Napster was a file sharing service that paved the way for decentralized P2P file-sharing programs such as Kazaa, Limewire, imesh, and BearShare, which are now used for many of the same reasons and can download music, pictures, and other files
Napster has twice revolutionized music downloading: first infamously by facilitating illegal downloads, then by popularizing the notion of "renting" music through its Napster To Go subscription plan. Now it's again offering free music but this time with a catch that makes it legal. Registered users can stream almost any song in the catalog five times with the new browser interface, although those songs can't be downloaded and are encoded at a low bit rate. The full Napster client, however, offers a fully featured music shopping experience with loads of custom recommendations, community features, and experienced editorial content. Bargain shoppers will still gravitate toward Virgin Digital and Yahoo Music Unlimited, which edge out Napster on price. But if it's an all-encompassing digital music shopping experience you're after, Napster's tough to beat.
The new online service, found at Napster.com, is well arranged and offers quick access to new releases, personal recommendations, music genres, and editor-created playlists. It's organized with a tabbed interface that lets you access the new Narchive and NapsterLinks sections, as well. The Narchive is a music encyclopedia wiki, with users doing most of the writing. It had barely begun at the time of this writing but showed promise. NapsterLinks are Web URLs to songs or albums that users can insert in their Web pages (see Features for more info). Clicking one lets registered users listen to that song free online. Navigating and using the online components is pleasantly simple.
As for the Napster client, the first thing you'll notice is a more streamlined home page than with previous versions. The look is designed to make it easier to find music--a novel idea, indeed. The search bar is still on top, but now it sits square in the middle of each page instead of the top-right corner. As with Napster 3.0, you can search for music by artist name, album, or track; you can also search for a particular Napster member or search purely in your library. Next to the search bar is a Browse Music drop-down menu, where you can search through Billboard charts or independent label content, or just browse by genre. Tucked in the upper-right corner is a button for accessing your music library. Gone are the tabs from the 3.0 version; instead, you get drop-down lists for features, radio, playlists, community, and extra options. In all, it has a less cluttered look and feel than the previous version--a welcome improvement.
