<p>Ok, I know that you can use iTunes and CDs to get music on an iPod, but can you also use Napster too? For example, could you download music using Napster, import the music to iTunes, and put that music on the iPod? or is it protected? Another question: can you put iTunes songs on another mp3 player, using the same type of method i just described?</p>
<p>I am not familiar with the new Napster, but I assume it's digitally rights managed. After all, you lose access to the music when your subscription expires. So, the answer is yes but no. Yes, music files downloaded from Napster are protected. No, iTunes and the iPod are not supported.
[quote=<a href="http://www.napster.com/using_napster/ipod_and_napster.html">http://www.napster.com/using_napster/ipod_and_napster.html</a>]
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<p>Apple has chosen to keep both iPod and iTunes closed off from Napster and every other music service. Napster's philosophy is different. A Napster subscription gives you more ways to listen on more players for less money.
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<p>As far as I know, and I could be wrong, the iTunes Music Store sells only iPod compatible songs. Now, what you can do is burn the AAC formatted songs to CD with iTunes and then rip them again as MP3 files. The resulting files contain less data than the originals, but it is very unlikely that you'll notice the difference (especially if you download lossless or high-bitrate versions of the song to begin with). There is a program out there that downloads ITMS songs straight to unprotected MP3s, but it's on shaky legal ground. Check it out [url=<a href="http://hymn-project.org/jhymndoc/%5DHERE%5B/url">http://hymn-project.org/jhymndoc/]HERE[/url</a>].</p>
<p>Of course you can...</p>
<p>I know people that do it all the time with other mp3 downloading places</p>
<p>@theblumuffin: Sure, the iPod reads unprotected MP3s just fine. Napster downloads WMA files. Unless you're geeky and have free time, you won't be able to burn Napster-To-Go files at all (which would let you rerip them as MP3s at a pretty substantial loss).</p>
<p>Read up on the controversy here: New</a> Napster, iPod Don't Play Nice</p>
<p>Napster is not a very good deal. There are songs which you have to buy, even if you have the subscription service, and the files are protected wma, which become unusable when you cancel your subscription.</p>
<p>I hate using Napster...iTunes all the way</p>
<p>But before I got an iPod, I used it...the easy thing to do is to burn all of the songs you want that are in Napster onto a cd and then import it into iTunes...works out fine</p>
<p>Once you get to college, use mytunes on the campus network.</p>
<p>Itunes has a built in "share" feature so other people on the same network as you (usually a dorm, or small group of dorms) can listen to your collection of music. There are plenty of programs that talk to these sharing itunes clients and download and save the music instead of just playing it.</p>
<p>Free, no fear of RIAA lawsuits (the campus network is beyond their ability to monitor), and even your U itself can't tell if you're just using the feature of itunes or "appropriating" the music. Between the 100-500 kids living in a dorm you should find whatever song you want.</p>
<p>I wouldn't use i2hub anymore now though. It too is supposed to be a college campus only network but both the MPAA and RIAA can peek in now through VIP accounts.</p>
<p>Itunes is different. It's not a file sharing program per se, because it is legal software (and the riaa will never question that), and without physical access to your personal computer, they won't know if you're downloading the songs or just using the functionality to play them (plus the Riaa doesn't have an in with itunes to spy like that yet, and it's an on-campus network so they can't just scope it out without privlidges like the old napster or gnutella, or fasttrack networks.</p>
<p>The drawback is that it only works with music. You can't share anything else, but sharing anything else is hard these days anyway, because almost all schools are throttling p2p traffic down to less than 1kbs. You can encrypt the stuff, but not really worth the effort.</p>
<p>Actually, Maize&Blue22, that is entirely incorrect. The RIAA has successfully subpoenaed colleges for network records. Four BU students were sent letters from men in black suits. The legality of iTunes sharing IS very much in doubt. This is why you never find on-demand music streams online. You can either que up a 30 second clip at a retailer's site or wait for it to loop around on an internet radio station.</p>
<p>FYI:
- RIAA has informants within the university system.
