Napster to limit bitrate of mp3s to 128kbps

GL

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
4,547
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0
Hahah...yeah and I'm really going to pay for the service now. Screw it...if it ain't at least 192kbps I don't download it. They will also charge you if you plan on using your mp3s to burn to CD.

CNN Story

-GL
 

luv2chill

Diamond Member
Feb 22, 2000
4,611
0
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OMG HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAA...

Later Napster... I haven't downloaded a 128kbps mp3 in over a year. BLEAH.

l2c
 

Zeeliv

Golden Member
Oct 10, 1999
1,213
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<< Users also would have to pay an additional fee to burn CDs and to transfer their music to portable devices. >>



How exactly do they think they are going to accomplish that at all?
 

Emulex

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2001
9,759
1
71
napster will ban millions of songs starting real soon. Get your napigator installed!
 

Viperoni

Lifer
Jan 4, 2000
11,084
1
71
/me looks through mp3s
/me finds no 128kbps mp3s
/me flips off napster
/me keeps me $5
 

Sacotool

Platinum Member
Feb 26, 2000
2,877
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Are they talking about a 128k (about equivolent to ISDN) download speed cap, or the file quality bitrate?
 

DannyLove

Lifer
Oct 17, 2000
12,876
4
76


<< The Recording Industry Association of America has provided a list of 6,500 of songs it believes have been downloaded illegally through the Napster online service. >>



LOL, more like a couple MILLION!
 

Spoooon

Lifer
Mar 3, 2000
11,563
203
106
So, what's a good alternative to Napster? I thought Gnutella and CuteMX sucked when I tried them a while back. So far, Audiogalaxy is cool. What else?
 

PG

Diamond Member
Oct 25, 1999
3,426
44
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How do they know the songs are 128?
I bet someone hacks that real quick. Also, if they do a filter based on filenames, how hard is it to spell Metallica as Metal lica? I don't see the filters working very well for a while.
 

SmiZ

Senior member
Oct 6, 2000
869
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PG that's an interesting question. How do they know what's what? How many people know of mp3z that are or were stored online using only a different file extension? .mp3 becomes .bla while it's on their server, then magically becomes .mp3 again once you've downloaded it. It'd be difficult to get all the napster users to switch over their files to a different naming convention though, I'll stick with my audiogalaxy.
 

luv2chill

Diamond Member
Feb 22, 2000
4,611
0
76
the mp3 bitrate is easily discernable from the file header. Not sure if you can change it.

Napster won't transfer files with any extension other than .mp3, so you can't change the extension. Just use one of the alternative services.

l2c
 

Schola

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,479
0
76
Screw You Napster, pay for anything less than 192 ya right. Don't make me laugh. On to something else I guess.

Schola
 

DefRef

Diamond Member
Nov 9, 2000
4,041
1
81
Looks like OT is full of people who think that they shouldn't have to pay for anything.:(:|

This is precisely why the greedy record industry is beating down on Napster: It's users are stealing!!!

It's hard to oppose the labels when peeps are all to willing to be Ferengi and then BRAG about it.
 

Spoooon

Lifer
Mar 3, 2000
11,563
203
106
Napster's argument: People want to be able to download compressed music. Napster is providing a service the people want, and the recording industry isn't providing.

Reality: People want to download music for FREE.

I'll be honest, I want to download stuff for free. I still buy CD's, but if I can download the song I want, I will. What's silly is Napster keeping a straight face while defending the service they provide.
 

DefRef

Diamond Member
Nov 9, 2000
4,041
1
81
I'll use Napster to DL the one good song by many of today's &quot;one hit wonders&quot; or find some rare out-of-print stuff. Mostly, I use it as a huge listening station - If I hear about some band or hear a cool tune, I'll get some more to see if it's worth picking up.

Latest example was the Matthew Good Band. I loved the track &quot;Load Me Up&quot; (saw the video on MuchMusic and got the track on a CMJ comp, so it's legal), so I grabbed a stack more and really didn't like it! It sounded like a cross beween Tragically Hip, Matchbox 20 and Counting Crows, three of my least fave acts. His CD was on sale that week at Beast Buy for $8 and I would've bought it in a heartbeat, but instead saved the money, deleted the tracks and moved on.

OTOH, I've bought Outkast, PJ Harvey, Eminem, Fiona Apple and many more after checking out enough tracks to ensure that I wasn't gonna get clocked with a dud. I usually delete the MP3s of my HD to free up room too.

Records are overpriced and the labels are greedy and they don't pay their artists much, but unfortunately, too many Ferengi believe that they're entitled to free everything for some reason. This is why the industry doesn't want to come to terms with the new taste for instant afforable music. Too bad.
 

Spoooon

Lifer
Mar 3, 2000
11,563
203
106
So, why not buy singles instead? Most singles will have whatever is a hit on the radio stations plus another track or a remix on it.