Beleaguered “Napster has increased the subscription fees for its digital music service by about 30%, from $9.95 per month to $12.95 per month, the company said in an e-mail to subscribers,” Mark Hefflinger reports for Digital Media Wire.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Just give up the charade already, sheesh.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “HMCIV” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Beleaguered Napster’s CFO resigns – December 11, 2007
Beleaguered Napster declines after analyst downgrades, says products not being marketed – December 07, 2007
Beleaguered Napster in search of new business model as subscriptions dwindle – November 02, 2007
Beleaguered Napster reports wider quarterly loss – May 17, 2007
Beleaguered Napster preps for takeover – February 13, 2007
Beleaguered Napster’s CEO Gorog calls Apple’s iPod, iTunes Store ‘anti-consumer’ – January 31, 2007
Beleaguered Napster hires UBS to evaluate possible company sale – September 18, 2006
Beleaguered Napster circles bowl, subscribers drop 7 percent, Gorog won’t rule out sale of company – August 03, 2006
Free, legal and ignored: Mac- and iPod-incompatible beleaguered Napster dying at colleges – July 06, 2006
Napster CEO Gorog blames Microsoft for failure to compete with Apple’s iTunes Music Store – March 01, 2006
Napster CEO Chris Gorog has ‘secret plan’ to help beleaguered company become profitable – February 09, 2006
Google: no interest in Napster, no plans to develop music store at this time – January 31, 2006
Napster does the math: layoffs commence with 10-percent of workforce lopped off – January 25, 2006
EMI Music Chairman: Music subscription services like Napster and Rhapsody haven’t beeen huge – January 23, 2006
Napster CEO Gorog: ‘we are extremely excited about the future’ – January 18, 2006
Report: Napster executives do the math, consider selling or shutting down, layoffs imminent – January 16, 2006
Napster CEO Gorog: Apple iPod is a ‘villain’ – December 12, 2005
Do the math: Napster posts $13.6 million second-quarter loss – November 02, 2005
Napster President: Apple CEO Steve Jobs has ‘tricked people into buying a hardware trap’ – August 22, 2005
Apple’s roadkill whine in unison: ‘incompatibility is slowing growth of digital music’ – August 12, 2005
Napster: the only thing missing is the sock puppet – August 04, 2005
Napster, other Windows Media-based music services ‘chasing a niche opportunity’ – June 29, 2005
SmartMoney: Napster is a snooze, gushing money and renting music is un-American anyway – July 06, 2005
Napster To Go Soon? Reports $24.3 million net loss on $17.4 million net revenue – May 11, 2005
Napster is a joke – April 05, 2005
Napster CEO Gorog: Steve Jobs ‘must be pretty frightened’ of Napster To Go – March 14, 2005
Napster’s math does not add up – February 28, 2005
Users thwart Napster To Go’s copy protection; do the music labels realize the piracy potential? – February 15, 2005
Napster CEO Gorog: ‘it’s stupid to buy an iPod’ – February 10, 2005
$10,000 to fill an iPod? Napster’s going to end up with egg on their face – February 04, 2005
Why ‘Napster To Go’ will flop – February 03, 2005
Napster CEO: We’re ‘the biggest brand in digital music, much more exciting than Apple’s iTunes’ – February 03, 2005
The de facto standard for legal digital online music files: Apple’s protected MPEG-4 Audio (.m4p) – December 15, 2004
Napster CEO: ‘it would be great’ if Apple iPod supported WMA – March 09, 2004
Napster CEO: Apple iTunes, iPod ‘consumer-unfriendly experiences’ – March 09, 2004
Napster 2.0 posts US$15 million relaunch loss – February 08, 2004
still a great bargain
always a bad deal
bargain? serious?
That’s about what I pay for Sirius.
Customers? Gouge ’em one good time before they’re gone! Most of them won’t even notice for several months. They should have read the contract. It says right there in the fine print they’ve got to pay or lose their music. You gotta love good old fashioned greed.
They’re still around? :: scratches head ::
You almost have to wonder if they’re trying to chase off their last 5 customers so they can really drive their business into the ground?
