Napster's latest: Best music-subscription deal ever?

Napster's new deal: 7 million streaming tracks and 5 keeper downloads, all for five bucks a month.

(Credit: Napster)

If you routinely buy at least five songs per month, here's good news from Napster: A new subscription plan nets you five DRM-free MP3 downloads and unlimited streaming for just $5 monthly. In other words, it's like buying the songs you were buying anyway and getting unlimited streaming for free.

If that sounds vaguely familiar, it's because Microsoft recently added 10 "permanent" downloads to its $14.99 per month Zune Pass subscription. Obviously, the Zune plan is costlier, though it does include unlimited "temporary" downloads to your desktop or Zune player, not just streaming.

Best Buy-owned Napster still offers a $14.95 per month To Go plan for folks who want to stuff their portable players or cell phones with music, though it's unclear whether that plan has been upgraded to include the five MP3 downloads.

Anyway, back to the $5 deal. To me it's a no-brainer as I typically buy a handful of tracks from Amazon each month. For the same money I get unrestricted access to Napster's 7 million-plus song library, along with 60 commercial-free radio stations and 1,400-plus prefab playlists.

The truth is, I spend most of my day at a desk, so I'm actually more interested in the streaming than the downloads. As much as I despise all things subscription, this is too good to pass up. Agree? Disagree? I'm all ears.

SIDE DEAL No. 1: While we're on the subject of music services, Rhapsody is offering a free, no-strings attached MP3 download every day of the week. Recent offerings included a track from Green Day's new album, a Bon Jovi classic, and the latest Lady GaGa single. It kind of makes iTunes' obscure-freebie-of-the-week seem downright, well, weak.

SIDE DEAL No. 2: If you're in the market for an MP3 player to go with Napster, Rhapsody, or whatever, Creative has the 8GB Creative Zen (refurbished) for $64.99--far and away the best price I've seen yet on that model.

[rexdeaz]

This is ULTRA HILARIOUS!!!!!!!! People still PAY for music??? Hellllllllloooooooooo folks!!!!! It's 2009! It's gotten EASIER to get free music! I know what you say: "What about the poor, poor artists?" To which I say: "Have you seen their new Beamer/Hummer/House In The Hamptons/Vacation Photos from The Bahamas?" They don't need our money, so why are we still spending it???

[B-McGee]

it's people like you who have set the industry back light years due to your irrational position. grow up, get a job, and become part of society instead of a drain on it.

[darfjono]

yes yes not wanting to support corporate greed is an irrational position. GAHWD BLEHSS THA YOOESSAAAYYY

[a13xx94]

I sorta sit in the middle of this argument. Downloading illegal music is wrong but remember that purchasing it mostly goes to the corporations and not to the artists. As a result, I usually end up downloading the songs and purchasing the stuff I like.

[BCF1968]

To the OP grow up. Do you think all the artists make the music by themselves. Do you know how many people work behind the scenes that don't get paid millions of dollars? Where do you think the money to pay them comes from? Do you work for free?( well one wonders if you work AT ALL ) of course you would work for free. Well guess what people aren't going to spend time money and resources making music if they can at least make their costs back and perhaps a bit of profit. So people like you can keep having this "welfare" attitude and eventually the only music you can steal is stuff that 20 years old because no one will make anymore new music.

"I sorta sit in the middle of this argument. Downloading illegal music is wrong but remember that purchasing it mostly goes to the corporations and not to the artists. As a result, I usually end up downloading the songs and purchasing the stuff I like. "

Doesn't justify stealing. Saying your do it to "stick it to the man" is laughable. That's an excuse to make yourself feel better. Seriously your worried about the artists? what other charities do you donate to or work for? Red Cross? Goodwill? Do you go to a local children's hospital and donate your time. No is the answer of course.

Artists aren't getting ripped off. They created the RIAA in the first place and if it's screwing them over that's their problem not yours. You have no dog in that fight so your action aren't needed. They are adults and have lawyers they can take care of themselves when it comes to getting their money.

[xZero2007x]

You definitely need to rethink your morals and how you think this world runs. If you're so concerned about another's success, why don't you join the Communist party for the USA so we can ship you back out to a country of your liking?

If someone has a very good product and a target audience with a count in the millions, of course they're going to make money. The question is, could you do the same? That's capitalism. Who cares if they get rich--they deserve it for being able to think of what the consumer wants (even though there's a lot of crap music floating around 'in the clubs').

@a13xx94: Please think a little harder: How many people make up the "corporations" you speak of? Now think about how many people are in the "artist" catagory. Now take whatever share per CD or digital track and divide it with those numbers with whatever multiplier you want to apply regarding units moved.
At the same time, do you think it's EASY managing the production, post production, distribution, and other processes necessary for the success of the product along with the over head costs?

