Napster:Round 2:FIGHT! New Pricing structure allows unlimited donwloads for a $14.99/mth

[kenan921]

In order for the Quintessential player to encode Napster To Go files to mp3 efficiently and correctly you:

A) need to download the lame mp3 plug-in
B) need to make sure the files you are trying to encode are playable.

If you downloaded the tracks but have not played them within a WMP10 friendly player within a certain time period (Not sure exactly how long), you cannot play nor encode them in Quintessential. In order to avoid this, open Napster or Windows Media Player 10 and play the songs you plan on encoding. It's as easy as that, by starting to play the song, it enables Quintessential to play/encode it. In case you haven't noticed it takes an inordinate amount of time for Janus (NapToGo) files to spool up and start playing when you haven't played them for a while. Please don't be cheap and download all the songs you want and encode them then ditch the service before your first bill. The Napster service really is a good one, and a huge step in the right direction for online Music. If they show they can sustain a large user base, the competition will be joining them, and upping the ante in no time.

Note: Because of the excellent lame encoder (using VBR) the quality diff between the original WMA file and the re-encoded MP3 file are almost imperceptible. IMO it sounds just like a ripped CD encoded between 128kbps and 160kbps MP3. The only downsides to this process, are the increased file size, which generally takes up the space of an MP3 between 192kbps - 256kbps, and the fact that many MP3 players do not work with VBR files.

 

[Burrens78]

Question for Napster-To-Go subscribers:

Can you listen to the songs you download on your PC too, or are you retricted to downloading them directly to your MP3 player.

Somebody please enlighten me. I wish iTunes would go this route. This is the best online music idea yet.

 

[columbiaflier]

I don't see how this is a hot deal if you're only "renting" the music. And you have to check in every now and then to keep your lousy rental? OP, this is NOT a deal.

 

[Heifetz]

Its a good deal for the free IRiver, but now that that is dead, its not hot. The fact that you have to keep paying them money to even play the music is disgusting. They should really give you an option of keeping some music a month, as in give you tokens that you can use, so you can keep your favorite tracks. Otherwise, when you stop the service, you end up with nothing at all, which is really rediculous.

 

[kenan921]

Originally posted by: Burrens78
Question for Napster-To-Go subscribers:

Can you listen to the songs you download on your PC too, or are you retricted to downloading them directly to your MP3 player.

Somebody please enlighten me. I wish iTunes would go this route. This is the best online music idea yet.

Yes! You can listen to all downloaded songs on up to 3 PCs, and if you use the Quintessential Player, You can re-encode the music as stated in my earlier post and transfer it to as many players, PCs as you want. Just Like ripping a CD this program gives you the option to keep your music as OGG, MP3, whatever you like, with little loss at VBR setting.

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: Heifetz
Its a good deal for the free IRiver, but now that that is dead, its not hot. The fact that you have to keep paying them money to even play the music is disgusting. They should really give you an option of keeping some music a month, as in give you tokens that you can use, so you can keep your favorite tracks. Otherwise, when you stop the service, you end up with nothing at all, which is really rediculous.

That said, when you logon, you could have $5000 of music quite quickly, while with itunes, I would not. ( I use Itunes)

 

[ronj75]

4 players? thats bs. if the "to go" service worked on my muvo id POSSIBLY think about it. otherwise ill just stick to buying cd's that i can actually say "i own these"
i had been close enough to the sign up page then saw their "compatible players" link and just started laughing.

 

[tcrosson]

Originally posted by: kenan921

Originally posted by: Burrens78
Question for Napster-To-Go subscribers:

Can you listen to the songs you download on your PC too, or are you retricted to downloading them directly to your MP3 player.

Somebody please enlighten me. I wish iTunes would go this route. This is the best online music idea yet.

Yes! You can listen to all downloaded songs on up to 3 PCs, and if you use the Quintessential Player, You can re-encode the music as stated in my earlier post and transfer it to as many players, PCs as you want. Just Like ripping a CD this program gives you the option to keep your music as OGG, MP3, whatever you like, with little loss at VBR setting.

It was my understanding that you can only download to the MP3 player. If you wanted to have songs on your PC you had to pay a $1 a piece for them. Read "Using Napster Light" at the bottom and the line right above it.

 

[tren001]

Quote:

It was my understanding that you can only download to the MP3 player. If you wanted to have songs on your PC you had to pay a $1 a piece for them. Read "Using Napster Light" at the bottom and the line right above it.


