Napster is set for a new release at the end of october. Looks to me like windows audio format will be the only supported codec (reading between the lines, it's not *specifically* stated).

Was interested, but not anymore. Ogg or MP3 are all I'll deal with.

-- Gary F.

Wow... the new Napster is pretty impressive.... I've been messing with it for 30minutes now and am floored as to the selection. I'm not sure about the formats yet but has anyone else checked it out yet? It intergrates very nicely within Windows Media Player...

I thought I'd throw in a link http://sms.napster.com/duet/general/handle_napster_link.html?opcode=userguide

And they have a pretty slick animated TV ad running, with the Napster cat character going to a party and jumping in the pool at the end.

It was amusing seeing that particular ad running during the South Park episode where the FBI busts Stan/Kyle/Kenny for illegal song downloading. What a hilarious segment:

"That's Britney Spears getting into her private jet. Notice anything wrong?"
"No."
"That's a Gulfstream 3. Because of illegal song downloading, she had to sell the Gulfstream 4. The Gulfstream 3 doesn't even have a remote control for its surround sound DVD system. Now do you still say that downloading music is no big deal?"

The cable company switched our lineup last night so instead of the replay reccording that episode, it got something random off the scifi network. It doesn't reair till at least tomorrow. I'm only slightly bitter.

Matthew

Well I signed up to try it for a month but will probably cancel before the time is up. Very cool idea but very limiting unless you listen to all the music on your pc. If you download something and try to burn a CD you'll be charged .99 per track or 9.95 per cd.

The new Allman Brothers Album is most excellent by the way and it's nice to have the new releases like that at your fingertips but it looks like 96kbps protected content. Even without the premium service you can still preview tracks and purchase online but I may just use it to find new cd's and purchase online at circuitcity.com since they don't charge shipping.

I purchased the Premium service and you can download unlimited tracks to hard drive, but you can't burn them to CD's unless you pay the 99 cent/track fee.

You can, however, use Total Recorder to record them as you play them on your PC directly in MP3 format. The quality of the output is quite acceptable.

Heh, sorry about spoiling the joke. Didn't realize it was a new episode.

Today my alma mater announced that they are going to be the first university to partner with Napster. It'll be interesting to see if/how it catches on. I frankly question both the motivation behind this partnership and how much money is changing hands, but I guess the college campuses are a good place to start trying to legitimize online downloads of music.

After Emusic decided to change their contract with me in midstream I canceled and went to Napster. I really like it quite a bit, probably because I feel the price is reasonable and I can convert it to just about anything I want.

/enter Julie Andrews
A few of my favorite things...
1. The Radio Stations with odd prerequisites... all cover songs, one hit wonders, etc.
2. The ability to save straight from a Radio Station to a favorite list.
3. The already mentioned expansive selection of artists...

Not so cool things...
1. The forums. I'm spoiled I guess.
2. If I had a media computer that was stationary with DSL or a cable modem the whole thing would be even cooler. (Not really Napster's fault but its my list, so I can blame them anyway .)

I cancelled my emusic too and looked at napster but they don't have all the indie stuff like emusic had do they ?

I would also be more inclined to sign up if they would let you put the tracks on a portable and just have them expire if you cancel the subscription.