Anyone ever use NAPSTER?

[Jasonic]

I received a Napster gift card for X-Mas that I completely forgot I had. I think I simply put it in a drawer, assuming the site would not have anything decent to download.

Last week I found the gift card, so figured, what the heck? I searched the site to see what they have.

Much to my surprise, they had a few SATURNUS releases!!!

I used some of my credits to download select tracks from VDTD and their first one.

I then transferred the downloaded tracks to my MP3 player.

Much to my dismay, when I went to play these tracks on my MP3 player in my car this morning, my player displayed "FILE FORMAT NOT SUPPORTED"

F*ck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyone else experience this with NAPSTER (if you have used them).
Is there a way to convert these files?
Luckily, I also burned the tracks to a CD, which I am spinning now.

I am an extreme novice when it comes to downloading, and transferring to the MP3 player. I have no problems when I burn tracks from CDs and then transfer to my MP3 player.

Thanks.....

 

[Normando]

You pretty much explained the solution to us while explaining the problem.

Rip the songs to MP3 from the Audio CD you created.

 

[wildfyr]

I'm not in the habit of downloading music and it's probably a good thing to not be addicted to it. Today I read an article in the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine (w/ Pink Floyd on the cover) that the RIAA is sending out letters to colleges around the country asking them to forward them on to certain students whose IPs they collected. They're asking for something like $3K to settle and if it goes to court and the students lose they could end up owing way more than $3K!

It was a very disturbing article.

By the way, the PF article is greaaat!

Edit: The RIAA/downloading article indicates that the schools with the worst offenders are Purdue and Ohio State. Anyone here go to Purdue?

 

[wildfyr]

Yeah, it's fucked up, but I'm not affected by it.

 

[Jasonic]

I have personally never posted a song to a website.
I believe Napster is currently legit, right?
It says something on there about how once a purchase is made, it can't be returned since the artist immediately receives a royalty payment.

I am sure some band members here who have material up there could speak better on this subject.

 

[wildfyr]

I am sure some band members here who have material up there could speak better on this subject.

That's true. I was just passing along something I read about illegal downloading. Sorry if it's off-topic.

 

[Danimal]

It says something on there about how once a purchase is made, it can't be returned since the artist immediately receives a royalty payment.

I am sure some band members here who have material up there could speak better on this subject.

I wouldn't call it "immediate". Here is what our distributor says:

"Most companies only report to us every 1 - 3 months. Apple, for example, sends us the monthly report about 4-6 weeks after the month is finished. Meaning: you won't see your January sales until the first week of March. Some companies report a full 3 months after the quarter is done. But we ALWAYS show you everything we get as soon as we get it, and add the money to your account immediately."

 

[Jasonic]

That's true. I was just passing along something I read about illegal downloading. Sorry if it's off-topic.

Nope, not off-topic at all.
It is an interesting story.
I was just stating that I believe Napster is now legit.
(Though I think maybe it wasn't before?? I dunno, I never followed the whole Metallica - Napster debacle too closely).

 

[Jasonic]

I wouldn't call it "immediate". Here is what our distributor says:

"Most companies only report to us every 1 - 3 months. Apple, for example, sends us the monthly report about 4-6 weeks after the month is finished. Meaning: you won't see your January sales until the first week of March. Some companies report a full 3 months after the quarter is done. But we ALWAYS show you everything we get as soon as we get it, and add the money to your account immediately."

Ok, thanks for the info.

Just curious. Have your sales been consistent from these sites?
I am not a normal user of sites like these.
In all honesty, I have only used them the couple times I have gotten gift certificates for Napster , and then another time for eMusic.

I did enjoy them since I was able to download a lot of music from bands I had been curious about.

Overall though, for me personally, if there is a band I like, I need the "actual" CD. I guess it goes back to my days of being a VERY serious vinyl collector (Thank god for my wallet those days are over). Though as most know, lots of CDs of bands we all like are available to us only as imports, which can get expensive too.

Sorry for the rant. In a nutshell, I am curious how these sites fair for underground metal bands. I would assume pretty good for those who like downloads, considering so many band's releases aren't easy to find in stores around here.