Nope, with Napster you can download the songs to your computer and up to 3 computers in total. I've been using it that way since my iRiver H10 hasn't come yet (can't wait). As for whether the service itself is worth it, I think the jury is still out. I think the song availability is pretty good. Some albums (especially the ones with various artists) are missing tracks, but many big names in music are well represented, with the notable exception of the Eagles (buy only, can't download) and of course the Beatles. I still don't think I would've paid $180 for a year of service without the totally sweet mp3 player deal. On the other hand, if you get 2 of your friends to do it and split it 3 ways ($5/month or $60/year) it might be worth it.

...On the other other hand, that quintessential player works pretty well...and it's freeware too! It is lossy transcoding, but my non-audiophile ears can't tell the difference, and it seems to be the best solution if you want to keep napster music, since a crack for M$ DRM v10 still seems nowhere in sight.

 

[Zim]

Originally posted by: KenSimone

THIS (quintessential) can transcode protected WMA to MP3. It can transcode in bulk, digitally, and at high speed using the LAME codec.

I can't seem to get batch to work. It converts the first few tracks, then either locks up, or stops. Any tricks to getting it to work correctly? Thanks.

Yes, set the player thread priority to highest (it's a setting in the options). It'll pretty much lock up your computer but it's fine for an over-nighter. It will still be a bit flaky but perserverence will pay off.

As for why one would pay for a legal service and then abuse it... to me it seems pretty obvious - unlike downloading from a p2p network, it's almost impossible to get caught. That said, I don't condone stealing music and I myself pay for the music I listen to. However, I don't like the way the DMCA is being enforced and if they want to protect their music they need to invest in better protective technologies, such as encryption that can't be bypassed by QCD and the like. A good start would be to choose someone other than Microsoft to implement it.

 

[JohnDoh]

monthly pricing is a great deal but it is basically renting them since you cant keep them.... and most importantly its not lossless audio, and im sure there are other limits I dont know about or care to find out about, they gonna let me download 20gb a month?

long long way till I start paying for music anyways, but music industry has nothing 2 lose from me... I thought its allways been insane to spend $10+ for a cd, I never bought them, never will, it was radio for me before the internet

if interested in this theres better foreign sites that offer better plans because there not restricted by usa laws, and there nothing usa can do about it, the riaa cant come after you

 

[MrNutz]

Forget DRM nonsense, if you pay for then you should be able to do whatever you want with it... check these out instead:

AllOfMp3.com
MP3Tunes.com

 

[igowerf]

Originally posted by: MrNutz
Forget DRM nonsense, if you pay for then you should be able to do whatever you want with it... check these out instead:

AllOfMp3.com
MP3Tunes.com

Are mp3s downloaded from allofmp3 legal under U.S. law?

 

[omniviper]

errr if you guys dont know, there are other forums of which i can't tell for fear of getting banned of how to circumvent these drm protections

 

[kamaboko]

i subscribe to kazaa. they've got the best rates so far.

 

[nguyendot1]

Originally posted by: kamaboko
i subscribe to kazaa. they've got the best rates so far.

Yeah i hear those lawsuit rates are phenomenal.

 

[thoughtvendor]

Napster/Winamp Legal Unlimited Download Loophole

 

[Wahsapa]

Originally posted by: thoughtvendor
Napster/Winamp Legal Unlimited Download Loophole

cool

 

[brucekatz]

Originally posted by: igowerf

Originally posted by: MrNutz
Forget DRM nonsense, if you pay for then you should be able to do whatever you want with it... check these out instead:

AllOfMp3.com
MP3Tunes.com

Are mp3s downloaded from allofmp3 legal under U.S. law?

Usually, it is the matter between music companies and sellers. For example, I bought quite a few CDs from all over the world, no trouble at all; some DVDs are OK to ship to USA, some are not (before they are in the theater); I tried to buy Canon Pixma i5000 from Singapore, U.K., Epson PerfectScan 4990 from Hong Kong, they would not sell to me because of cetain agreements. Those two music sites are so popoular, one can assume RIAA knows about it; I personally perfer actual CDs for better sound quality, don't bother withany download service.

 

[Codewiz]

"I personally perfer actual CDs for better sound quality, don't bother withany download service."

Funny because at allofmp3, you can get lossless encoded cds.

 

[brucekatz]

Originally posted by: Codewiz
"I personally perfer actual CDs for better sound quality, don't bother withany download service."

Funny because at allofmp3, you can get lossless encoded cds.

Thank you for the info, I did not know it is lossless encoded, iTune and Napster are not; I got to check those two sites out.

 

[jeff d]

What's napster use for encoding? What's the best bitrate to use when converting to MP3? I see that the napster files play back at 128kbps, but not sure what encoding is use and how to find a good mp3 match for similar sound.