Bargain? $150- year? To rent music? Ouch And folks complain about the cost of .mac.
I give Napster till the summer to abandon subscription services and end of the year to close up shop.
This is exactly what the smart prognosticators foretold, and ‘shux’ hits the cynical nail on the head;
Napster Inc. sees the writing on the wall and is trying to squeeze a few last drops of blood from naive customers before Napster executives turn out the lights, shut the door, and jet off to their villas to plan their next heist.
150 USD a year to listen to your choice of music, because you do not own the songs from Napster. That’s how the subscription works – I’m I right?
Either, Radio is sounding truly amazing these days or I should kiss Steve Jobs FEET that iTunes is in business.
RITS (rot-in-the-soil) Napster.
Specially since the RIAA will be knock their door again soon.
This is a last dash for cash before the flush down the toilet bowl.
$12.95 to steal all you can eat, before they are gone forever.
Yes, we rent music. People seem to love custom playlists.
We were so sneaky. Tee hee. But now that the RIAA is onto use for housing all this music that we bought and copied it to our server we need to prepare for the cost of our lawyers.
Thx to all our supports for understanding and sticking with us.
Nick
I didn’t know you could subscribe! Darn it, I’ve been spending over $50 a month to buy songs from iTunes for the last two years. But since I don’t have much room on my hard drive, I delete them before I buy the next batch. The heck with Apple. I’m moving to Napster!
@ TT
I get really tired of hearing about how subscriptions are such a great way to ‘discover new music!’ when you can get satellite for the same price. If I want to discover new music, I’d rather have a limitless stream of a gazillion live stations than a big pot to download from.
As soon as I make a playlist, I have become attached to that music. But my playlists tend to be masterpieces, well planned, with song edits, cross fades, samples and vignettes that follow a theme. They take me hours, sometimes days to perfect. If I’m going to take the time to do this, I am going to own the music I use (or steal it fair and square). I will not be told that my favorite driving mix is going to cost me more a month to keep playing.
Subscriptions just suck suck suck. I love music way too much for that.
LorD1776 is right. I-Tunes has too many hidden costs associated with the pay-per-download model. You need to add hard drive space to store all of those songs you’ve purchased and downloaded. Apple’s sheisters don’t tell you about that when you register for their proprietary service, do they?
$12.95 is a bargain for all of that fabulous music on Napster in the wonderful WMA format—and I don’t have to go out buy another hard drive to experience their top notch service. Besides WMA’s play just fine on my Ditty and my Zune. Apple, just give up the charade already, sheesh.
Your potential. Our passion.™
MDN-ers check it out — I am 95% certain Zune Tang® and ChrissyOne are the same! Their posts came in at the same time. The jig is nearly up.
The 5% uncertainty is only because ligatures weren’t mentioned in both posts. That would have sealed the deal. Hmmmmmm.
I kind of rushed the last few lines – the Flintstones just came on.
Dewy
@Ottmar Mergenthaler – U d’man
I have had the very same hunch for over a month.
Review other comments and you can almost trace the thought patterns. And because she is so intelligent, faking a multi, yet virtual personality would be a piece of pie from Apple.
w8nc
Zune Tang, you are wrong.
http://www.napster.com/compatible_devices/
They will NOT play on your Zune.
@ Ottmar Mergenthaler
ZT constantly bites my style, hence his stealing my talking-points.
I’d love to take credit for ZT, but alas, it’s not me. I don’t quite have *that* much spare time on my hands.
My comment has been supported by Zune Tang. Even though I was joking, I am ruined. What little credibility I may have had is gone.
Thanks Zuney. Ya sure know how to hurt a guy.
ChrissyOne,
If it’s true that you are Zune Tang, then I hope your legs grow together. If it’s not true, then may your legs spread far and wide forever!
And THAT is why she is so welcoming here… as Zune Tang for Satire and ChrissyOne as a Mac faithful.
w8nc
@ You d’man
{sigh} Okay, I, then I am the messiah!!!
“SHE IS THE MESSAIAH!!!”
Hey, there’s your proof. ZT types far more accurelyut than idoo.
The Zune can’t play Napster playlists.
