Better late than never
Written: Sep 30 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A virtual world of music right at your desktop
Cons: May not be around forever, but let's hope
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| bigsteve's Full Review: Napster |
Okay, so I've been away for a while, not really catching on to what this whole "Napster" thing was about. I decided to cave in, and download the thing. I figured, since it was a "sophisticated" piece of software, it would probably be around 10 megs and eat up a lot of space on my hard drive. First error- the download was less than two megs, and the program itself takes up very little room on my computer.
Second, I wondered how easy it would be to get the song I wanted. I've sued FTP clients in the past, and was amazed at being able to log into someone's FTP site to get what I wanted, after a long and exhaustive search on the web to find the particular FTP site that had the particular song I wanted. Often, there was a ratio, so I would upload the songs I needed to get credit, and then download. My computer would like to freeze just as I finished uploading but right before I started downloading. Thank you computer.
So, yesterday, out of sheer curiosity, I installed Napster. Running on a LAN, I've never received a download that was quicker in my entire life. I must have blinked, and I downloaded a song instantaneously. You can see the download speed of the server from which you're downloading (I really should say computer, since not all of them are necessarily servers, just acting as servers). Maybe I'll check out the Discover page, and find a band I've never heard of before. Maybe I'll look and see what's new at Napster, and look for some great bands that are out there that maybe I've forgotten about. It;s more than just a search portal, it's a wonderful tool to use to find any MP3 you want out there. Even if you don't know what you want, Napster will guide you on your way.
The entire concept of a big sharing space is wonderful, especially since there are no limits really, and you can find whatever you want. Be nice and share some of your files with the rest of the community, since each one of us helps to make it a success.
Now, I know this is also a controversial piece of software. According to uwire, however, many colleges are allowing Napster to remain on university servers, stating that the file transfer technology in itself is worth studying, regardless of copyright. How often do you see a university battle Metallica (who brought on the request) and the university win? Good job, universities.
The only downside I encountered so far is that you can't always log on when you want to, and there is a limit of the 100 song file search. I know that Napster is still in beta, or the version I have at least is. I'm sure this will be fixed eventually, and I believe Napster has said that they will be updating their server to handle the increased capacity. I guess controversy makes good business after all!
So, as I sit as look for music I want, I'm pretty sure I can find just about anything under the sun. The hardest part now is figuring out what I want. I know I can get it, I just have to figure out what it is I want. . .
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
bigsteve
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Location: Philadelphia, PA
Reviews written: 172
Trusted by: 27 members
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