Best Buy is buying Napster for $121 million in cash! Apparently Napster has approx. 700,000 subscribers but I just want to know what kind of people are still paying for their music and if so, why wouldn't they use iTunes? Napster charges on a subscription basis initially and although it is applicable for mobile use, it doesn't sync as well to your ipod because you have to drag it to iTunes anyway. Most downloading services won't let you burn your music to CD's and sometimes the format doesn't work in iTunes. So, I am wondering what people are using Napster still and what countries these people are from. I think even subscribing to Real Rhapsody and Pandora (which is free) is a better way to build playlists and stream music. In fact, if you get the update for the ipod touch and the iphone, you can download programs like Pandora which will stream customized radio stations to your device. You can also use the new Genius playlist to create your own playlists based around your favorite songs and it will even suggest songs you might like to buy on iTunes. I can even download songs from iTunes via the wifi on my ipod directly.
This being said, I wonder how much longer other companies like Napster and similar paid legal downlading services and sites will continue to thrive in a world of iTunes and of course the illegally downloading programs like Azureus, Limewire and such. We'll see if this helps Best Buy's business and if they can market this service better than it has been marketed in the past.
2 comments:
I don't think I realized Napster was still around! I will admit I love Pandora. I like the stations you can create, but then again I don't think I'd pay to use Pandora. It will be interesting to see if Best Buy can turn Napster around.
wow, i also thought Napster was long dead. It's, like, 100 years old! they were definitely doing a lot better when they were free. Being legal, I guess, is a lot harder...
Post a Comment