Napster Points Finger at Microsoft for Business Failings

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyid=2006-03-01T190232Z_01_N28388431_RTRUKOC_0_US-SUMMIT-NAPSTER.xml' target='_blank'>http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyid=2006-03-01T190232Z_01_N28388431_RTRUKOC_0_US-SUMMIT-NAPSTER.xml</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Technical glitches by Microsoft and the digital music device makers have hampered Napster Inc.'s ability to close the gap with Apple's iTunes, the dominant online music service, Napster's chief executive said on Tuesday. "There is no question that their execution has been less than brilliant over the last 12 months," Napster Chairman and Chief Executive Chris Gorog said at the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit in New York. "Our business does rely on Microsoft's digital rights management software and our business model also relies on Microsoft's ecosystem of device manufacturers," he added."</i><br /><br />It's hard to know where the truth lies in all this - certainly, Napster is dependant on the hardware manufacturers making a killer device, one that works with their service. The Napster/Samsung device was an utter failure (did anyone buy one of those?). My experience with Napster though was mostly negative, and it was all because of their WMP-integrated client. What I don't know, however, is whether the integrated Napster client sucked so bad because of WMP10 limitations, or because Napster executed poorly.

[jeffd]

Some hardware devices have been "losing" their drm liscenses very preamaturly requiring frequent synchings not to mention lost music untill you are able to synch again. I'd say thats a big turn off to buying drm music too. ;)

But yea anything relying on WMP would turn me off too.. I use nothing but file manager (ZVM creates a tab in it, this is the true nature of creatives file explorer) to load stuff onto my vision:m. Heck, I curse up a blue storm when I accidently click the WMP icon causing 10 seconds of agony as I wait for it to load so I can close it. ;)

[j.freiman]

How long do you wait for WMP 10 to load??? It only takes literally 1 second on my PC....

Anyways, that's not the point of this article.

I used Napster for a brief while but switched to MSN because it used higher bit rates as compared to Napster and iTunes.

The other main reason I switched (mind you I rarely buy music online and when I do it's because I only want ONE song) is because the DRM on Napster was very limiting. All too often I would reinstall Windows or upgrade my computer and Napster would not re-authenticate my music - which I paid too much for and MSN would.

That said, I think most of Napster's woes are a) no compelling devices, except in my opinion Windows Mobile Phones (Cingular 2125 or Tmobile SDA) and poor customer service related to DRM.

-John

[Jason Dunn]

How long do you wait for WMP 10 to load??? It only takes literally 1 second on my PC....

He might be using it on a 286. :lol:

WMP10 is VERY slow to load if you have a big library - when I have it configured with all my music (about 9000 songs) it takes several seconds to load and churns away at the hard drive a great deal for a good 20 seconds.

[jeffd]

My celeron laptop sure FEELS like a 286. :(

[ojlittle]

Never actually does play 4 sure. I have a Zen Micro that I bought to use specifically with Napster. I would have to relicense the tracks all the damn time. I'm not talking once a month, I'm talking once a week! I travel up and down the West African coast almost non-stop so you can guess how easy it is to always have an internet connection available to relicense. With my iPOD and iTunes, I license the player and the computer and NEVER have to worry. Say what you want about the closed format, but it works and it works damn good. Nothing Microsoft or any of the competitors have come close when you look at the total package. There are players that do more, maybe work better in some people's opinion, but Apple's total package from start to finish can't be beat.

As for WMP10 vs. iTunes... I can sort 11,000+ songs in iTunes instantly. WMP10 chokes on that kind of song capacity. Not just starting the program either. Try sorting alphabetically by song title from A-Z, then sort from Z-A and watch how long it takes. Minute after minute after minute.

[Neil Enns]

I used Napster before switching to MSN music. Two things killed off Napster for me:

1) Restrictive licensing. You can only download the song three times.
2) Their client was buggy as heck. At one point on my machine any time I played a Napster song I'd get the napster installer up in a never-ending loop (remember that Jason?). I firmly believe this is Napster's failing, not Microsoft's.

MSN music's licensing rocks. Their licensning is "no more than 5 machines at a time". I can de-register and re-register as many computers as I want, as long as no more than five are up. This is great, as it means I never have to worry about backing up my licenses and whatnot.

Neil

[Jason Dunn]

I would have to relicense the tracks all the damn time. I'm not talking once a month, I'm talking once a week!

I feel your pain. I had the same problem, though it was even MORE irritating on the desktop client when I had to re-authenticate with Napster multiple times a DAY even though I had checked off all the "remember my username and password" boxes. &lt;sigh>

As for WMP10 vs. iTunes... I can sort 11,000+ songs in iTunes instantly. WMP10 chokes on that kind of song capacity.

That's been my #1 pain point since WMP10 came out (before that I was using Winamp I think). WMP11 simply kicks ASS in this area - it's SO fast. So that concern will soon be moot...

[Jason Eaton]

This guy gets me, it is always everything else but Napster. I guess you can't really go to a conference as a speaker and say 'my product sucks'.