Slashdot Mirror
Napster On the Block
Ars Technica has a good wrap of
Napster hanging out a "For Sale or Partner" sign. With half a million subscribers (down from the previous quarter) and $100M in annual revenue, the company is still bleeding cash. El Reg pinpoints the trouble: "The subscription crowd – and Apple via iTunes – must fight over a few pennies per song in profit. More from the Vulture: "You have to wonder if Napster's customer base is really worth the effort for a company such as Microsoft or even Real. The Napster brand has all the gravitas of a Che Guevara t-shirt."
Maybe I am the only one who didn't know what it meant. ... conveys a sense of substance or depth of personality.
Gravitas is a Latin noun that
This post climbed Mt. Washington.
yep. Check your contract.
I have to agree with you. My stepson begged me to let him get a trial subscription to Napster. My first thought was "Hey, aren't they the guys who got in trouble for sharing music illegally. No way I am going to pay money for pirated songs." But some of my friends told me that they are strictly legit now. So I told my stepson he could sign up. Next thing you know, they are wanting a credit card...for a FREE trial subscription. Reading the fine print, it appears that they are going to charge me a full month, and then refund it if I don't like the service. Well, that doesn't sound like a legitimate business to me, and I wouldn't do business with them. But my stepson said he would pay for it, so I went ahead and paid the $20 or whatever it is for a FREE account.
Then, he couldn't get the software to load. Turns out you have to be an administrator to load their software. What kind of crap is that? Is it an OS or something? So I had to install the software for him because there is no way I am making him an administrator.
Next, he couldn't get the software to work. I found it worked fine on accounts with administrator priveleges, but not on ones that are regular users. This was the final straw, as there was no way I was going to give my stepson administrator priveleges.
So I cancelled the account. I cited the fact that my stepson was unable to determine if their service was any good, because their software was not compatible with the Microsoft security environment.
Then, they pissed me off by charging me $1.94 because I used the service for 3 days. In fact, in those three days we downloaded exactly zero songs, and only even got connected once or twice, while testing with an administrator account. They claim to have a 15 day or so free trial, but they actually charge you a prorated amount during that period, even though you can't use their software if you set up your security properly.
I even got American Express after them to try to get the charges reversed, but Amex sided with them. If you get a free subscription, you should have to pay for it, even if you can't use it.
DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THESE SCAMMERS!!!
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.