Thursday, 21 May 2009
I've been a Napster To Go subscriber for several years now. It allows unlimited downloads on up to three computers and MP3 players and even though you never actually own the music (you are basically renting it as the DRM licences expire if you cancel your account), it's a great deal. Recently, however, I've found myself using it less and less.
Napster's buggy software has long been an annoyance. They issue new versions every now and again, but it's always slow to load, slow to download tracks and frequently hangs. You find yourself trying to download an album, wasting half an hour, then just giving up. Napster use 192kbps WMA encoding and while its fine most of the time it can sound very flat and compressed. Also, the lack of any integration with Vista Media Center is a real missed opportunity. I would love to have my Napster library accessible from my Xbox extender, but it's not to be.
My daughter buying an iPod (not Napster compatible, not even a teeny little bit) was the final straw. I had to ring up to cancel my account as you can't do it online, but it was a simple process. So long Napster, maybe I'll be back, maybe not. We'll see how it goes.