Thank goodness
@ LorD1776
I have no clue what that means. If I’m ZT, you want me to become a mermaid?
Uh, you guys don’t deal with empirical evidence very well, do you? The times of our posts are the same to the minute, and I don’t type that fast. I supposed I could have pre-typed it…
“SHE IS THE MESSIAH!!!”
Now go away!
ChrissyOne,
Yes, and please wear those seashell things. That is SO hot !!!
@ LorD1776
;P Then I’m changing my name to Madison. Or EEE E EEE EEE EE!!!
-Madison
Thank goodness or Goddess C1 still has some secret identity.
Who would of guessed she is the Messiah!
Besides, a woman shall rule far more fairly anyway – “I didn’t just wimp out did I”?
I am still using Atari’s “spell as I type” feature and still I can’t spell nor do multi-person-identity whatevers.
w8nc
ChrissyOne,
How do we know you haven’t been cloned?
Hell, you could be everyone on this forum! The rest of us might not even exist! I’m getting scared.
Ditto there, C1.
I have my iPhone for the music I own (loaded my new Miles “Round About Midnight” and Yoakam’s “Dwight Sings Buck” CDs last night. Somewhere in Russia a diehard Communist tOWERtONE is loading Kanye West and Jacopo Peri)
I have my CD player for old style.
I have my FM for local.
I have my Sirius for everything else (almost)-including 146.
And of course, my AM, for Rush!
“EEE E EEE EEE EE!!!”
I love it when you talk dirty!
TT,
“And of course, my AM, for Rush!”
Is that for when you are on the shitter?
Since “madison” is so uhmmmm well lower on the playlist.
“Thanks goodness OUR goddess C1 ain’t u know who.”
AND — well dude,
LorD1776 – what is with that, you said.
“If it’s true that you are Zune Tang, then I hope your legs grow together. If it’s not true, then may your legs spread far and wide forever!”
Grow together to become what a mermaid?
Ewww – I not feeling good.
-Dewy
Lord
No. The shitter is for he New York Times. I recycle….
TT,
Good for you. Conservatives can be ‘green’ too.
But I’m just glad I don’t have to pick up your recyclables.
ericdano,
Did I say Napster files play on my Zune? My bad. Napster files play on my Zoon. I picked up the Zoon at an outdoor market while visiting friends in China this past summer. It’s a near duplicate of my brown Zune which only plays files from Microsoft’s magnificent Zune Marketplace software. You can see how I might be confused. Anyway, the Zoon plays those fantastic WMA files from anywhere because it has a clone of the chipset and firmware in a Siren Edge 4GB, which is on the compatible devices list. I like my Zoon almost as much as I like my Zune.
Your potential. Our passion.
P.S. I am not ChrissyOne. I don’t have that much time to make mind-blowing playlists. I let my eclectic taste in music speak for itself in shuffle mode on my Zoon. It’s a magic moment when that thing goes from Styx to Journey then a little REO Speedwagon. Really shakes things up.
Dewy,
I’m not sure what I meant. I was watching the Flintstones at the same time. Yaba daba doo!
Anyone that ever lived on a farm knows how to be ‘green’.
It’s like cutting firewood. You better do it, or you’ll be sorry.
“t’s a magic moment when that thing goes from Styx to Journey then a little REO Speedwagon. Really shakes things up.”
Ya gotta admit, that was pretty funny.
TT,
“You better do it, or you’ll be sorry.”
I’ve never lived on a farm, but that also applies to cutting cheese. I’ll bet even ChrissyOne has done that.
ChrissyOne,
I’m sorry. That was just so wrong.
“It’s a magic moment when that thing goes from Styx to Journey then a little REO Speedwagon. Really shakes things up.”
See, to me, this sort of thing isn’t even funny.
@ LorD1776
You say the oddest things.
Though I do love cheese.
Regarding Zune Tang’s true identity:
First, envision in your minds MDN and Zune Tang standing side by side.
Next, remove MDN’s eyeglasses. Now do you understand?
@ LorD1776
Thanks. Now I just envisioned Zune Tang in red-and-blue tights.
I’m with ChrissyOne on this.
Journey. Styx. REO Speedwagon.
