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by Christian Machmeier.
Original Post: Don't do Napster
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..there seems to be a fair amount of confusion regarding the way subscription-based music services such as Napster To Go work. What many people seem to be missing is this:
If you drop your subscription, all of the music youÂve downloaded ceases to function.
And secondly, ..
most of us over the age of, say, 25 or so, already own most of the music weÂre ever going to want. Not all of the music, but most. IÂve bought more music on CDs in the past than IÂm going to buy in the future.
I think, both points are valuable and important. John Gruber said it best: If already own very many music titles (either on CD or as MP3's), you won't go to use a subscription service for collecting purposes. Meaning, you plan to keep those titles, say, forever.
But beyond that, what John misses, and Napster only tells in a footnote, is, that you need Windows XP and Windows Media Player 10 to run Napster To Go. Well, both of these could be real obstacles for anyone, ever wanting to subscribe to Napster's subscription service, but not being willing to run an overestimated OS and underachieving Media Player.
Therefore, it seems, as if Napster is not only following an obviously different strategy than Apple, but also one, that will not be crowned by success. At least, they won't win me as their customer. But, not to be pessimistic, why not give them time, say a year or two, and see how far they'll make it to the market?
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