so i just bought an XPS M140 dell lap top, its a media styled notebook that im gonna use for lots and lots of media files, including downloading a ton-o-music

so like i said, im scared of lime wire, its crashed a lot of friends computors, i was considering paying for a napster membership jus to have all the music without the fear of a file sharring site

so my question is really a request for other alternative sugestions than napster, are there any free sites that yall consider safe? what do yall use?

sorry so long, thanks for reading and for any response

 

Napster = Bad.

You might have access to everything and be able to download the files... but as soon as you stop paying for their service all of the files are dead. Like, they won't play anymore, at all. You're just really renting them, IMO. And I think that with their subscription service, you might still have to pay the $.99 or whatever to actually burn CDs of them. I'm not sure of that though, it used to be like that, I haven't checked in a while.

I have bought a few things from iTunes and don't have any trouble with it... but that's just the legal place. I prefer that b/c (not only do I have an iPod) but the file is mine once I have it. I can do whatever I want with it. And if I want it in MP3 format, I can burn it to a CD and just rip it back to my computer.

I don't think it would be right (or allowed) to discuss the illegal options here.

 

so when i download a song, your saying its saved to a playlist in my name hosted by their site... so what i download i cant burn or save to my hard drive without paying more than i already pay for my subscription? thats crazy, i figured it worked-i pay a monthly fee, download whatever the freak i want to burn or put on my i-pod or just keep in my hard drive

 

Anything you get from Napster will no go on your iPod. At all. Unless you're somehow able to convert it... but that would likely require some software I haven't found yet (but might exist) or to burn it and re-rip it.

Like I said, I'm not sure about the burning yet, that's how it used to be if you were on the subscription plan.

Now if you have an MP3 player OTHER than an iPod, you'd be able to transfer whatever you want to it without issue - except that if you cancel the subscription, it's all dead.

As for the files... I'm pretty sure you can "download" them to your computer. But they will only play in Windows Media Player and they're considered "tethered downloads"... meaning, they work but are tethered to the Napster system - which is how it knows to kill them if you stop paying.

I'm sure their system works for some, but I don't like it. Like, if you had a non-iPod MP3 player, you could do the subscription thing and load it up with whatever you want whenever you want with no other fees as long as you pay the subscription.

 

bumer... a co-worker just told me about lime wire having a subscription option that he believes is not a file sharing set-up, know anything about that?

 

*cough* bittorrent *cough*

And you want a subscription, yahoo music is cheaper and there are ways around the wma drm... you just have to learn to use google...

 

bittorrent is a legal option, so long as you transfer files that are free domain.

bittorrent is also HANDS DOWN the best file sharing solution seen on the internet to date. It is a protocol, not a program (read:scumware)