Napster review from Pitchfork

[jvaska]

ah, this makes me happy...

And then there's that little "BUY" button that's sitting next to each song title. You'll remember that when iTunes debuted with the "99¢ a track" pricing structure, they became the first vendor to find a way to make real money selling music online. Napster is just one of the imitators-- charging a buck a track or ten bucks for a record-- and yet I still don't understand the appeal. You pay money for a compressed file that isn't CD quality and doesn't come with packaging. You own the file, but it's under house arrest: you can't share it, and you have to listen to it or burn it using the software they give you. And because it's locked down by Windows Media Player, you can't stick a Napster file on your iPod.

http://pitchforkmedia.com/columns/get-that-out-of-your-mouth/03-11-06.shtml