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#1 2005-08-04 3:05 pm
- Jon
- Using Forum Default
- From: Canada
- Registered: 2004-08-07
- Posts: 1968
Napster is Losing, again.
I Was reading through Google news and I came up to this. It says that Napster is "on the rocks":
Article wrote:
Last quarter Napster lost $19.9 million--that is,the company lost nearly a dollar for every dollar it took in. Nor is Napster's (nasdaq: NAPS - news - people ) loss an aberration: From April 2003 through the end of March 2005, the company lost $97.8 million selling digital music.
Who wants to make bets that Napster will be dead before the end of the year?
Discuss.
Last edited by Jon (2005-08-04 3:06 pm)
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#2 2005-08-04 3:19 pm
- Chickenhawk
- Snark Snark Snark Snark
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- Posts: 5823
Re: Napster is Losing, again.
Napster was cool back when it was free. Now its lame. People don't want to suscribe.
The recent medical controversy over whether vaccinations cause autism reveals a habit of human cognition—thinking anecdotally comes naturally, whereas thinking scientifically does not. -- Michael Shermer
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#3 2005-08-04 3:26 pm
- Apelock
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- From: Frozen Wastes (Minnesota)
- Registered: 2003-04-17
- Posts: 402
Re: Napster is Losing, again.
Napster was an awesome piece of work in its day(p2p the way it was meant to be). Now they suck, so good riddance.
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#4 2005-08-04 3:49 pm
Re: Napster is Losing, again.
Chickenhawk wrote:
Napster was cool back when it was free. Now its lame. People don't want to suscribe.
Actually…
TFA wrote:
A significant chunk of that improvement, Napster officials said, is because more of its revenue is coming from subscription music services, where consumers "rent" music for a monthly fee, instead of lower-margin "a la carte" sales.
There are some people who prefer the subscription model, for whatever reason(s). The main thing that keeps iTMS dominant is the iPod. The start-up costs are most likely quite high. Fortunately, for Apple, they can offset that cost, as well as the relatively low profit margins, with iPod sales.
It is an odd thing, but every one who disappears is said to be seen at San Francisco. It must be a delightful city, and possess all the attractions of the next world.
- Oscar Wilde
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#5 2005-08-04 3:53 pm
#6 2005-08-04 3:57 pm
- Zetetic Apparatchik
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- Registered: 2001-01-07
- Posts: 8250
Re: Napster is Losing, again.
Apelock wrote:
Napster was an awesome piece of work in its day(p2p the way it was meant to be). Now they suck, so good riddance.
No, they were an example of how not to do file sharing and their downfall vindicated that. Centralised = Bad.
Join the MAF AudioScrobbler group.
Protest ist, wenn ich sage, das und das paßt mir nicht. Widerstand ist, wenn ich dafür sorge, daß das, was mir nicht paßt, nicht länger geschieht.
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#7 2005-08-04 4:00 pm
Re: Napster is Losing, again.
Zetetic Apparatchik wrote:
Apelock wrote:
Napster was an awesome piece of work in its day(p2p the way it was meant to be). Now they suck, so good riddance.
No, they were an example of how not to do file sharing and their downfall vindicated that. Centralised = Bad.
The iTunes Music Store is centralized
tito
shut up tito.
PICES
indeed.
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#8 2005-08-04 4:06 pm
- Jon
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- From: Canada
- Registered: 2004-08-07
- Posts: 1968
Re: Napster is Losing, again.
titok16 wrote:
Zetetic Apparatchik wrote:
Apelock wrote:
Napster was an awesome piece of work in its day(p2p the way it was meant to be). Now they suck, so good riddance.
No, they were an example of how not to do file sharing and their downfall vindicated that. Centralised = Bad.
The iTunes Music Store is centralized
tito
It isn't file sharing.
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#10 2005-08-04 4:12 pm
- Jon
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- From: Canada
- Registered: 2004-08-07
- Posts: 1968
Re: Napster is Losing, again.
Between CH54, MA and --;?
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#12 2005-08-04 4:51 pm
Re: Napster is Losing, again.
titok16 wrote:
Or maybe people would rather 'a la carte' themselves over to the iTunes Music Store. I didn't even know Napster sold individual songs, since they push the subscription service so hard.
tito
iTunes does offer a higher degree of integration than the WMV-based sites. However, the key to iTMS success is that it is the only online music store that is compatible with the iPod. iTMS only sells a la carte. So, if you want to buy music online and play it on your iPod, iTMS is the only option. The only way to know if a subscription model would work would be for Apple to implement one.
Others push the subscription model because it's a steady stream of revenue for them. You have people paying every month. The upside to the subscription model is that you gain access to most of the available catalog. You don't have to purchase every song individually. There are pros and cons to both. For me personally, I'll stick to buying and ripping CDs.
I think it was dumb for Roxio to sell off their other products and become Napster. Pinning their future on one product line was a bad idea.
It is an odd thing, but every one who disappears is said to be seen at San Francisco. It must be a delightful city, and possess all the attractions of the next world.
