the new napster

[JackSpratts]

just signed up and logged in under one of my old napster nics (jackspratts). went right to "track" and chose bruce springsteen's "new york city serenade." lots of strings, acoustic guitar and piano, soft and loud singing and a pretty good audio test for dynamic range and frequency response.

by now you all know that napster is a free service. you can listen to anything they have up to five times. it's not a download in the strict sense (although of course it is) but something more like instant request internet radio and in the business it’s called a stream.

the verdict is mixed. the convenience factor is unquestionably high. open up your browser (i used opera and firefox with no issues) and in seconds you're listening to anything and everything. the price is zero. the paranoia issues are null and the five-times limit is not exactly a crushing burden (it auto repeats and at least in one case way more than 5x). which leaves...the sound. funny thing that. not all bad for a low bit stream. clean, ok presence, decent highs and lows - except during crescendos - then it goes way over the harsh limit and it almost, hurts. going back to new york city serenade and the first third of the song, coming out of my thinkpad and into my sony phones it's good. not great, but good. then, as the boss ramps it up the flaws begin to intrude upon the experience and quite frankly, spoil the mood. fish lady! ouch.

as background it'll work a lot better…it's just that as any dj knows it's hard to play cuts without planting yourself in front of your box, and that means the sound is right there too. if napster wants to get the most out of this model they're going to have to increase the bitrate and smooth out the stream, otherwise people will try it a few times and pass.

as a concept free is about as good as it gets in the (admittedly compromised) online music delivery business, but with just a little tweaking it can be a serious player, and in areas where users have handheld boxes running opera mini-browsers in wi-fi saturated cities it could be dominant. until then it will be an "almost there" also ran among serious listeners of music, although i’m sure many people will run this often, particularly in noisier environments like work and school.

is "napster" back? no, it may never be what it was. but this company, and this service, is, right now, as close to that promise as it has ever come, and over the next few days, a lot of us will be signing on, and playing long, and thinking about what almost was.

jack.

[JackSpratts]

"Billy, he’s down by the railroad tracks, sittin’ low in the back seat of his cadillac,
Diamond jackie, she’s so intact, she falls so softly beneath him,
Jackie’s heels are stacked, billy’s got cleats on his boots,
Together they’re gonna boogaloo down broadway and come back home with the Loot,
It’s midnight in manhattan, this is no time to get cute, it’s a mad dog’s promenade,
So walk tall, or baby don’t walk at all.

Fish lady, fish lady, fish lady she baits them tenement walls,
She won’t take cornerboys, ain’t got no money, and they’re so easy,
I said, hey baby won’t you take my hand, walk with me down broadway,
Oh mama take my arm and move with me down broadway yeah,
I’m a young man and I talk real loud, yeah, baby walk real proud for you.
So shake it away, so shake away your street life, shake away your city life,
And hook up to the train, oh hook up to the night train, hook it up hook up to the, hook up to the train,
But I know that she won’t take the train, no she won’t take the train,
No she won’t take the train, no she won’t take the train
She’s afraid them tracks are gonna slow her down,
And when she turns this boy’ll be gone
So long, sometimes you just gotta walk on.

Hey vibes man, hey jazz man aw play me your serenade
Any deeper blue and you'd be playin’ in your grave.
Save your notes, don’t spend ’em on the blues boy,
Save your notes, don’t spend ’em on the darlin’ yearlin’ sharp boy,
Straight for the church note ringin’, vibes man sting a trash can
Listen to your junk man, aw listen to your junk man,
Listen to your junk man, oh listen to your junk man,
He’s singin’, singin’, singin’, singin’.
All dressed up in satin, walkin’ past the alley.

Watch out for your junk man,
Watch out for your junk man,
Come on little girl, watch out,
Watch out for your junk man,
Watch out for your junk man,
Watch out little girl."

[theknife]

can you rip the stream?

[JackSpratts]

yes. inasmuch as your typical sound card recorder can handle it for breakfast. but again it's a low-bit encode and for my money (re: effort - it is free) it's not worth the hassle.

another let down is their library's depth or lack thereof. rare breeds don't roam the napster server farm. i suppose this may change but when an established company excludes classics like andy pratt's self-titled chaotic masterpiece (and new england fm favorite), dan folgelberg's devastatingly personal "home free" and batdorf & rodney's eponymous '72 soft-rock demi-opus it's obvious their arrow points directly at the big forehead of middle-brow america. hey, it's working for wal*mart, but unlike brick and mortar operations virtual libraries cost near zero to stock and can and should be as expansive as possible. i mean, my hard drives have more of that stuff than theirs do. the new napster's celestial jukebox fails utterly on that score.

