Wireless Geekz

Who would have believed, even through most of the last century, that the same device we use to contact friends or business associates could also be used to provide us with our favorite music.  Of course, almost all new mobile phones can do that and much more.

Imagine trying to explain the Internet to someone as recently as the 1970’s.  I tried…unsuccessfully.  Even into the 1990s, our current Internet speeds with broadband connections would have seemed like a distant dream.  Wrong!  Ten years later the majority of us are connect to broadband services.  Streaming music to our desktops is no longer interrupted by frequent pauses to resupply the buffer of our memory.

The Napster company had something of a rocky start as a place where music lovers could find each other and, using Napster’s amazing technology, trade their music over the Internet, even before the world wide web had come along.  No money ever changed hands.  It was a bit like selling bootleg compact discs except that nobody made any income from it.  In fact it was the free part of the model that angered the recording artists and record labels.  Eventually Napster settled with the recording industry, with a huge financial settlement.  They learned their lesson well enough to completely change their business model.

Napster, started as a free trading music set, but it has now become the owner of the largest music catalog on the Internet, with over seven million titles.  While it is not free, as it was in the wild days of the early Internet, it is still an amazing bargain.  They offer various plans, but the best all around deal is a three month membership, which can be renewed if you still haven’t satisfied your music thirst.  I suspect you’ll renew, but the three months will give you a good taste of the service.

For a remarkably low price, you receive five download credits and special bonus download credits as a subscription bonus.  Included in the plan is the reason that most people subscribe in the first place–unlimited (!) streaming music.  You can listen to the entire catalogs of your favorite artists or, if you prefer, entire albums of a variety of artists.  They have over a thousand pre-made mix lists, and those are interactive.  They even have a streaming radio station.

The downloads you choose can be played on any MP3 compatible device, including a number of lesser know brands plus the extremely popular Ipod and Zune players.  In fact, if you cell phone has this option, you can even carry the music you’ve downloaded from Napster on that, as well.

You have unrestricted rights to these recordings, so you can move them around to different devices that you own.  You can even burn a CD for yourself.

Any musical genre you can think of is well represented.  I’m sure you’ll find your favorite on the list, unless you are like me and listen to music from a wide variety of genres.  Among those genres are rock, pop, classical, R&B, musical soundtracks, Christian, jazz, comedy, and the list goes on.

All of this is just $15 for the three months of delightful musical saturation at Napster.com.  Face it, that’s cheaper than a fast food lunch for three.