MP3 Haven!!!
Written: Aug 07 '00 (Updated Aug 07 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Free!!, great selection
Cons: Could be a bit slow
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| REDDEVILP's Full Review: Napster |
If you haven’t heard the name Napster then you've been deaf for the past 6 months. Although that might be good because the only news about Napster that’s been out is bad news, unfortunately. Before I start talking about the news I'll actually talk about what Napster is (and no its not that little head with the headphones, that’s only the logo :)
What Is It
In short it’s a search engine for MP3's (Moving Picture Experts Group Layer-3 Audio (audio file format/extension)). In Lamens terms, a relatively new file format that makes audio files really small (well relative to other audio formats). So if you're a music freak, this is the place to hang. You can get almost any song there, so far I've had no misses with it (I got the entire Weird Al parodies and comedy songs collection from it). You can get anything starting from Heavy/Death Metal to Country and Blue grass. My sister has even found songs in other languages, like French (ok that’s actually a bit popular) and Russian (that’s a lot less so). But the actually MP3's aren’t the only things which are good about Napster. There are plenty of other places where you can get MP3's (I'm not going to mention them so that they don’t get shut down as well :) Although I still say that Napster has the best selection due to its popularity of course.
The reason that the selection is so huge is that Napster doesn’t own the database; they only provide the interface in which people from different areas share their collections of MP3's. How do people get MP3's in the first place, you ask? Simple they "RIP" CD's, in other words they record the audio track file from the CD to their hard drive and then edit it (more like convert) to MP3 format, using a program such as "Audio Grabber". So considering that Napster has hundreds, probably thousands (if not millions) of users they almost always have a good selection, of several thousand GIGA BITES of MP3's.
The Bad Side
If you become a user of Napster then you are breaking the law, by allowing people to copy music that is copy written by the company and you by buying only have the right to use it for yourself. Ok so you, being the intelligent Homo Sapient you are, say "but I always share it with my friends and never brake the law” well, I say "actually you do break a law, just one that’s never been enforced. Because recording companies figure they get more money if the music is first shared through a couple of people and then if the other person likes it he/she might buy it. So in the end the recording co. earns money and if that doesn’t happen, well they don’t loose a lot of money a couple of $$ at most if a couple of people share it. But with Napster all that changed.
People started downloading the album (yes entire albums, an I'm no exception) they wanted, but they no longer needed to buy the CD in order to listen to it over and over, it was already on their hard drive. And with CD burners (A CD gets burned with a laser, not magnetically written on like a disk, so that’s why it's a burner, not a writer. Contrary to popular belief.) They could burn their own CD's (I know I know, a CD player wont take MP3's, BUT you can still burn it and transfer it from PC to PC. Or you can rip the file back to the proper audio format so the CD player will take it). Or even better, you can get an MP3 player, and just keep on switching the songs, or my choice... get an MD player, 1/4 the size of a cod, and holds the same amount (or more) at the same quality (you get to control the quality).
But back to Napster. The search engine wasnt/isnt (they still alive, but in court... they aren’t going down w/o a fight) the only feature of the program, you also got to chat with people and it had/has a built in player, so you don’t need to download jukebox, or win amp, or something along those lines. Normal people love it, the FILTHY RICH BACK STABING recording Co. and the equally rich BANDS (I'm not going to mention any names because I love their music) hate it and decided to close it down. So now we get to the controversy.
Some other negative's of this wonderful service is that the amount of time it takes you to download could be very poor. Naturally depending on your connection, if you've got a t3, then you are GOD LOL. but if you still stuck with a 56k, then I got two recommendations for you 1)find a person with a t3, and download from them, 2)start a bunch of downloads, and leave them over night (although not to many). Also there are occasions when the download might not work, although that’s rare.
The controversy
Well this is simple its like I said the Recording companies turned a blind eye to the possible profit that they could make from Napster and MP3 technology and decide to go back to their now old CD's which get scratched and skip when you walk (I'm not even talking about running, and I don’t care how good your CD player is... or how many seconds of anti-shock protection it got, if you running in NY, it WILL SKIP no matter how careful you are). So it’s that simple. But the bad news is that Napster is loosing, badly. The judges hate them as well and Napster has lost the first round, but they appealed, and I hope that they are going to take it to the Supreme Court if that’s what it comes down to.
And as usual if you have any questions... statements, don’t hesitate to drop a line, either by E-mail or a comment.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
REDDEVILP
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Location: Brooklyn, NY
Reviews written: 22
Trusted by: 7 members
About Me:
Perpetually bored NY teen
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