- js.

[theknife]

i wasn't aware of the changes Napster has made...can we assume thier previous business model (renting music, wasn't it?) is tanking and this is a move to stave off total collapse?

[JackSpratts]

pretty much, yeah, and there's a bw story in this weeks wir that echoes your observation.

In all, [CEO] Gorog's latest announcements probably don't presage a coming of age for Napster, but the start of just another scary chapter as the company fights for survival.

in the meantime, they're giving it all away and hoping to make it up on the volume.

but you know...no special player, no infectious spyware, no personally invasive sign-up requirements. just a made up a nic and web email, and any old browser, and you've got a million tunes to click. what's not to like? this is truly a first. nobody else is offering this now, and no one ever did before.

- js.

[Mazer]

Originally Posted by JackSpratts

this is truly a first. nobody else is offering this now, and no one ever did before.

Well, about five years ago, before Yahoo acquired them, LAUNCH tried it but they were forced to cripple it by the RIAA. Now they're just like any streaming radio station out there. So what we're witnessing is really Napster's bid to compete with Yahoo Music's established streaming radio that for a year now has featured direct download links in their radio streams. A while ago I signed up for a year of high bitrate LAUNCHcast Plus for $36. It's almost free (10¢ per day) and you can't choose which songs it will play (thank you Hilary Rosen ), but I think it beats Napster's new free service.

[JackSpratts]

i don't remember the nascent days of launchcast pre-yahoo. i probably tried it and promptly forgot it. perhaps someone here was an early adopter and can fill in the specifics, but i do remember trying similar and also short lived services that were really "hyper request" streams. they used propriatary players and weren't open ended web based single unit delivery systems like the new napster. to further along the analogy this is not as much instant request radio as it is internet juke boxing. quarter in, select song, play, repeat. except you don't need the jukebox, because it works in your browser, and of course, you don't need the quarter.

- js.

[theknife]

it's pretty cool actually - nice way to browse for interesting stuff. and if you hear something you really like, well, then you're left to your own devices

and if you're really lazy like me, you can pop over to bugmenot and pick up a log-in

[Mazer]

Originally Posted by JackSpratts

i don't remember the nascent days of launchcast pre-yahoo. i probably tried it and promptly forgot it. perhaps someone here was an early adopter and can fill in the specifics

Remember back when they were trying to shut Napster down, the RIAA was throwing up a lot of fluff over LAUNCH's personalized streaming radio.

RIAA sues Launch

25 May 2001 5:40 by dRD

RIAA sued Launch Media yesterday on behalf of Sony, BMG, EMI and Universal because they think that Launch's existing licensing deal for its Launchcast streaming service doesn't allow the level of interactivity it currently offers.

Launchcast's users can rate songs they hear from the service and based on the ratings, songs are played more frequently, less frequently or not at all.

And yes, the problem is the level of interactivity -- Launch has all the licenses, all the "blankets", etc from RIAA, but service is just a little bit too intelligent. The missing one from "big five", Warner Music didn't file a suit because it has a separate licensing deal with Launch and that deals allows this level of interactivity.

Launchcast service was taken down and according to Launch they are negotiating with RIAA to find the solution for this issue.

Launch and MTVi sued RIAA

1 June 2001 16:23 by dRD

Launch Media, MTVi Group, MusicMatch, Listen.com, Digital Media Association and Xact Radio filed a lawsuit against recording industry today in a San Fransisco federal court demanding clarification in a webcast licensing dispute.

The whole dispute was launched by RIAA who sued Launch Media in last week because RIAA thinks that Launch's LaunchCast webcast service violates Launch's existing webcast licenses, because it allows level of interactivity that RIAA thinks its not a pure webcasting station.

Suit was also filed in response to a recent request by RIAA, which asked the U.S. Copyright Office to disqualify certain Webcasters that offer consumer-influenced Internet radio services from a royalty arbitration.