- Oscar Wilde
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#13 2005-08-04 6:15 pm
- Marc
- On the run from the MPAA
- Registered: 2003-05-10
- Posts: 13129
Re: Napster is Losing, again.
especially one like Napster
You know the hole, the one you put the pie in?
My mean my pie-hole?
Yeah, shut it.
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#14 2005-08-04 7:58 pm
- Tom_N
- Member
- Registered: 2002-01-24
- Posts: 889
Re: Napster is Losing, again.
The upside to the subscription model is that you gain access to most of the available catalog.
If they ever offered a real subscription model, you'd have that, plus your music collection wouldn't turn into a pumpkin if you ever stopped subscribing. (You'd just lose access to download new stuff.)
What they're offering now is more accurately called "rental" than "subscription".
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#15 2005-08-04 8:31 pm
- Marc
- On the run from the MPAA
- Registered: 2003-05-10
- Posts: 13129
Re: Napster is Losing, again.
yeah. music rental sounds crappy.
The insides to all my old MacAddicts didnt suddently go blank when I canceled the subscription all that time ago
You know the hole, the one you put the pie in?
My mean my pie-hole?
Yeah, shut it.
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#16 2005-08-04 8:35 pm
- Thunderstruck
- Goatee
- From: West Melbourne, Vic
- Registered: 2002-11-19
- Posts: 2662
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Re: Napster is Losing, again.
robco wrote:
I think it was dumb for Roxio to sell off their other products and become Napster. Pinning their future on one product line was a bad idea.
Now Sonic, Roxio's parent company, partners with MusicNet. How's that for a twist?
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#17 2005-08-04 9:35 pm
- TheConfuzed1
- Faking Sanity
- Registered: 2000-04-19
- Posts: 20194
Re: Napster is Losing, again.
What's going to be interesting is when Napster goes under, and all of the saps who subscribed can no longer listen to their music.
The storm starts when the drops start dropping. When the drops stop dropping, the storm starts stopping.
Last Fm
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#19 2005-08-04 10:18 pm
Re: Napster is Losing, again.
Napster = ASS. Always.
There goal from the beginning was to capitalize on users infringing on copyright. There initial business proposal set this out pretty clearly. Get everyone to use it and sell adspace.
So ethical discussions of "sharing" aside, their implicit goal was to profit on piracy. That is unethical no matter how you slice it. If it was completely free like some p2p software then you are on a different ethical ground.
This new company has nothing to do with what Napster was. They seem to think that the name "Napster" has brand value. But unless they are giving away free music, the value is nonexistent.
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#20 2005-08-04 10:32 pm
- MysticCow
- Junior Assistant Poobah (Probationary)
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- Registered: 2002-07-29
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Re: Napster is Losing, again.
What if someone paid for a file sharing service, but that payment goes to ASCAP (as a blanket fee) in order to keep the copyright holder paid for their music? I always wondered why someone didn't make a market for that.
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#21 2005-08-04 10:47 pm
- TheConfuzed1
- Faking Sanity
- Registered: 2000-04-19
- Posts: 20194
Re: Napster is Losing, again.
MysticCow--
Because this is an imperfect world, and a perfect solution does not exist.
The storm starts when the drops start dropping. When the drops stop dropping, the storm starts stopping.
Last Fm
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#22 2005-08-04 11:00 pm
- MysticCow
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Re: Napster is Losing, again.
true dat. I guess I'm just an idealist stuck in a real world.
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#23 2005-08-04 11:04 pm
- RipRagged
- Member
- From: Richland, WA
- Registered: 2003-03-14
- Posts: 121
Re: Napster is Losing, again.
I will mourn the passing of Napster. Napster was the "proof-of-concept" without which iTMS might not even exist. Until Napster, no one knew there would even be a market for downloaded digital music. Napster's popularity spawned all the other P2P programs.
Apple came along and offered a legal alternative -- a way for honest people to pay for their online tunes. If you go back to the introduction of iTMS, many analysts said it was a boondoggle that would be short-lived. Wait, come to think of it, a lot of them are still saying that.
The point is, Napster was the pioneer. For that we should mourn its passing. The sooner the better.
Trizzle trazzle trozzle trone
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#24 2005-08-04 11:53 pm
- Marc
- On the run from the MPAA
- Registered: 2003-05-10
- Posts: 13129
Re: Napster is Losing, again.
Scott wrote:
Napster = ASS. Always.
There goal from the beginning was to capitalize on users infringing on copyright. There initial business proposal set this out pretty clearly. Get everyone to use it and sell adspace.
I dont remember any ads on Macster
You know the hole, the one you put the pie in?
My mean my pie-hole?
Yeah, shut it.
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#25 2005-08-05 7:15 am
- Kurto2021
- Member
- From: Wichita, KS
- Registered: 2001-11-28
- Posts: 2423
Re: Napster is Losing, again.
I will probably subscribe to Napster in a few months. The new XM radio with Napster built in seems pretty damn sweet. You listen to the radio ... a song comes on you like...you book mark it....when you get home later you hook the radio up to the dock...it downloads the music to your local music collection and synchs it with the XM unit.
To me this seems pretty damn nice. No more trying to remember who sang what song...push a button and good to go. If a person buys more than 1 cd per month then the sub service isn't really that bad.
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