Napster Review
Napster Sites |
Service Plans |
|
| US: | http://www.napster.com | Download to PC - $12.95 |
| Canada | http://www.napster.ca | Napster To Go - $14.95 |
| UK: | http://www.napster.co.uk | Per Song - $0.99 |
| Germany: | http://www.napster.de | |
Overview - Napster offers unlimited access to over 4 million legal music downloads along with videos and Internet radio. The service is offered to customers in the US, Canada, UK and Germany. Napster offers a 7 day free trial to all new customers.
History - Napster started out in 1999 as a file sharing service. Users would download and share music and other files. They led the way for future decentralized peer to peer file sharing programs. Copyright suits brought the service down in 2001. Since then Napster has reinvented itself as a legal music download service.
Song titles - Napster offers an excellent collection of legal music downloads with over 4 million songs. Subscribers have unlimited access to their entire online music collection. Search and download music based on song title, artist, album or genre.
Music - Napster offers a collection of over 4 million songs to download. They are formatted as Windows Media Audio (WMA) files. This adds compression and higher sound quality at lower bit rates compared to MP3 files. Napster music downloads consist of 192 kbps bit rate while the streaming rate is 32 kbps.
Search - Napster allows you to search for music by song title, artist, album and genre.
Pricing Plans - Napster offers two levels of unlimited access. Their basic subscription includes unlimited streaming and downloads to PC for $12.95 a month. The popular Napster To Go plan takes it to the next level adding support for MP3 players, cell phones, PDA's and other supported audio devices for $14.95 a month. Napster also offers a Pay Per Song service that allows you to download and burn music for $0.99 a track. Methods of payment include credit / debit card and PayPal.
Supported devices - Napster To Go subscriptions support all PlayForSure compatible players. See the full list of compatible devices. Due to restrictions Napster does not support either iPod or Zune devices. Take a look at eMusic for cheap iPod / Zune downloads.
Digital Rights Management - Napster uses Windows Media Audio (WMA) for DRM protection. This allows you to download and listen to music as long as you subscribe to the service. Afterwards all downloads become unusable. As an alternative you can buy any song for $0.99 and own it without the restrictions. If you are new to the topic take a look at our DRM article.
Supported Operating Systems - Napster's media player is compatible with Windows Vista and XP.
Customer Service - Napster offers toll free phone support at 866-620-1137 as well as online support.
Bottom line - Napster offers unlimited access to a huge library of music (over 4 million songs) and support for most portable devices. Services are offered in several countries which tops other providers. We would really like to see iPod support but understand that Apple is driving this restriction. Sign up for Napster's 7 day free trial and start downloading in minutes.