"Our only remaining option is to ask a court to interpret the Digital Millennium Copyright Act so that media companies, technology developers, and investors can gain needed clarification of the statute," Jonathan Potter, Digital Media Association's executive director, said.

RIAA countersues webcasters

9 June 2001 13:26 by dRD

Now, when we're almost seeing light in the end of the tunnel in many digital media court cases, including MP3.com's, Napster's and 2600's, there are plenty of court cases coming up..

Legal issue over webcasting royalty fees was risen in May when RIAA sued Launch Media, because RIAA thinks that Launch's LaunchCast streaming service violates Launch'ex existing streaming contract because its "too interactive".

After Launch was sued, webcasters joined their forces and attacked RIAA seeking court decision over this issue (what level of interactivity violates streaming royalty system's limits for user interactivity) and sued RIAA. Team that sued RIAA included MusicMatch, MTVi Group, Xact and DiMA (alliance of webcasters).

And of course this backfired -- in Friday, RIAA filed countersuit against webcaster's trade union, DiMA. Three webcasters were mentioned in lawsuit; MusicMatch, MTVi and Xact Radio.

In a statement, MusicMatch called the recording industry suit "unnecessary" and said it was confident the court would find that its service was eligible for the kind of statutory licensing that covers other broadcasters.

RIAA recently asked the U.S. Copyright Office to disqualify certain Webcasters that personalized Internet radio services from an upcoming arbitration process, said Jonathan Potter, executive director of DiMA, the trade group for Webcasters that filed last week's suit against RIAA.

Launch reinstates Launchcast service

16 June 2001 11:49 by dRD

Launch Media has reinstated its Launchcast web streaming service again, but without the four major label's content (all except AOL TimeWarner).

Launch was sued by four major record labels in last month because labels feel that Launch's streaming service Launchcast violates its current streaming licenses being too interactive, allowing users to vote the songs that they hear from the service and service creates new playlists based on these votes.

The ultimate goal for labels is to block Launch and similiar services from participating to webcast royalty arbitration proceeding that will set a rate for non-interactive webcasting claiming that Launch doesn't qualify to this. Labels want to charge more or even prevent webcasters to offer anything else than a regular radio service broadcasted over the Net.

Launch wasn't sued by AOL TimeWarner, because companies have a separate deal that allows Launch to have interactive elements in its service -- now Launchcast contains music from various independent labels and from AOL TimeWarner, total selection of 25,000 songs.

Yahoo acquired Launch

28 June 2001 9:18 by dRD

Yahoo! has agreed to acquire digital music website operator Launch Media for $12M inb cash, Launch announced today. Yahoo pays 92 cents for each share, giving 59% premium for shareholders (Launch's share price was $0.58 yesterday) and expects to complete the acquisition in Q3/2001.

As part of the deal, Yahoo extended its $3 million loan to Launch, in addition to a $2 million loan it provided Launch late last month. Launch media operations will continue to be based in Santa Monica, California, and its co-founders, Chief Executive Officer David Goldberg and President Bob Roback, will remain with Launch following the acquisition.

Additionally Launch settled its copyright dispute with four major record labels (all major ones except AOL TimeWarner) and will very likely remove interactive components from its Launchcast service that launched the lawsuit in May.

A short but sordid chapter in RIAA legal lore.

[JackSpratts]

much closer to the other, algorithm based request services. there were those that let you choose styles (genres) and would weight the stream accordingly (20% country, 30% chipmunk rock, 40% yodels, 10% french insults). i just don't remember anything like napster.

- js.

[Mazer]

When LAUNCHcast first started out it was unsophisticated. You could easily trick it into playing a small selection of songs over and over; it only played songs that had been rated by the user, at least that's what I had heard at the time. They got shut down over it, and when it came back it became what you see today.

At the time I only had a 56K modem that only ever connected at 40 kbps at best. The lowest bitrate stream available then was 42 kbps, so streaming radio was unlistenable with the constant pauses in the music. So I never took advantage of LAUNCHcast when it was a real jukebox type service, but I remember that month when the RIAA was high on its own power and started throwing lawsuits at everybody. After a crushing loss in the RIAA vs. Diamond Multimedia case they started winning lawsuits, most importantly against Napster, and eventually worked up the courage to sue all the world in '03 and then in '05 take on Grokster in the Supreme Court. It wouldn't be such a big deal that Napster is giving away free music if it weren't for these court cases.