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We know that the new Napster is not what the old used to be. Gone are the times of fast and easy and, most importantly, free music downloads. But the new pay Napster is not so bad, for a pay service. Even with competitors like the Apple iTunes Music Store giving Napster some heavy-duty competition, Napster still holds its own. Recently, critics reviews Napster to see how it fared in the area of downloads and streaming times. Overall, Napster did well on both fronts. Here is some of what critics and reviewers found when they reviewed the Napster service.

Critics were very impressed that Napster now lets just about anyone download the Napster application software for free. However, in order to partake in this Napster listening pleasure, you must be working from the right platform, or else Napster simply won’t work on your computer. To download and access the Napster application software as a member, you must have access to a Windows 2000 or Windows XP platform system.  

You must also access the site using Internet Explore version 5.01 or higher. However, Napster has now made it possible for other platforms to access their browser-based services. Now, interested parties can access free Napster browser-based services from Windows, Macintosh, and Linux computers. This is very good news for all of those who have not been able to partake in the joys of Napster before.

However, if you are accessing these free Napster services, beware that the streaming quality can be slow and will not always give you the best sonic quality. When you stream songs using Napster’s free music program, you will only be able to listen for each track for free three times. These music files are encoded at 32Kbps. This is pretty slow, so you may expect buffering problems. Another drawback to the streaming quality of these free listen files: they don’t work unless you are accessing the site from Internet Explore, version 5.01 or above. If you try accessing the site using another browser, such as Apple’s Safari browser, Firefox for Mac, or even Internet Explorer for Mac, you may encounter problems or glitches.

What about downloads? How do they fare on the new Napster? Critics have noted that for the most part, downloading music on the new Napster is a breeze. Napster users can quickly find files and download them onto their digital music players, or they can download them onto their computer, or even burn a CD using the Napster application. The time for download is impressive, although this still depends on the speed of the Internet connection that the user is working from. But the site has made the process of downloading music accessible, intuitive, and easy to do with the click of a button.

The new Napster interface has also made the process of looking for music downloads easy and fun. The newest additions and design features added to the Napster application software have made it easier than ever for music lovers to find what they are looking for. The Napster interface is very clean and well arranged, allowing users fast access to all the latest releases, personalized recommendations, other user’s and editor play lists, and music genres. The interface is now tabbed, which allows you to access several new features, such as the Narchive and the Napster links section. The Narchive is quickly becoming one of the most popular interactive and community features on the Napster application. It allows users to create the content using music encyclopedia wiki. The Napster links section allows users to use their own URLs to connect to songs or their own writing about music.