Tech news: Napster is developing a restricted MP3 format that would allow it to control what users can do with the files, including restrictions on burning audio CDs; Microsoft is facing two more lawsuits alleging racial discrimination; Dell will further cut prices on its systems in an effort to gain marketshare; and spam has started to make an appearance in the area of instant messaging.
Comments
Hello Nutella & Hotline. Anybody noticed Napster rhymes with loser?
I've been getting it for years.
How the h*** does Napster rhyme with loser? Napster rhymes more with pap smear than that. :P
-lj
P.S. We can sure tell you use Gnutella, having spelled it right.
he spelled it like that delicious chocolate & hazelnut spread that goes oh so well with just about anything....
mmmm nutella.......
Duh. So what's the goddamn point?
Napster will still serve the same purpose it always has: to enable people to preview music before buying it.
Isn't that what everyone was using it for?
Isn't Napster's purpose to allow us to connect to OpenNap servers?
(o;
Is it me or, don't the USERS, create these MP3s, so by them making a 'secure' MP3 format, who is going to use it to compress MP3s? They are shooting themselves in the foot, plus a subscription model, too. Man, great way to throw away money. I hope Gnutella gets better, not looking ready as of yet, but good potential. Only time will tell.
Peer to peer is the way to go, but hopefully opensource or shareware comes up with a good program not these commercial companies. We shall see...
..like Aimee Mann. She was TOTALLY anti-mp3/anti-Napster, until this advertiser tols her "Hey Aimee, we can drive traffic to your website by IM'ing people that have mp3s of you (and acting like "just another friendly user, of course") and saying "Did you know you can get FREE Aimee Mann mp3s at http://aimeemp3.com???"... they'll be so happy with getting FREE mp3s that we can put banner ads all over the site!" And so far, 20% of the idiots that they've spammed have gone to the site. Do the people care about the product? No, they just want to get the free mp3s. They'll never buy whatever is advertised on the site, but they'll still suffer the ads, because they want the free mp3s.
Hotline is the same thing.. surf through 50 banners to get a password that doesn't work, and if it DOES work, the kids server is on an ISDN line and 32 people are downloading mp3s that are only encoded at 96kbps.
And now Napster is being controlled by the big labels. Face it. They've won. With "secure music" in Windows XP, (WMP format, no doubt..) mp3 is DOOMED. Windows sound card won't play mp3 because it's not "secure" so WindowsXP won't pass the data through. And since Windows has over 70% of the marketshare, mp3 will fall by the wayside to "secure WMA"...and WE have let it happen. :(
RIP Scour Exchange. :(
OR
Network Headlines
Most Popular
MacNN Sponsor
Recent Reviews
iHome iW2 AirPlay speaker
iHome generally isn't known as a luxury brand when it comes to audio, but it is prolific -- the company's docks and speakers are every ...
Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover
One of the iPad's main weaknesses has always been productivity. It's not a question of apps; while it has taken a little time for a na ...
Logitech UE Air Speaker
If maybe a little more slowly than Apple would like, AirPlay is becoming a staple of the wireless speaker market for iOS devices. The ...
Most Commented
Popular News
Joined:
"started"??
"started to make an appearance"?? I've been getting ICQ spam for months!