I hate to say it but I'm impressed with Napster's new feature list.
Quote:
Can The New Napster Cut It?
In an attempt to replicate what Napster president Mike Bebel calls "the central P2P [peer to peer] vision of Shawn Fanning", Roxio has developed a second, more comprehensive layer to Napster 2.0, which comes courtesy of a $9.95 monthly subscription. This opens up all the half million or so songs to more or less unrestricted use and also offers users email, customisable internet radio stations - you can even have one tailored to your own tastes - and the ability to send play-lists to non-Napster members. Once they receive your email they can listen to 30-second clips of songs before deciding whether to buy them. All users get a free interactive magazine and an archive of the Billboard charts.
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It made the transformation from Internet Service Provider to Content Provider, something it could never have done under its original management. I have to give Roxio credit for knowing how to leverage its name brands so effectively, nobody else could have done this. I can imagine Napster hooking up with EarthLink to make a Music themed ISP, and it's popularity would rival AOL's content services. I guess I'll have to avoid joing Napster on principle.
Of course I doubt that it's DRM system is impenetrable, and once it's hacked Napster's database will flow directly onto the free networks, with the help of a few volunteers to pay the monthly fee. How long would it take to download and unwrap 500,000 songs?