NOT FUNNY. HORRIFYING.
Zune, you are one sick bastard.
“I’ll bet even ChrissyOne has done that.”
Yes, but it’ll cost you 5 bucks extra…..
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And what’s ZT got against a little Kansas, too?
ChrissyOne,
Are you being coy, or have you never heard that rather crude old saying? And you think I say the oddest things? Those are coherent compared to the things I think. Odd is putting it mildly. I’m certifiable.
You saw NO humor in Zune Tang’s statement? Come on, are you being obstinate?
ChrissyOne,
Yeah, and with a cape. He is so flamboyant and egotistical.
ChrissyOne,
If you had a clone, would she be CO2?
But you’ve probably been asked that before.
@ LorD1776
No, I’m being koi. And I’m not the only one that’s all wet.
@ LorD1776
When they made me, they threw away the mold.
Only a little grew back.
For 12,95 dollars a month, you can buy roughly 12 albums a year and someone else gets them when you die. Or you get all, but in the end you get nothing.
When the big vinyl disc of life comes to the end for my dad, I’m gonna have discographies from Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, ZZ Top, Allman Brothers, Elvis, Lynyrd Skynyrd, etc.
Masa
Good thing you’re dad has enough sense not to let you “borrow” them now. My son borrowed EVERY one of those from me (save Elvis) and left them in some girls apartment…who had moved when WE went back to get them. Around 125 albums. Good thing I didn’t have life insurance on him………
ChrissyOne,
A moldy ornamental fish wearing seashells, red and blue tights and a cape. My odd mind is truly boggled.
TT,
My sister borrowed all of my original Beatles 45s and left them on the rear window shelf of my dad’s car. In July. You can imagine the results.
Hey,
Some people like Fords, some like Chevys, some like pcs, and some like subscription. Its not a bad thing, just something different.
“Can’t we all just get along?”
Hey, I enjoy owning my music but I am looking at some of the mp3 sites like emusic.
Regarding the post reprinted below, please note that “Zune Tang®” and “Ottmar Mergenthaler” share the same IP address that does not match that of “ChrissyOne.”
“MDN-ers check it out — I am 95% certain Zune Tang® and ChrissyOne are the same! Their posts came in at the same time. The jig is nearly up.The 5% uncertainty is only because ligatures weren’t mentioned in both posts. That would have sealed the deal. Hmmmmmm.”
Lord
I learned that the hard way, too. 1968, my new Monkees record, the back of my dad’s red Galaxy 500. A six year old crying. The tears are all coming back…..
Also, when my uncle was about 14, he found out that my grandfathers 78’s of Glenn Miller, Hank Williams and such made great frisbees. Until they broke.
ElderNorm,
I’ve been using eMusic for sometime, and they aren’t bad. They don’t have the big label names, but are DRM free and have decent sound quality. The main thing I don’t like is their use-it-or-lose-it policy. I usually have to split up an album to get my monthly number of songs. It’s a pain. I don’t see why you can’t carry over a few song picks to the next period.
Thanks, MDN. You can do that for C1, but not when Frank/SidneyStephen was hounding me with aliases?
I guess that would’ve ruined the show….
TT,
My dad had a ’57 Chrysler New Yorker. It had an underdash record player. I think it took little 33 1/3 records. Had a 20 pound tone arm.
About 78’s: My stepmother got pissed at my old man once and did the same thing. I remember she was like a cross between OddJob from Goldfinger and a crazed ninja. He lost a few Glenn Millers too.
Ah, the good old days.
@ Ottmar Mergenthaler
PWNED!!!
My mother’s entire record collection, save for the few Beatles and other albums I had secretly stolen, were ruined when my incontinent cat urinated all over them when I was 16. Any my mom was hip. All her Stones, Led Zep, Clapton, Queen, Elton John, Bee Gees… all of it gone. Like 150 records.
@ TT
I think I need a kleenex… 🙁
TT,
“but not when Frank/SidneyStephen was hounding me with aliases”
That/Those DIRTY BASTARD/S !!!
Does that help, buddy?
Too bad, so sad.
