The greatest thing to happen to music, ever.
Written: Feb 23 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Free and amazing.
Cons: You have to spend every day on Napster like it's your last.
The Bottom Line: Get Napster if you want the easiest way to listen to music. Period.
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| sxejustin's Full Review: Napster |
On Napster's web site, they feature pro-Napster quotes from various recording artists. Here is one from Thom Yorke, of Radiohead:
"The cool thing about Napster is that it...encourages enthusiasm for music in a way that the music industry has long forgotten to do."
That quote exactly sums up my experience with Napster. Napster single handedly got me excited about music again.
Before Napster, I had maybe five mp3s on my computer. I would buy something like four CDs in a year, and I just wouldn't think about music all that much. But then, I got Napster, and things changed.
True to what Thom said, yes, I did get excited about music. I was previewing tracks and getting psyched up about going to the local record store at the end of the week to purchase some of the stuff I had heard.
Napster got me interested in other sorts of music too. Before I mostly listened to sorta bland melodic hardcore punk, exclusively. Through Napster I got into different genres, from the jazzy sounds of Jill Scott to the grindcore of Spazz, to the ska of the Specials to the emo of Fugazi.
I do have an impressive collection of mp3s now. Almost 450. I buy a new CD about every week and a half, and I would do it a lot more often if I had the money. Napster has brought mp3 trading from the warez sites and IRC channels to an easy, mainstream friendly way to preview music.
With my cable modem I can check out songs my friends recommend to me, opening my mind and checking out the different genres they enjoy. Ben will tell me to download some hardcore techno or gabber, and then Fergus will tell me to check out a few ska-core tracks. Some of my other friends will want me to give Ludacris a listen, and I can do it all in my house and decide for myself who deserves some of my hard earned money.
I don't buy albums for just one good song anymore. I'll check out four or five and if I like what I hear I'll be buying the album. You have to impress me to earn my money. I can see why this angers Metallica and Doctor Dre. Metallica has resorted to putting out live albums with a symphony to make more money, and Dre's repetitive, mediocre "I'm so great!" rapping isn't winning any respect from me either. Ironically, Napster did sell me NWA's Straight Outta Compton CD. Maybe you should reconsider, Dre.
Napster is easy to use and is a great community of people sharing music. I think record companies should be paying Napster, not suing them, if I am any evidence on the effect Napster can have on it's users.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
sxejustin
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Location: Chalfont, PA
Reviews written: 73
Trusted by: 44 members
About Me:
There's something to be said for the ones who face the darkness alone.
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