Napster has put a new twist on the notion of being a loss leader. It has actually managed to sell more songs for rival online music services than for its own product, according to survey conducted by a university customer.
Not a single University of Rochester student admitted to buying a song via Napster during the Fall 2004 semester. Instead, eight per cent of the students turned to the likes of iTunes and Musicmatch to buy songs they enjoy. That's an ominous sign for a company spending millions to seed the university market with music in the hopes of unseating Apple as the clear leader in online music.
Most troubling for Napster, things don't appear to be improving on the music purchase front. During the Spring semester, a whopping 1 per cent of students did buy tracks off the Nap. Now no one does.
The situation worsens when Napster offers up a "buy only" song. Two per cent of students purchased such tracks from Napster, while 39 per cent turned to rival services to secure their songs.
The University of Rochester has boasted about being one of the Napsterized schools that force music rental services on students in the hopes of curbing P2P file-trading. In almost every case, Napster offers such schools a massive discount off its $9.95 per month fee, making it easier for the schools to stomach the cost of opening music shops. The schools also typically receive hardware donations from unnamed sponsors.
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Good for them! Though I'm a little dubious about the accuracy of the statistics, I know that were I to be at one of the 'Napsterized schools' I'd be doing what I could to force the school to refund the additional tuition amount I was being charged for Napster. I can GUARANTEE I'd never use it (tethered downloads? HA!) - in fact I'd be encouraging as many students as possible to join me in demanding a refund.
I can't believe people pay for such tracks.
Reminds me of a joke:Originally Posted by microwiz
A man and his wife are on a cross country trip. After 16 hours of driving, the husband can take no more and decides to stop for the night at the first motel he passes. After getting rested up for the night they go to check out. The man at the looks at the bill "500 dollars? How the hell is this room 500 dollars?"
"Sir, this is a five star hotel" the clerk replies "We have an olympic size swimming pool, a full health club and spa, a 5 star retaraunt, and one of the best nightclubs in town"
"I didn't use any of that, I just wanted to sleep" the man fumed.
"Well, sir they were available to you at any time during your stay"
The man proceeds to write a check. He hands it to the clerk, who looks at it and says
"I'm sorry sir, this check is only for $100"
"That's right" the man said "I would have given you 500 dollars, but I had to charge you 400 dollars for sleeping with my wife"
"Sir, I did not sleep with your wife!" The clerk gasped.
"Well" the man replied "She was in the room all night, and I would have let you"
I love paying for things I'll never use.
“The martyr sacrifices themselves entirely in vain. Or rather not in vain; for they make the selfish more selfish, the lazy more lazy, the narrow narrower.” - Florence Nightingale
Excellent, no amount of trickery will help, if your product (subscription DRM audio) sucks.
I hope Napster go out of business, as an example to the music biz!
Dang! Join THe P2P! Screw Paying for Music! LoL : D
The last time I paid for music was in a titty bar.
*
yeah, i'm sure it was the music you paid for :)
we're here for a good time, not a long time- so have a good time, the sun can't shine every day.....
Yeah, who buys things anymore? Last thing I bought was a gun. Now everything is free! (except bullets,never try and rob a gun store!)
Hard as ever and here to make you people believe...as long as there is one person to hold hope and dream...A GOD...will never die!
Unfortunately somethings have to be bought. It real hard to find anywhere to download irish stuff.
Copy it from a like-minded friend if you can - and if not, grit your teeth and buy it. (Bonus points, of course, if you can buy it direct from the band.) Either way, RIP IT AND SHARE IT!
There's lots of time for taking, but there's a time for giving back too. Sounds like you just found one!
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