ZuneTang, I can see why you picked it up at a outdoor (flea?) market.
http://chinagrabber.com/browseproducts/15-PCS-2.4–1GB-MP4—ZOON-2.html
Ugly. UGLY. UGLY!
ChrissyOne,
“save for the few Beatles and other albums I had secretly stolen”
You did give them back didn’t you?
Lord
I’ve got a picture of an underdash player, but I think it only played 45s. Mid 60s. Totally groovy.
ChrissyOne,
“my incontinent cat urinated all over them”
There was a song written about that incident.
I believe it was called ‘Smelly Cat’.
ericdano,
That’s the one. Pretty sweet, huh? That’s the MP3 player that will take Apple out of business. Buh-bye Apple.
Ottmar Mergenthaler is sending messages from the grave? I don’t think so.
Your potential. Our passion.™
Now they will have even fewer customers..
I never understood how these “all you can eat” music rental schemes compensated the artists who produce the content. After Napster and the record label take their cut of the $10 or $13 monthly rental fee, and I’ve downloaded over 10,000 songs from 1000 different artists, what does each artist get? Two cents? Does Napster even keep track of what is being downloaded?
@ LorD1776
Nope, still got ’em safe and sound right here. Don’t worry, she lost her interest in vinyl after The Event and let me have ’em. I don’t, however, have a turntable anymore. 🙁
C1 & TT,
I went and dug out my remaining 45s. Looks like the last one I bought was ‘Baker Street’ by Gerry Rafferty. The oldest appears to be ‘The Little Old Lady From Pasadena’ by Jan & Dean.
By the Beatles (A side) I only have ‘I Am The Walrus’, ‘All You Need Is Love’ and ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’. Plus John Ono Lennon’s ‘Instant Karma’.
Others like ‘Whole Lotta Love’ by Led Zeppelin, ‘Magic Carpet Ride’ by Steppenwolf and ‘S.O.S.’ by ABBA. Of the ones with price stickers on them, 79¢ was the highest price.
They are in extremely good condition. I wonder what they are worth.
@MDN… if you really wanna make this fun. Tell us what other handles post from the same IP as Otto and Zune! lol
ChrissyOne,
I still have the last turntable I bought about 15 years ago. I will hang onto it since I have a few hundred LP albums left. I gave around 300 of them away years ago. Some would have been real collectors items. I’ve done that with books also. Oh well, at least they went to people who appreciated them.
Jim – TIV,
It would be interesting if every name had a drop down menu of all the associated handles.
I still have my Technics SL-3200 with a B&O;cartridge from 1979.
Before that I had a Garrard changer with a Dual cartridge.
I have a bit of vinyl but not much. My mom’s stuff, a lot of import and indy music from the 80’s like my prized white-vinyl copy of Bleach and my XTC 12″s, quite a few interview picture-discs, and some odds and ends from my childhood like k-Tel’s Super HIts with “Popcorn” on it. I still, however, have a giant box of cassette tapes that I will probably never listen to again, and are most likely completely worthless.
TT,
My first was an Acoustics Research with a Pickering cartridge.
My second was also a Garrard changer with an Empire. I loved the mechanics of that tone arm.
The one I have now is a Dual with an AudioTechnica. It does the job.
Back in the mid ’90s I was into the audiophile thing, buying the magazines and drooling over $10,000 amps. I still have some OK equipment that I don’t use now. Loved my Magnepan magnetic planar speakers. Look like a pair of narrow doors, but man they sound awesome in the sweet spot. I had a small room set up with my rig and one chair in the spot for critical listening.
But I got over that. Now I load music on my Macs and iPods and just enjoy the tunes. Good equipment is nice, but the music is what counts.
Zune Tang, marry me (only if you’re gay). You make me laugh, in a good way.
ChrissyOne,
I had a bunch of cassettes that I had spent (God-only-knows how many) hours recording individual songs from LPs. I had them stored in a closet for a number of years, and they turned to crap. Totally worthless.
I hated cassettes. Nothing like being out on a date and having the darn thing turn to a mass of spaghetti in your car stereo. I had better luck with 8-tracks. Good riddance to those things.
