What is Digg?72 Comments
- Topher06, on 01/05/2008, -3/+54What? I thought Napster went out of business...twice. Give it up Napster.
- BDLou, on 01/05/2008, -0/+26I just called and tried to cancel. I got a voice recording telling me they were experiencing a high volume of calls, and told me the best time to call back was Wednesday through Friday when call traffic is low... Then it hung up on me... Now THAT is customer service!
- paperfrog, on 01/05/2008, -2/+21This is rather like hearing that the Edsel will be pricier this year.
- xb00t, on 01/05/2008, -7/+26People still pay for their mp3s?
- green1, on 01/05/2008, -3/+17Nap-who?
They lost the fight when the RIAA made them the web's piracy-poster child. - crakbot, on 01/05/2008, -5/+17Why are people so down on Napster. Diggers are always acting so pro-artist yet they steal freely, but not only that, diggers bad mouth companies that actually try to adjust to the new medium while still paying artists. I'm not sure where to find the dumbest comments, here on Digg or on the UFC forums.
Second, every subscription service I know has a discount for people who pay for a whole year up front. Magazines, XBox Live, even porn sites. Maybe you guys need to take a class in marketing to realize that offering a discount to customers paying up front doesn't mean they are going out of business.
Bottom line: 12.95 for unlimited songs and the knowledge that you're not stiffing artists is still a pretty good deal. - aliengoods, on 01/05/2008, -0/+11And from the slain body of Napster spewed hundreds of P2P music sharing apps. Oh, the horrors!
- sdipaola, on 01/05/2008, -2/+9Much of the comments are misinterpreting who this Napster is.
It has nothing to do with the group that was Napster. That group was destroyed by corporate types and bad laws (made by senators/congressman who 1) got big money from and 2) were lobbied by those corporations to pass bad laws). After destruction, someone bought the name, Napster. Just like Netscape ( you know the guys who created the www browser and via their innovative head, made Internet browsing 1) not buggy, 2) secure and 3) business worthy compared to what it was before that) was destroyed by Microsoft (we will do everything for free till that small Netscape company dies). AOL bought the Netscape name but it had nothing really left from the original company. Let's not be 1) confused by marketing a paid for brand name of a dead once great company and 2) realize that very very good (current and future) organizations like the original Napster and Netscape can be destroyed by corporate evil doers like the RIAA/MPAA/MS and the bad laws they pay for. A good thing to think about as we go into a significant election cycle.
-steve - Seifey, on 01/05/2008, -0/+6I haven't even heard Kazaa mentioned since 2005..
- Jonmad17, on 01/05/2008, -0/+6Napster's P2P service didn't die, it was killed.
- surfing, on 01/05/2008, -0/+6With that logic, all of the gas stations in my area are going of business.
- dazhboh, on 01/05/2008, -1/+6mal, it's 2008. THERE is a new invention called Kazaa sucks major prehensile monkey phallus. Have you been sleeping for a long time?
- mranderson86, on 01/05/2008, -1/+6Napster was our Squad Leader until he was approached to lead another crack squad: RIAA.... so we broke off and formed a militia: Torrents and have spread across the world.
Can't stop a revolution that's already happened. - aliengoods, on 01/05/2008, -1/+6Yeah, except these days an Edsel is cool. If you saw someone driving one, you would look twice and say damn. How many people do you know of that would say the same thing if you told them you're paying for Napster?
- joshuaer, on 01/05/2008, -0/+5The edsel is now a cool collector car in 50 years napster will just a footnote in the wild west days of the internet.
- interad, on 01/05/2008, -0/+4wonder how many people will cancel ... napster auto-renews subscriptions via credit card
- shawnanigans, on 01/05/2008, -0/+4Why are businesses so retarded? When you have a declining userbase and you are going out of business clearly you need to attract more users not raise your prices. Raising prices is the worst thing you can do. People are leaving because they can get better value elsewhere (infinite value with P2P). Businesses never seem to learn.
- Thorpe, on 01/05/2008, -2/+6Napster's golden age has gone and passed us years ago.
- inactive, on 01/05/2008, -0/+4"For the first time in over four years, we are increasing the Napster monthly subscription fee from $9.95 to $12.95. This change will take place beginning on January 30, 2008. As a valued member, we would like to extend a special offer to keep your existing monthly rate."
-- Cash hungry? It could just be inflation and Napster having to adjust to the costs of running a business? - wocca, on 01/05/2008, -1/+5companies that suddenly offer a discount for a year long subscription are usually cash hungry
- Phillyzero, on 01/05/2008, -0/+4Kazaa's been long dead friend, get yourself on a private torrent site or newsgroup.
- joshuaer, on 01/05/2008, -0/+3New?? Kazaa has been around since 2002!
- DontGiveADamn, on 01/05/2008, -0/+3Why pay for Napster, you can use it for free.
http://free.napster.com/ - moschops, on 01/05/2008, -5/+8Thanks for posting some good background information. I've mostly been happy with Napster - much more so since the latest upgrades. But the price hike comes at a bad time - I'm looking for things to cut back on and I think I do without it for a while, I expect there may be more subscription services coming along soon.
They state this is the first rate increase in four years but is still equivalent to a cummulative 6.8% per year over that time which given the rate of inflation and the nature of their business seems high. It's not like the price of oil affects the price of music!
