Napster is "free" again.
 

Saw a plane towing a banner at Coachella declaring that Napster is once again free. So I checked it out.

It's sort of free. You can now sign up and get a free account, without a credit card. You can download songs for free. But you can only listen to the song 5 times. On the 6th time, it plays a 30 second clip and offers you the option of buying the song for 99 cents or subscribing to Napsters monthly service which gives you unlimited downloads.

Meh.

I am in full support of the protection of intellectual property and copyrights and was always in full support of the music industry in regards to their legal wranglings with Napster. I actually think that is incredibly reasonable and am surprised that the music industry went with a "try it before you buy it" approach.

Oh, I don't think it's unreasonable...it just doesn't excite me that much.

Ahh....got it.

Napster should have ceased to be when it lost the case ages ago. This is just pathetic :rolleyes:

Eh, I don't think it's pathetic. They seem to be making money, and it is an interesting concept. It makes it the only legit service that allows you to hear full songs before you pay a dime. I do see the value in it, I just know I won't end up using it.

But the point of Napster was to thumb one's nose at The Man. Now that they apparently operate with The Man's blessing, they are per se pathetic. Do we have to revoke your counter-culture permit?

The Man's still pretty ticked at the $1/song model. Which makes it an even better way to thumb one's nose at the Man as now there's a perfectly legal way to annoy them.

The pathetic part is the humongous banner we saw which said "Napster is free again, go crazy". Attempting to make it sound like the old days seems like they're grasping at straws.

You're right about the Man not liking the one buck model...we'll see how long that holds up.

Well, it thwarts the portion of The Man that produces music, but it's a-okay by The Man of Law and Justice. So, partial redemption.