Probably down the road people will be lamenting the fact that the music on their CD-Rs has turned to poop. It’s inevitable.
I knew it all along. Zune Tang® is a fraud and a big fat phony! I bet she never owned a Windows PC in her life, and worse, probably doesn’t even have a Zune, Zoon or Ditty.
If I were a betting man I’d say she has used Macs for nearly two decades and has 7 iPods in her household beginning with the first generation 5GB firewire/Mac only iPod. And it still works! Loser.
Thank you, MDN for exposing the charade. Zune Tang®, give it up already, sheesh.
Oh, and one more thing: 1988 vintage B & O RX2.
All you people who pay a subscription fee for music, whether it’s from Napster or satellite radio are fools.
Okay, I’m confused, I thought MDN’s webmaster just said Ottmar (and who names their kid Ottmar?) and ZT have the same IP address? Doesn’t that mean Ottmar is ZT? Or at least someone who is using Ottmar’s computer? Or someone who is surfing on Ottmar’s LAN?
OH MY GOD!!!
Chrissy-
Are you talking about K-Tels “22 Explosive Hits” with Popcorn, Olivia Newton-John’s first, Hamilton, Joe, Frank and Reynolds “Don’t Pull Your Love”, Sammy’s “Candy Man”. Chick-a-boom and some others? I got that for Christmas in 71 or 72.
just found this
http://www.answers.com/topic/22-explosive-hits-vol-2?cat=entertainment
I think I played that album so much you could see through it!
Napster is like listening to xmradio. The minute you stop paying for it you don’t have any music. Bargan, NO! Rip off, YES!
“The minute you stop paying for it you don’t have any music. Bargan, NO! Rip off, YES!”
I don’t understand this reasoning. Why is music any different than video? I pay a hefty monthly sum to have the ability to watch hundreds of channels of crap on cable that someone else decides to let me view. I do not record any of it. If I don’t watch a program it is gone unless rerun. If I stop paying I am cut off. No more cable TV. I never bought or owned the programming.
If I subscribe to a music service with the understanding that I can listen as long as I pay, that is my prerogative. I download to my PC or whatever as much as I want. I can listen to anything without being limited to 30 second snippets. If I like it enough I have the option to buy it, whether download or CD.
If you consider it a rip-off, that’s your problem. I consider paying $10,000 for a Rolex watch a rip-off. There are rich people out there who disagree. That’s their right.
If you stop paying for water or electricity you are cut-off. If you refuse to pay for gasoline you ain’t gonna drive. Music is a very desirable commodity, but not a necessity. Why not let the individual determine what is or is not a rip-off?
There are those who consider the Mac to be a rip-off. If it was up to them our only choice would be a Windows PC. Others think we should only be allowed leaders of their preferred political party. I’m glad they don’t have that power – yet.
For some reason, I have a feeling you have a lot of illegal downloads.
If I spend 150 a year for music, I want to own it not rent it.
“$12.95 is a bargain for all of that fabulous music on Napster in the wonderful WMA format…”
Until you get laid off or fired and you have to start cutting back on life’s little luxuries… like music or radio subscriptions.
On the other hand, an iPod will still keep playing everything you have during those inevitable economic setbacks that life likes to hit us all with.
“the company said in an e-mail to subscribers”
why didn’t they call the poor saps, I mean, what’s seven phone calls in the grand scheme?
@ TT
That’s the one. First album I ever had. =)
@ LorD1776
“Why is music any different than video?”
Yeah, you know, like the feeling you get when you think about the time you first fell in love, dancing slowly with that person you’d been dreaming about, the one that made you so sick you couldn’t eat or sleep or think about anything else. Al brought flooding back to you when you see that episode of Happy Days that was playing when you were making out with her in her parents basement…
Or… maybe the song that was playing at the school dance was more memorable. Maybe that’s the one you want to keep.
I pay for my video, but aside from the movies that I really like, and the occasional science series, I’m not likely to watch it ever again. I certainly won’t put an episode of The Daily Show into a playlist and watch it in my car 4 times a week. Video doesn’t make a lot of sense to own, but I guess that depends on how much you like music.
ChrissyOne,
Uh huh.