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Napster Launches UK Music Service
amichalo writes "Napster just went multi-continent with the surprise announcement of a Napster UK on-line music service. From the website, singles at 1.09 British pounds, albums start at 9.95 pounds. Availability for other European nations not available. Apple has previously announced they would be entering the European market by the end of the year with rumors of singles priced at 1.49 Euro."
both prices seem inacceptable - given the current exchange rate, a song should not be more than about 0.85 euros, or 1 euro max (to round it up).
The price difference is very evident in times when the American prices at iTMS are just one click away. Ripping off customers is the wrong signal for both stores, and for the music industry. Will they ever learn?
one thing i'm disappointed about those offerings is the fact that the formats they use can't store the text for the songs, so that hearing impaired people could follow a song while it's being played (alongside the vibration, the bass).
saying that Napster UK is Napster breaking into the European market is like saying that the USA and Europe went to war together in Iraq...
we've been waiting for iTunes here in Ireland for the last 6 months or so and we're not holding our breath...
I can get it on a CD with no DRM for that. Hell, if I take advantage of the current exchange rate I can probably get it for half
Branding is one of the greatest scams ever perpetrated on people, but as long as they fall for it, it'll keep going. It might be a good service, or it might not, I haven't tried it to know, but I'd like to think that I'm smart enough to know that using the Napster trademark does not make you the successor of the Napster of old. If I ever use this service, it's because it's good and has a good selection and reasonable prices, not because of the Napster name.
The perfect sig is a lot like silence, only louder
GBP1.09 is expensive compared with US prices - iTunes at 99c (about GBP0.55, or half this price). This is yet another example of where us British have to pay substantially more for the same product than our American (and often European) counterparts. PCs and components have often been the same number of pounds here as dollars there. It's just not fair.
Come on, we're fed up of being ripped off by international big businesses. DVDs are another example - and of course region encoding is designed to stop us from importing more cheaply from the US.
All you British reading this, I urge you to boycott products at these prices - and write to the company concerned explaining your actions and why.
At least car prices have started to become a bit more reasonable recently, but only compared to the rest of Europe. I believe they are still a lot cheaper in the US.
DFJA
43 - For those who require slightly more than the answer to life, the universe and everything.
1.09GBP = 1.95USD
I think I speak for the majority of my country when I say "Napster, go cram your overpriced, lossy, DRMed WMAs that don't play on my iPod and cost more than a CD up your ass."
I've yet to find an online store that has half of the bands I listen to available anyway. They have their CDs in Virgin Megastore, so it's not like I'm listening to anything that's totally obscure.
If people go and see that Napster UK and Napster Europe are offering terrible prices, what incentive are they going to have to buy online? It will encourage either (a) people buying more real albums or (b) people downloading more music illegally. (A) will be a boon for the recording industry, (B) will be a bane for it, both of them will suck for Napster.
When will these companies realise that the only reason Napster et al. were popular was because of the ease of access to a free catalogue of music ?
Who cares about a digital delivery system if you can buy a CD (and something tangible) for less ?
The majority of people will not care that it is 'easier', 'faster' [insert marketing crap here] etc... they'd rather buy cheap and spend the money saved on a few more beers after work - I know I would.
They need to learn that we want to but non DRM protected files. If we can't buy them we will get them for free.
:-(
Back to kazaa etc....
-- MartinG To mail me: echo kewyjlcxyzvjfxbqwh | tr bcefhjklqvwxyz
They might do OK on the singles. They may be a rip-off relative to the US prices, but they're still a hell of a lot cheaper than buying singles in the shops. Last time I looked it was 3.99+ for a CD single containing 1 track and a couple of shitty remixed.
With Play.com selling albums for 9.99, 8.99 and even 5.99, however, I can't see many people paying up for Napster.
WHY do companies continue to put up these artificial barriers? Why not simply call it a US company and have Napster US sell worldwide? Are the laws that screwed up? Isn't that the point of the internet?
Well as it's the Record Industry Association of AMERICA who gives a flying fuck what they think in Europe? Not allofmp3.com for one, who sell music at 1 cent a megabyte with NO DRM.
Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.