Caught NAPSTERing

Casiel

I was just curious if anyone had any comments regarding NAPSTER and their impending demise.
I understand the principle of so called revenue loss for record stores and royalties for bands, but isn't it just the swapping of music that has already been paid for at some point.
i'm not a prolific downloader by any means, and am quite prepared to pay some sort of fee to them rather than the exorbitant prices for CDs.
....what do people think?

Kali

i'd love some sort of music format with a simple protected timestamp on it, and expires after a week or so.. enough to get to listen properly to the music, find out if its any good or not and then go out and buy the album if it is.

if the subscription fee for napster is low and they get dedicated file sharing servers (e.g not relying on the other client staying connected) then id sign up even with just a modem.

also the quality of the mp3s would have to be increased i mean i wouldnt pay for anything below 192kbits because below that (except in rare cases or where sound quality doesnt matter) its not worth burning at all as raw audio.

Hecate

unfortunatly most of napsters users wouldnt really download THAT heavily at all, so they wouldnt be prepared to pay any kind of fees.

i think you will find that most subscription based net services arent faring spectacularly right now (or have they ever?), people just seem to have a psychological block when it comes to paying for stuff online; your average joe public just wont do it in any great numbers.

just go into hmv or virgin any day of the week and see how they are spending their money.

pat kenny

Originally posted by Kali:
i'd love some sort of music format with a simple protected timestamp on it

You can dream about it,
you seem to know much more about music and computer than me, and you know in your heart that any kind of copy protection time based or otherwise will be broken within a few days of its release.
It a lovely idea though

---

I like stories.

Kali

aye bit of an ideal scenario as far as legality is concerned and never really gonna happen.. still I cant imagine any way that companies can make money out of the internet in terms of music when people can just set up their own ftp servers n ****

_CreeD_

Aye, there is no real way to protect anything these days - without affecting the service you give to legitimate users. All they can do is setup legitimate channels, at a reasonable price, say half retail CD, and give those that are willing to pay for anything decent the chance to do so.
The main thing I've used Napster for is getting hold of music I just can't find for sale anymore (Even online), I'd have no problems paying a dollar or 2 per song - and I'm sure most real music fans are the same (Unless they're stupid enough to think their favourite bands will just keep producing music for the good of their health).

Kali

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by _CreeD_:
I'm sure most real music fans are the same (Unless they're stupid enough to think their favourite bands will just keep producing music for the good of their health).</font>

I think thats where music companies are most afraid.. napster is basically going directly to the listener, and the dodgy commercial bands who thrive on saturday morning pop shows and mtv are going to be left out in the cold, while I can just about imagine artists like eminem getting a few downloads without media spotlight, it will be harder for plain pop songs to thrive in such a market.
(if anyone understands what im talking boot!)

DrunkLeprachaun

You know, I'd rather have it free.

PiE

I'd rather bands paid me to listen to their crap.

astrofool

hopefully file sharing of this sort which will keep going on regardless if Napster closes or not (I used to get the music of other sites anyway, Napster was just handier), for the record companies it means they have to sell music on the quality of the music, and not the image + manufacturing the band has