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May 2, 2006 ../ Napster Offers Free Music ServicePoor Audio Quality Will Ultimately Sink The OfferingNapster recently launched a new free music service supported solely by advertising. After several months of terse negotiations with the major record companies, Napster was able to launch the service by bargaining to split advertising revenue based on the number of times one of the label's songs were played. The free service, which comes in addition to Napster's existing subscription service, allows users to send direct links of chosen songs to friends and is a nod to its roots as the illegal music epicenter. Users can listen to the same song up to five times on the free site before having to pony up and pay. Napster's strategy is that the free service will serve as word-of-mouth marketing to lure new listeners to its paid-subscription service. The free service has a has a built-in browser-based music player which doesn't require a user to install a plug-in. Napster currently has 600,000 paid subscribers and offers unlimited online listening to tracks at $9.95 a month, or $14.95 for tracks to be transferred onto a separate device such as an MP3 player. However, it isn't compatible with Apple's iPod, the best selling portable-music player on the market with close to an 80% share. The Future: Napster's move has the aura of desperation, but is an excellent way to introduce new users to their subscription service. The only reason that the record labels went along with this plan is because the online streaming fidelity is quite poor. Most users will only use Free Napster once or twice before abandoning the service.
Copyright © 2006 Futuremusic® All Rights Reserved. |
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 As the name correctly implies, Experiments In Sound, is Futuremusic's latest endeavor for pushing electronic music technology to the very edge of what's possible. Experiments In Sound grew out of Futuremusic's avant-garde events in New York City that featured DJ's taking mixing and live sound reinforcement to a whole new level with the very latest gear and software. Now Experiments In Sound has become The Ultimate Mix Contest...
After the tremendous success of our groundbreaking The Next Big Thing DJ Contest, Futuremusic has decided to once again create a new paradigm...
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