Someone just posted on my blog https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6553801&p ... that they decided to cancel, but when doing from the client they were instructed to call, then they tried to call and there was a recorded message saying they were experiencing high call volume. So maybe there is a flood of other people thinking the same... - phaed, on 01/05/2008, -0/+3Creativity should not be as expensive as a commodity as it used to be. Anyone can make music that sounds just like that crap that is popular. Those people should not be millionaires just cause they sing.
- inactive, on 01/05/2008, -1/+4I wish they would go out of business... and do a 180 turn back to their old ways. What a great program Napster was. Could find anything on there, and it was super fast.
- windohs, on 01/05/2008, -0/+3That's because Napster's mascot looks a bit like hello kitty with headphones, and you know how Japan feels about hello kitty.
- dasunst3r, on 01/05/2008, -1/+4Yes -- Amazon.
- wonderchemist, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2THAT is the exact action you should expect from a subscription services company that is about to go under.
- inotocracy, on 01/05/2008, -1/+3Napster is STILL around? Good God!
- amirman, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2they've been dying for a long time and it's due to a pretty shallow selection and that GOD DAMN ridiculous DRM *****.
- crainte, on 01/05/2008, -2/+4It was a ***** program yeah, but the DRM was easy to strip. I'll be canceling my subscription though, it's not worth the $10 i was paying.
- joshuaer, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2So then target and walmart should not sell cloths for as much as they do they make millions a week. yet it is not ok for people to go and take cloths from the store because they feel like they are charging to much.
I think it is really funny that every one is ok with people making 10 cents an hour to make cloths then making Wal-mart and Target rich by buying them. But They do not want to pay for music because they think people make to much money.
stop trying to act like you are standing up for any one or fighting the system by stealing music and "showing the man" who's the boss. Look around at all the stuff made in china that you own and use and you will realize what you are just the mans little bitch! - joshuaer, on 01/05/2008, -2/+4People understand that creativity costs money. I wonder how quickly you would call a lawyer if you had an audio blog for your band and i took all the text and music from it and started my own website!
- Darph.Bobo, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1They're NOT Napster! They're just the company that moved in to the building and kept the sign.
- mal1964, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1I see you don't think my jokes are funny, I still appreciate you took the time to stop by.
- Bluejaye, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1You can't skip songs with Pandora radio, which I find extremely annoying.
- moschops, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Okay, found it myself in their November financial release - 750,000, down from 770,000 the previous quarter - should be very interesting to see what the next release says. My guess is they lost at least another 50,000 over this - if not more. Basically the new email from them was the first I've received in a very long time - and it told me prices were going up. Given the economy and that people often over look small recurring charges this may just be the thing that prompts them to go look and say "Perhaps I don't need that after all". Hardly any surprise they added a barrier (having to call) to cancel service!
Press release excerpt here:
Net revenue for Napster's second quarter of fiscal 2008 grew to $31.6 million, up 24 percent from $25.5 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2007. Net loss for the second quarter of fiscal 2008 narrowed to $5.1 million, or $0.12 per basic and diluted share, compared to a net loss of $9.0 million, or $0.21 per basic and diluted share, in the second quarter of fiscal 2007.
Napster ended the second fiscal quarter with $68.4 million of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, an increase of $1.3 million from the prior quarter.
Napster had approximately 750,000 paid subscribers at September 30, 2007, down from approximately 770,000 on June 30, 2007, as anticipated based on historical quarterly patterns. - Joomal, on 01/05/2008, -1/+2Naspter Stock:
http://investor.napster.com/stockquote.cfm - Zap2, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1then don't buy their music....they pick a price, let it...the "market" at work.
- NuclearBlast, on 01/05/2008, -1/+2I want someone to go back in time to when Napster was up and coming and show them this headline for a big "WTF?"
- eviljim, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1It's not really 'market' pricing - you can get TWO years of Yahoo! music (via a Mastercard promo) for $72. $12.95 is expensive.
http://music.yahoo.com/mastercard
of course Yahoo's player is terrible. - solid12345, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1If the pirate bay can afford to buy all these companies they really are scamming you guys, keep sending them "donations" to make them rich you tools.
- cgomez, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1You're telling me. I subscribed on a whim since I wanted to find some new music without pirating, now I have to call in to cancel (no option to do it online) and I've been unsuccessful three times since the wait times are absurd and I just end up being disconnected.
***** you Napster/Roxio. - ascott9, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1www.mp3fiesta.com is drm-free
- solid12345, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Why the hate for Napster?
You'd really rather pay 99 cents for a song you own rather than pay 15 bucks a month to download all the music you want? Yeah it has DRM but who cares, as long as it plays on my mp3 player, that is the only reason I would download digital in the first place. If I want burned tracks I will buy the CD. - longhair, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1I buy all my music from Napster. All these online music stores allow you to listen to a song for 30 seconds. Napster let's you listen to the full song up to three times. To me, that is a great service and they get my money.
- MacSuxWindozSux, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1I can't see how they would have a whole lot of costs. Once the service is up, can't they just float letting the subscriptions flow in?
I mean theres bandwidth, royalties, and like 10 employees. - moschops, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Does anyone know how many subscribers they have now anyway? (Before the price increase and everyone canceled...)
- funkymonkey01, on 01/07/2008, -0/+1well I'm cancelling
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