Jacob Cable thinks it’s about time Napster considers charging people to use its music downloading system.
“For Napster it’s an excellent marketing opportunity,” the general business administration and pre-law senior said. “It relieves the stress of the financial risk of lawsuits from the record companies.”
Last week Napster announced plans to charge users a monthly membership fee for its file-sharing service as part of its recent partnering with Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG).
A fee has not been established, but at the New York news conference Napster CEO Hank Barry suggested $4.95 per month could generate revenues for the company while compensating record labels.
The music group agreed to drop its lawsuit against Napster and will provide its entire catalog through Napster’s paid membership plan.
No-preference freshman Elizabeth Lewis thinks Napster will lose some of its popularity once the required payment is initiated.
“You can go through so many other things just like Napster doing the same thing and they’ll just get bigger and better,” she said.
Some students disagree with the fee because of the opportunity Napster gives bands to get their names out free of charge.
“It’s a good way for music groups to get their names out there and for people to sample it,” economics sophomore Jon Grabowski said. “I actually use it more to figure out if I like the group and then go out and buy the CD.”
Grabowski said he would not use Napster if it began charging.
“There’s enough other places that are free on the Internet where I could download music,” he said.
Lewis agreed that she would not pay to use Napster because of the various other sites that provide free music.
“I can get it free somewhere else,” she said. “Real Player even now has a Napster-like program you can use. I’m cheap and I’m in college. That’s why Napster is so big here.”
Cable said he would definitely pay the fee.
“In about five minutes I can download about 15 CDs,” he said. “It reduces the cost per CD dramatically.”
Chemical engineering sophomore Katie Piasecki said she thinks it would be difficult for Napster to suddenly start charging people to use the system.
“I like how it’s free and the broad range of music that I can get,” she said. “I don’t think they should charge us because it’s been free all this time. It’s kind of hard to make it so now you have to pay.”
