I have Napster. BEWARE: check your mp3 player to make sure it plays DRM Protected WMA''s. That is what you download from Napster. I have an iRiver H-120 and it doesn''t play those, even though it plays WMA''s.

Napster standard is about $.99 a song or $9.99 an album. Other than the compatibility issue I like it. It''s easy to use and fast.

I don''t have Napster to go (I have over 300+ CD''s so I already have most of what I want) so I can''t comment on it. But, it seems like it is a monthly subscription with unlimited downloads.

You can''t convert the files to something your Zen can play?

Well... that just blows.

Here''s a good article about it.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/04/napster_go_away/

Does anyone know of any pay music services that let you download in .ogg format?

1. Buy a CD-RW
2. Make an audio CD with Itunes of the songs you want to turn into MP3s
3. After burning the CD is a normal CD which can be played in a normal CD player so...
4. Use any ripping software you want (including Itunes) to rip that audio CD to MP3s.

(I say use a CD-RW so you can repeat the process forever without wasting CDs but it would work the same with CD-Rs)

It is a bit of a pain but it only takes couple minutes to burn the CD and rip but then you have them as unprotected MP3s that you can use with anything.

I have resisted the allofmp3 temptation thus far...part of it is not wanting to give shady Russians my credit card number (I guess I''m not immune to baseless prejudice), and the other part is not really wanting to rip off the bands I like. If I listened to Britney Spears it would be different, but most of my favorite bands probably have to work day jobs to make ends meet.

I thought ITMS blocked PyMusique a week or two ago - did he reupdate to get around it?

Hooray! This looks like the solution i''ve been looking for.

I''m unlocking files as we speak. Already it gets the Prederick Seal of Approval.

Just an update for those who are interested.

After a complete HD meltdown last weekend I had to restore my music files from a backup. All the files were restored fine and could play...except the Napster ones. They prompted me the install the Napster application and I had to redownload them. The site said I could do this to three different computers.

I had ""bought"" each of the files seperately and the site''s FAQ''s said that I ""owned"" them. But that apparently is crap.

So no more Napster for me. After paying full price for the music I find that I am really just leasing it. Bye Bye Napster!

P.S. It''s not a big deal I only had about three albums worth of music from them.

I bought some albums from iTunes and then months later bought a roku soundbridge (WiFi computer to stereo hookup) and guess what. Purchased iTunes songs won''t play on it, even though Roku designed the system using iTunes as the music server. Just something to keep in mind. Your songs migh work fine on the systems or gadgets you have now, but in the future that can change. You never really ""own"" the songs and the whole thing has soured me to this whole ""mp3 service"" thing.

When are the RIAA and the music companies going to wake up. No wonder people go to services like BT or allofmp3.com.

[Edit to add:]
Yes, I eventually burned them and re-ripped them to get them to work.

I've done it quite a few times now (converting using JHymn) with no issues to date.

It's legal...in Russia. There are loopholes in Russian copyright laws that let them offer this service, and because, you know, the country has bigger problems, it's not likely the legislative machine will do anything about it in a timely manner.

As for it being legal here, I would say it's legal in the same way certain tax shelters, shady campaign contributions, and near-fraudulent informercials are legal, through loopholes. If you're concerned with sitting atop a moral high horse, then no, but if all you care about is whether or not you can thumb your nose at the RIAA, then yes. The authorities in Russia aren't doing much about it because they're in no position to, not because they don't think they should. The authorities here haven't really figured out what to do, because older laws are still playing catchup with new technology, but it seems to me at any moment it could become very clearly illegal.

Personally, I do view it as theft, legal or not. I'm not judging anyone who uses it, I've downloaded plenty of albums in my time. But obviously that's alright because I feel bad about it, right? I think if you're going to steal music, steal it, don't pay some shady Russian company to do it for you. And yes, even to this day, I rationalize and tell myself I will eventually buy all the albums I've downloaded, and I do beam with a certain amount of pride every time I'm able to delete a few folders from my mp3 library, in lieu of my newly ripped copies from legit cd's.

As for whether the artists you love are getting any of this mp3 money, I would lean towards no. Allofmp3 has stated they pay this Russian RIAA, and then it's up to them to see the royalties are paid based on sales. Which is basically like saying "It's not our problem." and passing the buck onto an organization that has allowed such a loophole to exist, which doesn't exactly instill in me confidence that they are passing on the correct percentage of profits.

Edit: I decided my calling the company shady was unfair, since they are operating completely within the bounds of the laws in their country. But then again, so do (did? I don't know if China ever actually cracked down like they said they would) Hong Kong piraters who flood eBay with copied movies and music.

But isn't the theory behind exploiting every angle that laws aren't commandments, and they do need to adapt and change, and that the only way this will happen is essentially if we abuse such loopholes? I don't think that really applies here, because with the state of Russia's economy/government/society nothing really can change right now.

It can't be in the same way file sharing can't be. They could block the site, but people would find ways around it, just like we find new ways to share files. I am not confident that because pursuit of a certain course would be impractical that it will prevent them from making something illegal. They could very well rule that the phrasing of import regulations as involving "material objects" means downloads don't qualify for protection under these laws.

I don't think saying the RIAA are a bunch of berks is a very controversial statement, but I'm just saying that even though it's legal, it still feels like buying something that "fell off the back of a truck". And the idea of giving money for something stolen, like a bootleg dvd, bothers me. So if you want to hurt them, there are other ways to do so. You can just download the album in the first place, which if you're careful they don't have much of a chance of prosecuting you over to begin with (which I think is why they're pursuing clueless people, because they want to make examples, but not everyone is that careless), you can record legal streaming radio and break the broadcasts into individual songs (also free), or you can purchase music that appears on the RIAA Radar, and in this way vote with your dollars. I just think most people delude themselves about allofmp3, because they want to, so badly, believe that for once something too good to be true, isn't.