't want to lose access to all my songs just because I didn't want to pay for a monthly service anymore.
In addition, I buy few enough songs these days that it's cheaper per month to do iTunes.
I can't really compare interfaces, since I haven't seen napster's new interface, but iTunes is very friendly if you're a mac person. I find it a bit clunky and oversimplified, myself.
Songs you buy from iTunes will only play on computers and iPods, which is a big drawback if you have an MP3 player from a different brand. Similarly, if you go the iPod route, you can only play MP3s and iTunes songs... not Napster songs.
Nutshell: +1 iTunes, but judge it based on your preferences. If you listen to lots of new music each month, but don't listen to old stuff much, then Napster is for you. Otherwise, I think iTunes is better.
Personally, I was always a big fan of the "you can legally own the MP3 for 24 hours" plan. (Don't remember who did that, think it was mp3.com.) That way, you can listen to a few songs off a CD, and then if you like them, buy it. Sure, a lot of people are just gonna keep the MP3s because no one will find out, but I still think it would lead to greater CD sales. (I never bought the whole "CD sales are down" thing. I still bet if you looked up statistics CD sales were only down for normally high-selling artists, and sales for lesser known groups the radio won't play were up.)
After our conversation yesterday about how you don't even own full rights to the song after buying it from either one of these sources, I'm inclined to say "neither".
7 comments:
Racist!
Is this for a real decision you're trying to make, or are you just in flamewar withdrawal now that Blast from the past has died down?
Yeah, I'm clueless when it comes to this, so I wanted some people with more knowledge than me to please share.
Well personally, I prefer the idea of buying something and having a permanent copy of it. I don't want to lose access to all my songs just because I didn't want to pay for a monthly service anymore.
In addition, I buy few enough songs these days that it's cheaper per month to do iTunes.
I can't really compare interfaces, since I haven't seen napster's new interface, but iTunes is very friendly if you're a mac person. I find it a bit clunky and oversimplified, myself.
Songs you buy from iTunes will only play on computers and iPods, which is a big drawback if you have an MP3 player from a different brand. Similarly, if you go the iPod route, you can only play MP3s and iTunes songs... not Napster songs.
Nutshell: +1 iTunes, but judge it based on your preferences. If you listen to lots of new music each month, but don't listen to old stuff much, then Napster is for you. Otherwise, I think iTunes is better.
Rather apropos:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050804-5167.html
When are you going to be back in town? I'll be in Durham a week from Monday.
Personally, I was always a big fan of the "you can legally own the MP3 for 24 hours" plan. (Don't remember who did that, think it was mp3.com.) That way, you can listen to a few songs off a CD, and then if you like them, buy it. Sure, a lot of people are just gonna keep the MP3s because no one will find out, but I still think it would lead to greater CD sales. (I never bought the whole "CD sales are down" thing. I still bet if you looked up statistics CD sales were only down for normally high-selling artists, and sales for lesser known groups the radio won't play were up.)
After our conversation yesterday about how you don't even own full rights to the song after buying it from either one of these sources, I'm inclined to say "neither".
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