- Pure, decentralized, peer to peer file sharing software was never ruled illegal in the United States.
- You can just change file extensions to ".mp3" and share whatever you want.</p>
<p>Check out <a href="http://www.downhillbattle.org%5B/url%5D">www.downhillbattle.org</a></p>
<p>With iTunes 4.8, I bet you could share the supported video file types. I havn't tried it, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.</p>
<p>I have a question.....I love my ipod, but the only thing wrong with all ipods, is that they dont have a good bass....horrible actually....I was thinking of getting the EarJams from Griffin...anyone know anything bout these? are they good? bad?</p>
<p>i think the bass problem of the ipod is due to its weak stock headphones. try to get some noise cancelling ones. if you want good bass though, you will need to be willing to shell out at least $50</p>
<p>
[quote]
Actually, Maize&Blue22, that is entirely incorrect. The RIAA has successfully subpoenaed colleges for network records. Four BU students were sent letters from men in black suits. The legality of iTunes sharing IS very much in doubt. This is why you never find on-demand music streams online. You can either que up a 30 second clip at a retailer's site or wait for it to loop around on an internet radio station.</p>
<p>FYI:
- RIAA has informants within the university system.
- Pure, decentralized, peer to peer file sharing software was never ruled illegal in the United States.
- You can just change file extensions to ".mp3" and share whatever you wa
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<p>From what I've heard they've subpeonad for personal information (Re: the name) of IP addresses hosting on p2p services (mainly the fasttrack system). You may be right, however. I haven't looked into it in a long time.</p>
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The legality of iTunes sharing IS very much in doubt
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<p>I was talking about legal to run by you at the moment. There's no doubt they're *****ing at apple for it, but they aren't droping lawsuits on college kids for installing the industry standard for legal music downloading.</p>
<p>That's the thing. They won't sue you for installing itunes (at least I hope not) and once you do, your computer basically becomes a p2p source for your entire network.</p>
<p>If you use the right client to download and save - even the computer you download from won't know that you're not a legit itunes client just listening to the song.</p>
<p>I don't see what informants would be able to tell the RIAA other than - "there are kids with Itunes installed on this campus", or "I set up an itunes and these people listened to songs from me" (probably through a legit itunes client and no way to know for sure w/out direct access to the downloaders computer). Either way, it would be a tough (impossible) sell in court</p>
<p>Check me if I'm wrong, but I thought the BU students got in trouble for making an intranet site sharing all this stuff. That's a far cry from the itunes situation.</p>
<p>I'd love to see some news articles that say otherwise.</p>
<p>Also (and this goes way back - I wouldn't be surprised if it has changed now), weren't all of the kids sued by RIAA busted for sharing (as opposed to downloading)?</p>
<p>Yes, the RIAA has only sued those who uploaded files. They haven't gone after individuals using BitTorrent yet, but trackers have been shut down. It's interesting to note that not a single one of the teenagers/students/dead grandmothers they sued in the Napster/Kazaa days were found guilty. In fact, none of them went to court. The last time I checked, every case was settled. There's no precedent.</p>
<p>I do not know, and never claimed to know, exactly what the BU students were approached about. What I do know, from "sources," is that some colleges have liasons with the RIAA.</p>
<p>The BU students were sued for usage of i2hub. That was sharing of illegal music.</p>
<p>Assuming all music in your iTunes library is purchased (meaning its legal), you are merely sharing files that you do own. In which case, I don't think it would be illegal.</p>
<p>Of course, using MyTunes to snatch mp3's that you have not paid for might be toeing the line very closely</p>
<p>The sad truth is that you don't own music bought from the iTunes Music Store. As a consumer, your right to backup and reproduce music you pay for is curtailed. . . but I digress. Thanks for the information, impactangel!</p>
<p>mytunes is definitely the safest right now.....</p>
<p>Yahoo Music seems to be a pretty decent deal and competitor to Napster. That is if you own a PlaysForSure player and are will to pay the $5 a month rental fee.</p>