If the artists felt they weren't getting their fair share, they'd do something about because they're almost their own bosses. If there were some injustice regarding the people *ACTUALLY* involved, then it would be brought up to shareholders and fans a like. Who are you again? A fan? A share holder? A customer? Do you think its wrong to make a living managing other's talents? I couldn't hear artist being forced to sing or produce the most recent CDs I've bought. Did I miss something?

It's good you purchase the stuff you like, but please don't make misguided comments like the one you just did. It'll only make the pirate fanboys get excited in their pants.

[rich12313]

LOL

[mattsingley]

Good deal, but only if (like you said) you prefer to stream most of your music. Pound for pound, I still think the Zune Marketplace has the best deal going. I listen to most of my music on the go, so being able to download practically anything I want and take it with me is invaluable...but $15 a month sure is nice. Also, 10 DRM free songs each month is amazing! iTunes is popular with the masses, but I'm not sure why. Other than the fact that's it's shiny and popular, it makes no financial sense. I love my Zune.

Regarding rexdeaz's comment, I think it's time to get off Pirate Bay and time to pick up Atlas Shrugged. You might learn something.

[a13xx94]

It's a good deal IF you are going to buy 5 songs a months normally. Remember you can always use streaming sites like Dizzler or Grooveshark...quality might lack a bit but you don't have to pay for the extra five bucks.

[solada44]

If you just want to stream music, you can do it for free on pandora.com. It's a great way to choose your own radio station by selecting an artist or album and it creates a radio station for you with similar music.

[jtozer]

For streaming - my favorite is Slacker.com. Free with minimal commercials. I also bought their $50 player for "on-the-go" music - it's like having Sirrius/XM w/out a subscription fee.

[livingaudio]

This does sound like a great deal, streaming allowed to phones as well? I would love to use this for DJing, i imagine an infinite amount of songs available to my sets! (^_^)

[musicmusic1234]

but Pandora isn't On Demand, like Napster. (I do enjoy Pandora too, but Napster also has that feature where you put in the artist you like and Napster plays similar tracks. You can then download them too or put them in a playlist for future listening).

I have a Napster To-Go subscription which i absolutely love & prefer to downloads... (similar to what you are saying, mattsingley).

But as far as the 5 MP3s for $5, it totally makes sense...if you're gonna download music anyway, you might as well be able to listen to everything before you buy it!

[rickbroida]

I like both Pandora and Slacker, but they don't let me listen to exactly what I want, exactly when I want it. This is on-demand listening of any music you choose.

[Georgia in MS]

Does the napster streaming also pick up MLB? I keep my XM because I like to listen to baseball games in my office. This would definitely be less expensive.

[rgvdude]

Cmon Rick, getting a little friendly pocket nudge from Napster?. C'mon, there are dozens of streaming services that are free and way better than Napster (Pandora). Free is better than $5 any day.

[rickbroida]

Alas, I keep waiting for some company to come along with a juicy bribe, but it never happens. In case you didn't read the headline, opening sentence, or any other part of the post, your $5 buys you 5 MP3s. The streaming is just icing on the cake.

[steve5200]

It is not fair to compare the streaming you get from napster with the streaming you get from pandora. Both have advantages and disadvantages. With napster you can stream any song of your choosing. With pandora you basically have a personal dj that plays songs that you will probably like. I must say that the sound quality you get from the streaming with napster borders on being lousy. Pandora sounds so much better. (Napster's downloaded mp3's sound great though). I agree with Rick that it is a good deal, with the streaming just being icing on the cake. Thanks for another great article! Being a fellow cheapskate, you have steered me toward a lot of great deals. Keep up the good work.

[ZetaZeta_]

Napster doesn't have almost any trance or progressive.

[livingaudio]

thats not cool, you recommend any music services that have a big range of House, prog, trance etc?

[j_a_s_p_e_r]

Not bad. Great since Rhapsody Unlimited is $12.99 ($14.99 to go). Napster to go is $14.95. By the way look at the small print "The $5 dollar monthly subscription is a special offer?get it while you can". So far the Zune with Zune pass is still the better deal, you can stream all you want directly to the zune and browse the entire catalog directly on the Zune and select the songs you want to keep on the Zune. Man, suddenly I hate my Sansa e260!

[Ray180]

It's a very good deal. Who can argue with free on-demand streaming with no skip limit (Pandora) as long as you would normally buy 5 mp3s a month? Personally, I like to take my music with me so I have a Zune Pass, which is awesome.

[QueSeraSera]

All the songs I have on my mp3 player are from dead "artists". Dead people don't need money! (Yes, I don't listen to Britney Spears or Hannah Montana, thank God.) Can anyone enlighten me as to why I should pay these greedy companies?

[BCF1968]

Because it's the law and it's the right thing to do. Why should you pay for a car a house a TV? If someone doesn't give you everything for free then they are greedy? How about maybe YOU are CHEAP. Ironically the same people usually bash other people on welfare or food stamps. What's the difference? Something for nothing. If you like the song so much you want to keep it then I think it's worth the fricken 99 cents.

