Napster To Go Service for Portable Devices

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,117675,00.asp

"Napster is previewing its forthcoming Napster To Go service. This service leverages new Windows Media 10 technologies to enable Napster subscribers to download music to portable devices, a technology called Janus. Music remains protected, and if a user's subscription ends, the music won't play any more. It's tunes to rent."

I find it strange that they're "previewing" this feature, because I used it more than a month ago. When I first connected the Portable Media Center that Microsoft had loaned me, I saw this pop-up window inside the WMP10 client. I clicked yes, and was able to transfer my subscription-based songs to the player. I've done the same thing with my Dell Axim X50, and it worked like a charm. I don't have a Smartphone with WMP10 on it yet, but you should be able to do exactly the same thing.

The one thing I'm not sure about is how long the songs will last on a portable device that doesn't connect back to the host machine and the Internet - would they time out after seven days? A month?

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,117675,00.asp

"Napster is previewing its forthcoming Napster To Go service. This service leverages new Windows Media 10 technologies to enable Napster subscribers to download music to portable devices, a technology called Janus. Music remains protected, and if a user's subscription ends, the music won't play any more. It's tunes to rent."

I find it strange that they're "previewing" this feature, because I used it more than a month ago. When I first connected the Portable Media Center that Microsoft had loaned me, I saw this pop-up window inside the WMP10 client. I clicked yes, and was able to transfer my subscription-based songs to the player. I've done the same thing with my Dell Axim X50, and it worked like a charm. I don't have a Smartphone with WMP10 on it yet, but you should be able to do exactly the same thing.

The one thing I'm not sure about is how long the songs will last on a portable device that doesn't connect back to the host machine and the Internet - would they time out after seven days? A month?

[Danborg]

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

"Napster is previewing its forthcoming Napster To Go service. This service leverages new Windows Media 10 technologies to enable Napster subscribers to download music to portable devices, a technology called Janus. Music remains protected, and if a user's subscription ends, the music won't play any more. It's tunes to rent."

Isn't this basically a DUPE of the story Mike Temporale posted yesterday??

[Mike Temporale]

Ya, the news story is the same thing, however Jason has added more information that highlights his expereinces and thoughts on the service.

Napster.com is against my clients code of conduct policy so I can't even visit the web site. But hey, so is Google's translation tool. So it's all good. :lol: :roll:

[mghannigan]

Where were you in WMP when the window popped up? I have a Rio Carbon and havent seen such a message.

[Danborg]

Originally Posted by mghannigan

Where were you in WMP when the window popped up? I have a Rio Carbon and havent seen such a message.

Yeah me either, I have a SMT5600 and I can't figure out where I go to download the plugin to try out this service. Any ideas?

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by mghannigan

Where were you in WMP when the window popped up? I have a Rio Carbon and havent seen such a message.

Yes, it just came up...I don't know of any way to trigger it though. Try disconnecting your device, shutting down WMP, starting up WMP, logging into Napster, then connecting your device...

[Danborg]

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

Yes, it just came up...I don't know of any way to trigger it though. Try disconnecting your device, shutting down WMP, starting up WMP, logging into Napster, then connecting your device...

Isn't it kind of nutty that there is no simple, straightforward way of subscribing to this service??

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Danborg

Isn't it kind of nutty that there is no simple, straightforward way of subscribing to this service??

Yup. It's equally nutty that there's no way to upgrade/downgrade your account. I guess email their support and ask for the account upgrade?