The Background Score Of Our Era: Our Favorite Music, Mobile Phones And Broadband
Who would have believed, even through most of the last century, that the same device we use to contact friends or business associates could also be used to provide us with our favorite music. Of course, almost all new mobile phones can do that and much more.
Imagine trying to explain the Internet to someone as recently as the 1970’s. I tried…unsuccessfully. Furthermore, as late as the early part of the last decade of the twentieth century, our current Internet speed would have seemed more of a distant hope than a short term reality. Yet, today, most of us connect using broadband services. Streaming music to our desktops is no longer interrupted by frequent pauses to resupply the buffer of our memory.
The Napster people had something of a rocky start as a place where music enthusiasts could find each other and, using the Napster software, exchange their music over the Internet, even before the world wide web had come along. No money was ever exchanged. It was a bit like selling illegal bootleg CDs except that nobody made any income from it. In fact it was the free part of the model that angered the recording artists and record labels. Eventually Napster settled with the recording industry, with a huge financial settlement at Napster’s expense. They learned their lesson well enough to completely change their business model.
Napster, started as a free trading music set, but it has now become the owner of the largest music catalog on the Internet, with over seven million titles. While it is not free, as it was in the wild days of the early Internet, it is still an amazing bargain. They offer various plans, but the best all around deal is a three month membership, which can be renewed if you still haven’t satisfied your music thirst. Three months will give you a good sense of what the service has to offer, and I strongly suspect that you’ll decide to renew. A lot of people have maintained a membership for years.
For the widely recommended three month plan you get five download credits per month plus bonus credits. Included in the plan is the reason that most people subscribe in the first place–unlimited (!) streaming music. You can listen to the entire catalogs of your favorite artists or, if you prefer, entire albums of a variety of artists. There are also over a thousand interactive, genre playlists. There are streaming radio stations, too.
The downloads you choose can be played on any MP3 compatible device, including a number of lesser know brands plus the extremely popular Ipod and Zune players. In fact, if you cell phone has this option, you can even carry the music you’ve downloaded from Napster on that, as well.
You have unrestricted rights to these recordings, so you can move them around to different devices that you own. You can even use your software to create your own CD.
There is a huge list of musical genres. If you are similar to me, you choose from a lot of different genres, but if your tastes are more specific, you will certainly find your favorite genre. The list is huge, but a few of the genres are jazz, pop, rock, Christian, children, comedy, country and the list goes on….
All of this is just $15 for the three months of delightful musical saturation at Napster.com. Face it, that’s cheaper than a fast food lunch for three.
