Some artists make money from Napster...
Written: Aug 21 '00 (Updated Jul 21 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Almost infinite music available for download!
Cons: Server sometimes boots you off; users are sometimes sloppy about naming/storing their files.
The Bottom Line: What are you waiting for? If you have a decent Internet connection, download this program now!
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| divad23's Full Review: Napster |
Note: Since I wrote this review, Napster has developed a version for the Macintosh, making it possible for Mac and PC users to connect to the same server, which did not appear to be possible with Macster. Since the update, I have noticed heavy traffic on the server (an average of 10,000 users at one time), which has not seemed to slow things down, but instead has made twice as much music available for download. I always appreciate non-partisan software developers that believe in full compatibility between platforms!
I downloaded Napster onto my PC at work a few months ago, and let me say that I have spent most of each work day since then happily typing away with mp3's playing in the background. This works well for me since I have a T1 connection at work and a pair of headphones so as not to annoy everybody else around me. But enough about me. Let's talk about Napster.
As most everyone knows so far, Napster has a fairly easy interface to use, and it allows you to specify advanced options for searching and downloading (how many files to download at once or let others download from you at once, what sort of connection the other users have that you are searching, the bitrate of the song you are looking for, etc. You can also do a search on a particular artist in general, leaving the song title field blank (these two fields don't seem to be much different at all, given that the search seems to focus on keywords that you have entered, but that is a minor quibble). When a list of mp3's comes up, each is color coded depending on the user's connection, and I generally try to download from the "green" users with the fastest connection. A field called "Ping Time" further helps you figure out which tracks to download - the lower the Ping Time, the easier the download (generally speaking). With my connection, I can get most songs within less time than the actual length of the song, which is nice, given that you have the option of listening to a song while it is downloading.
There are a few technical drawbacks that sometimes irritate me, but have definitely not turned me off from using Napster. Sometimes the server will randomly boot you off, as well as numerous other people, so that there will not be very many files shared even if you do manage to log right back on. Users have the ability to cancel while you are downloading from them - they usually don't, but sometimes transfers get interrupted for other inexplicable reasons. I generally try to be nice about letting others download, and will often leave myself logged in overnight so that others can access my library more frequently. Some people with slower connections may get slowed down further when others are downloading from them, so go easy on the multiple downloads, and if you have a slow connection, you can allow one person to only download one at a time from you (the rest will be "queued up"). Some people seem to have a way of setting this "max downloads" quantity to 0, causing everything you try to download from them to be "remotely queued". This is probably my biggest beef - if you don't want people to download your files, take them out of your shared folder. A minor glitch that isn't really Napster's fault - I just wish they'd give users who are picky about others downloading a way to hide from those folks altogether.
A few other slight problems: Since Napster is basically nothing more than file sharing, songs often get named incorrectly. You will often have to guess at common misspellings to find a certain band or song title if it is an obscure word. Bands with simpler names or abbreviations may bring up tons of extraneous things in the search because there is no set spelling rule (looking up a song by the band The The must be practically impossible!) Also, if you look up Creed and somebody had a number of other songs stored in their "Creed" folder, those might come up. So I also consider it good form to name your files correctly. Once again, I can't really fault Napster, but it is annoying.
The pros far outweigh the cons, and here is where I take my political stance: Artists who deserve the wider recognition are going to make money from Napster. If I download most or all of an artist's CD and I like it, I will buy it. A lot of the mp3's may have a skip here and there, so you're unlikely to get a full, top-notch quality CD just by downloading and burning. If you don't really care as much about such good quality, then you're probably happier never setting foot in a record store anyway. But I have purchased at least 5 CD's after previewing them on Napster. I tend to assume that most music freaks out there who want good sound quality and to support the artists they like are going to uphold some sort of an honor system and do something similar to this. But if record labels are going to force you to buy a terrible album or a disjointed compilation CD just to get that one really good or rare song, then it's their loss, because most likely you will find and download it. I think this will keep bands and record companies accountable to putting out consistently good CD's. There will always be somebody cheating the system, but as has been pointed out many times, that's being done with blank tapes, CD burners, etc. anyways.
Artists who I might have overlooked if not for Napster:
* Collective Soul (why do I never hear them on the radio when they're so popular?)
* Stereo Deluxx (electronic girl-rock)
* Rachael Lampa (mature teen-pop that puts Britney and Cristina to shame)
* All Together Separate (funky, jazzy, alternative rock)
* Riley Armstrong (techno-folk, as he describes it)
* Relient K (goofy Christian punk rock)
* John Reuben (clever Christian hip-hop with some unexpected twists)
* Nichole Nordeman (eloquent piano-based singer/songwriter tunes)
* Smalltown Poets (I wasn't all that impressed with them before downloading their new CD)
* Vertical Horizon (their radio singles aren't giving us the full picture of what a solid band they are)
Except for Collective Soul, who already has it, I think these artists all benefit immensely from the exposure. I have already purchased most of the CD's listed above.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
divad23
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 in Music |
 - Top 200 |
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Member: David Martin
Location: Pasadena, CA
Reviews written: 567
Trusted by: 260 members
About Me:
Just add an implicit "in my humble opinion" to every sentence I write.
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