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Napster Review

The folks who started it all, the P2P pioneers themselves, are at it again. After a brief and dirty battle with the law, Napster is back for more and, if not better than ever, at least significantly changed. Arguably the biggest and strongest competitor to Apple's iPod and iTunes, Napster is no longer a P2P service but a direct download service - customers download songs directly from Napster's own expansive database.

Napster is (mostly) a subscription membership service with 3 different ways to play (so to speak): Napster Light - their pay-for-play version with no monthly fee; Napster - giving members unlimited access to listen to and download all the songs in the database for a monthly fee, but members cannot burn music to CD or transfer songs to a portable player without paying a discounted rate per song; Napster To Go - a more pricey subscription service allowing you to transfer downloaded songs to a compatible portable MP3 player. No matter what service you use, you still cannot burn songs to CD without purchasing them, an extra charge above and beyond your subscription fee. Napster is a great deal for people who like to listen to music without feeling the need to own it.

Visit Napster

 
Product Ratings:
Selection 24 / 25
Price 18 / 25
Tech Support /Cust Service 15 / 15
Tutorials 15 / 15
System Compatibility 4 / 10
Download Speed 5 / 5
Refund/Cancellation Policy 3 / 5
Overall Grade: 84%



 
Features

Features
7-Day Free Trial
Napster, Napster Light, and Napster To Go
Napster To Go with 3 months free promotion (with purchase of select MP3 players)
Handpicked playlists
50+ commercial-free radio stations
Create custom radio stations
Exclusive stories, interviews, and feature articles
Napster Community tools
Napster Creative (screensavers, animations, wallpapers, AIM icons and TV spots) - Flash player required
Napster Ringtones
Napster UK and Napster Canada
Napster Gear (merchandise, promotional paraphernalia)
Military discount
Napster Cards (gift cards/prepaid cards)

 

 
Selection

Selection
Napster's own database of over 1 million songs
50+ commercial-free radio stations
Over a million tracks
All the newest releases (or almost all)
Exclusive NapsterLive recordings
Download 5 decades worth of Billboard Charts

 

 
Price

Price
Tricky to evaluate price here
$9.95/month for unlimited access to download and listen to songs on your computer
$14.95/month for unlimited access to download and listen to songs on your computer and/or a compatible portable MP3 player
$0.80-$0.99 per song if you wish to burn any of these songs to CD or keep any of these songs (on your computer, on your portable player, etc.) once you stop paying the membership fee

 

 
Technical Support and Customer Service

Technical Support / Customer Service
Fabulous
These folks really are industry leaders, even if circumstance has kept them small. You don't get that way without primo customer service.
Plus, these comparative old-timers know their product inside and out

 

 
Tutorials

Tutorials
Fantastic!
They must have learned how to do this by starting out as a P2P service, because theirs is one of the cleanest, clearest, most comprehensive and easily-navigable tutorials of their peers

 

 
System Compatibility

System Compatibility
Too restrictive
Windows XP/2000, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.1 or higher, and Windows Media Player 7.1 or higher
Windows XP and Windows Media Player 10 only for Napster To Go
NOT compatible with iPod

 

 
Download Speed

Download Speed
No problems at all
They have effectively used all their years in business to iron out any kinks in their product that might have once slowed down downloads.

 

 
Refund Policy

Refund/Cancellation Policy
Cancel at any time, but no refunds on membership fees or purchased music