Napster DRM-free store has 6 million 256kbps tracks

Posted by Rob Beschizza, May 20, 2008 8:05 AM | permalink

Napster is now DRM-free, with its 6 million tracks costing 99 cents each. This makes it the largest DRM-free MP3 store going. The AP, writing what it thinks it ought to write, says it's a "direct challenge" to iTunes. Eliot van Buskirk has a detailed look at the new service at Wired, but Arrington nails the atmosphere in town with "I am failing to get excited." The one-word version: "Meh."

Let's face it: it's still funny as hell that the music industry, given the chance to own Napster when it was the only online music venue going, chose instead to destroy it.

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Discussion

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#1 posted by Anonymous , May 20, 2008 11:48 AM

I've stopped paying for downloads entirely. I just use Get Tube and pull the audio off of Youtube videos. The latest songs always end up there. Sorry, record industry.

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#2 posted by dssstrkl , May 20, 2008 2:15 PM

Where can I get a high-res version of that pic? I want it for my desktop! :)

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#3 posted by Anonymous , May 20, 2008 2:28 PM

Availability of international music-- my preference for Asian pop and rock in particular-- is minuscule or nonexistent in Napster and Amazon. Apple's iTunes, with all its DRM bull****, has what I'm looking for.

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#4 posted by Anonymous , May 20, 2008 11:44 PM

It's even worse - first one of the big players bought out Napster (Bertelsmann, the company behind BMG), only to be sued by all the other big players after that!

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#5 posted by Rob Beschizza