[lebowski3]

Well said BCF1968. Could not agree more. I'm so tired of people trying to rationalize their stealing of music here and in other comment sections. Everyone knows it's theft, stop trying to justify it.

[paulisme1]

Because dead people have families who often own the rights to the music and get royalty checks. Record companies are also responsible for making that music available to you on new formats and can tell by record sales which genres are selling, which means they will promote or reissue other similar artists which would otherwise stay in the vaults. Record companies employ a lot of people who make that music available to you (artists to design cover art, audio engineers to transfer old tapes to digital medium, marketers who buy advertising from magazines, the list goes on and on). The music you listen to doesn't magically enter your ears from the ether; there are many people who make their living delivering it to you. To bypass them is to steal from each one of those people.

[billytech]

The Zune and its Zunepass is an unbeatable deal, as long as you want to listen legally...10 free DRM songs a month, (You can burn to a CD to keep forever) that really add up, and all the rented and stored music to listen to anytime (that you CAN'T burn to a Cd to keep)...Still the all around best deal, considering that Apple raised their prices now that they are offering DRM free music.....Go Zune!

[forever4now]

All the different music services need to make apps available for all of the major smartphone platforms (Android, Symbian, WinMo, WebOS, iPhone?). They could generate a ton of subscriptions, since most smartphones, these days, are great music players.

[Geoff_W]

Very true. Pandora could actually turn a profit next year, and they owe a lot of that to the iPhone. The RIM offering is helping too but not at the same rates.

[AaronCT123]

Disagree, if only because the extra money, in Microsoft's case, nets you not only the extra 5 songs for keeps, but allows it to be portable. I do neither, though.

[jrzshor]

isn't internet radio the same thing? But free!

[BCF1968]

No with Napster I can pick any song I want to listen to at anytime. With internet radio you don't get to choose which song to listen too.

[stepyourgameup]

I want to be able to pull up any track at any time, not listen to a "radio" station. I rarely listen to music unless I am sitting at my pc anyway. Who other than Napster offers unlimited streaming On Demand for $5?

[shahamee]

This is a great deal. I prefer the ZunePass, because of the extra functionality especially since I use my Zune more than my computer to listen to music. Oh BTW, I just legally downloaded Eminem and Green Days new albums with my Zune Pass...

[c-n-e-t]

The zune is garbage. There are two types of people who refute this claim; zune owners who are trapped with their zune and haven't faced the harsh reality of the situation and the people who want to sell you a zune.

Microsoft should accept their defeat and either move on with a new product/rebrand. I know this won't be well received by some but the sales speak for themselves.

And what's a napster? Never heard of it.

[j_a_s_p_e_r]

Remember : Napster - good. Metallica - Bad? C'mon were you born after the 90s? Napster started as an illegal file sharing network. BTW. I know a few people with Zune's and of couse many many more with iPods. The Zunes are SO much cooler. Having millions of songs at your fingertips are so cool I can't describe it. Competition is what drives every market. Zune is cool because it has so many things that the iPod lacks, like subscription music, wifi streaming of the Zune music library. If iPod changes to include those, then I'll probably change my tune. Subscription is probably not for everyone.

[shahamee]

Hey buddy, what's so garbage about the Zune? I'm holding mine up to my buddies iPod Classic right now. His is slightly thicker while mine is slightly taller, my screen is twice as large, i have touchpad navigation, full size album art, channels, playlists, wi-fi marketplace, wireless syncing, ZunePass, free software upgrades. I can also share my ZunePass on 3 computers and up to 3 devices.

There are two types of people that call Zunes garbage, iPod owners who have never seen a Zune or used the ZunePass/Marketplace and iPod owners that cant afford to fill up more than their Shuffle without illegaly downloading music.

[GilbertMendoza]

While I think Napsters pricing looks great, unfortunately, they still have their heads in the sand by limiting services to the Windows, excluding Mac, Linux and other platforms.

For free music streaming, I prefer Last.fm, Pandora, and various Shoutcast stations. However, I happily pay for a subscription to Rhapsody Online because it is one of the few major services that don't limit their on-demand delivery to any particular platform. I use Linux exclusively, so Rhapsody's flash based player and openly available MP3 store is most appreciated. I also buy a majority of my MP3's from Amazon.com, since they openly support Linux users, and prices are almost always the cheapest around.

I, like an increasing number of other consumers, have made up my mind to support only organizations that give consumers what they really want. Easy to use and platform independent services at a reasonable price.

[Mark_Reeder]

Apparently you haven't checked for a year and a half- Napster has had a web site that any browser with flash can use since October 2007. The only features limited to Windows are device transfers to To Go players, the same limitation as Rhapsody has.