As I've mentionedbefore, I've been using Napster 2.0 (formerly Pressplay) for about 8 months or so. Despite a couple of minor glitches, overall, it's been a very positive experience. I'm on the $9.95/mo plan. A few observations from continued use:
First, I'm at my desk probably 10 hours/day on average, and I'm streaming content most of this time. I listen to a lot more music now than I ever did. And I listen to a much wider variety of artists now.
When I read about some new music, or a friend tells me about some new artist, I can just search for them on Napster and listen to them instantly. There have been only a couple of times when I couldn't find what I wanted; and the artists I couldn't find don't seem to be available on any online service that I've seen. Examples - Madonna and LeAnn Rimes.
When I find something I really like, and I'm constantly listening to it, I go buy the CD rather than buying the music through the service. Then I can play it in the car, in my disconnected home stereo, and rip it to my computer to listen to it there. This is good for the label, I suppose, but I wonder what it does to the margins for Napster. I'm guessing at $0.99/track, there is very little margin there anyway...so hopefully they're making a reasonable profit from the monthly fee when I'm constantly streaming.
Most songs on Napster have the full song available for streaming, but a few songs/artists only have 30-second previews. I've found that if an entire album is only previews, I won't listen to it...but one of my favorites has all full songs, except for one preview-only song. Annoying, but I hate to admit it's actually a good incentive to buy the CD. I want to hear the rest of that song! :-)
I really want a 10 foot interface for this stuff that I could run on a Media Center PC, which I have heard rumors actually does exist. I guess now all I need is that Media Center PC!
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