Napster.com may disappoint many of the "old-school" Napster fans in it's rebirth from the legal troubles which plagued in during it's "hey-day". However, Roxio has done a fairly good job with the Napster name by providing downloadable Windows Media Audio (WMA) files to the public without requiring costly monthly fees or subscriptions. Unfortunately; like most Pay-to-Play services today- they have to provide some type of content protection (DRM) to keep their downloads legal and keep the RIAA off their back.
With this service; you pay to download WMA files to your computer which can then be played or burned to AudioCD using Microsoft's Media player. Each Download costs cost $0.99 per track. Pick and choose which tracks you want from a CD or if you desire purchase the entire CDs for $9.95. Napster claims to have over 500,000 songs available. Their large selection comes from all 5 major labels; but there are some missing artists. This site does not need a free trial and provides 30 second samples of the tracks available for purchase.
Hint: Unprotect Napster.com's WMA files using this Tutorial.
Napster 2.0 gets 6 out of 10 stars for their current offering.
Pros:
- No monthly service contract.
- Files exist on your computer; not their server.
- WMA files which can be burned onto AudioCD.
Cons:
| Service | Napster 2.0 | ||||
| URL | http://www.napster.com | ||||
| Criteria | Sub Criteria | Specifics | Score | Total Possible score | Notes: |
| Overall | 5.8 | 10 | |||
| Compatibility | 1.75 | 3 | |||
| Format | 0.55 | 1 | |||
| Open / Standard Format | 0.3 | 0.5 | Copy Prot | ||
| Digital Rights | 0.25 | 0.5 | Ideally, no | ||
| Application Compatibility | 0.5 | 1 | |||
| Default format supported by CDMaster32 | 0 | 1 | WMA isn't | ||
| Audio CD Format | 0.5 | 0.5 | |||
| Portability | 0.7 | 1 | |||
| Burn AudioCDs | 0.5 | 0.5 | Supported | ||
| Portable non-CD Devices | 0.2 | 0.25 | Some sup | ||
| MP3CD Format | 0 | 0.25 | |||
| Costs | 2 | 4 | |||
| Service Fee | 0.9 | 1 | |||
| Up-front Costs or Per Month | 0.5 | 0.5 | |||
| None | 0.5 | 0.5 | Standard s | ||
| <$10 | 0.33 | ||||
| $10-$20 | 0.25 | ||||
| >$20 | 0 | ||||
| Number of Plans | 0.15 | 0.25 | |||
| N/A | 0.25 | ||||
| >2 | 0.2 | ||||
| 2 | 0.15 | 0.15 | Also offers | ||
| 1 | 0.05 | ||||
| Type of Plan | 0.25 | 0.25 | No upfront | ||
| Unlimited | 0.25 | 0.25 | |||
| Per Month | 0.1 | ||||
| Per Year | 0.1 | ||||
| Downloads | 0.35 | 1 | |||
| Cost To Download | 0.1 | 0.5 | Tracks co | ||
| Unlimited | 0.5 | ||||
| limited | 0.25 | ||||
| pay per | 0.1 | 0.1 | |||
| none / on server | 0 | ||||
| Available Players for Downloads | 0.25 | 0.5 | |||
| Supplied / Proprietary | 0 | ||||
| Standard | 0.25 | 0.25 | |||
| Any | 0.5 | ||||
| Burn | Cost To Burn Audio CDs | 0.5 | 1 | ||
| N/A | 0 | ||||
| 0-$0.50 | 1 | ||||
| $0.51-$0.99 | 0.5 | 0.5 | Tracks se | ||
| >$0.99 | 0.25 | ||||
| Free Trial | 0.25 | 1 | |||
| No Trial | 0 | ||||
| Sample Access | 0.25 | 0.25 | 30second | ||
| Full Access < 7days | 0.5 | ||||
| Full Access > 7days | 1 | ||||
| Availability | 2.05 | 3 | |||
| Selection | 1 | 1.5 | |||
| Number of Labels | 0.25 | 0.5 | |||
| All | 0.5 | ||||
| 5 major | 0.25 | 0.25 | Napster cl | ||
| Single | 0 | ||||
| Selection of Songs | 0.75 | 1 | |||
| All | 1 | ||||
| Most Popular | 0.75 | 0.75 | Napster cl | ||
| Some Popular | 0.5 | ||||
| Mostly Rare | 0.25 | ||||
| File Rights | 0.5 | 0.5 | |||
| All Files have Same rights | 0.5 | 0.5 | All tracks | ||
| Varies by Plan | 0.25 | ||||
| Varies per Track | 0.12 | ||||
| Listen only / No rights | 0 | ||||
| Song Database | 0.3 | 0.5 | |||
| Free / Open Search | 0.06 | 0.1 | Looses poi | ||
| Detailed Artist / Song Info | 0.06 | 0.1 | Provides li | ||
| Cross Reference Similar Artist / Music | 0.18 | 0.2 | CrossRefe | ||
| Exportable data | 0.1 | ||||
| Interface | 0.25 | 0.5 | |||
| Web Based Browsing | 0.5 | ||||
| Proprietary Application | 0.25 | 0.25 | Service re | ||
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