 

[skippydumptruck]

Originally posted by: kenan921
In order for the Quintessential player to encode Napster To Go files to mp3 efficiently and correctly you:

A) need to download the lame mp3 plug-in
B) need to make sure the files you are trying to encode are playable.

If you downloaded the tracks but have not played them within a WMP10 friendly player within a certain time period (Not sure exactly how long), you cannot play nor encode them in Quintessential. In order to avoid this, open Napster or Windows Media Player 10 and play the songs you plan on encoding. It's as easy as that, by starting to play the song, it enables Quintessential to play/encode it. In case you haven't noticed it takes an inordinate amount of time for Janus (NapToGo) files to spool up and start playing when you haven't played them for a while. Please don't be cheap and download all the songs you want and encode them then ditch the service before your first bill. The Napster service really is a good one, and a huge step in the right direction for online Music. If they show they can sustain a large user base, the competition will be joining them, and upping the ante in no time.

Note: Because of the excellent lame encoder (using VBR) the quality diff between the original WMA file and the re-encoded MP3 file are almost imperceptible. IMO it sounds just like a ripped CD encoded between 128kbps and 160kbps MP3. The only downsides to this process, are the increased file size, which generally takes up the space of an MP3 between 192kbps - 256kbps, and the fact that many MP3 players do not work with VBR files.

Quintessential has stopped opening or even recognizing my napster .wmas - I just played them all through fine with napster and with Windows Media Player. Any suggestions?

 

[Hankysmoo]

Originally posted by: skippydumptruck

Originally posted by: kenan921
In order for the Quintessential player to encode Napster To Go files to mp3 efficiently and correctly you:

A) need to download the lame mp3 plug-in
B) need to make sure the files you are trying to encode are playable.

If you downloaded the tracks but have not played them within a WMP10 friendly player within a certain time period (Not sure exactly how long), you cannot play nor encode them in Quintessential. In order to avoid this, open Napster or Windows Media Player 10 and play the songs you plan on encoding. It's as easy as that, by starting to play the song, it enables Quintessential to play/encode it. In case you haven't noticed it takes an inordinate amount of time for Janus (NapToGo) files to spool up and start playing when you haven't played them for a while. Please don't be cheap and download all the songs you want and encode them then ditch the service before your first bill. The Napster service really is a good one, and a huge step in the right direction for online Music. If they show they can sustain a large user base, the competition will be joining them, and upping the ante in no time.

Note: Because of the excellent lame encoder (using VBR) the quality diff between the original WMA file and the re-encoded MP3 file are almost imperceptible. IMO it sounds just like a ripped CD encoded between 128kbps and 160kbps MP3. The only downsides to this process, are the increased file size, which generally takes up the space of an MP3 between 192kbps - 256kbps, and the fact that many MP3 players do not work with VBR files.

Quintessential has stopped opening or even recognizing my napster .wmas - I just played them all through fine with napster and with Windows Media Player. Any suggestions?

Same here!! What's wrong with Quintessential???

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: Hankysmoo

Originally posted by: skippydumptruck

Originally posted by: kenan921
In order for the Quintessential player to encode Napster To Go files to mp3 efficiently and correctly you:

A) need to download the lame mp3 plug-in
B) need to make sure the files you are trying to encode are playable.

If you downloaded the tracks but have not played them within a WMP10 friendly player within a certain time period (Not sure exactly how long), you cannot play nor encode them in Quintessential. In order to avoid this, open Napster or Windows Media Player 10 and play the songs you plan on encoding. It's as easy as that, by starting to play the song, it enables Quintessential to play/encode it. In case you haven't noticed it takes an inordinate amount of time for Janus (NapToGo) files to spool up and start playing when you haven't played them for a while. Please don't be cheap and download all the songs you want and encode them then ditch the service before your first bill. The Napster service really is a good one, and a huge step in the right direction for online Music. If they show they can sustain a large user base, the competition will be joining them, and upping the ante in no time.

Note: Because of the excellent lame encoder (using VBR) the quality diff between the original WMA file and the re-encoded MP3 file are almost imperceptible. IMO it sounds just like a ripped CD encoded between 128kbps and 160kbps MP3. The only downsides to this process, are the increased file size, which generally takes up the space of an MP3 between 192kbps - 256kbps, and the fact that many MP3 players do not work with VBR files.

Quintessential has stopped opening or even recognizing my napster .wmas - I just played them all through fine with napster and with Windows Media Player. Any suggestions?

Same here!! What's wrong with Quintessential???

Hmm.....a program suddenly stopped performing illegal activities..hmmm..I wonder why?