Sad but true: Napster '99 still smokes Spotify 2012 • Hacker News Board

Re: Sad but true: Napster '99 still smokes Spotify 2012

#91

Post by corford » Sun, Mar 18, 2012, 12:31 PM UTC

Splines wrote: post #87

corford wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usenet might wish to contest that claim :)

BBS's also functioned in a similar way before Usenet did. That said, Napster made it all really easy. They also came along when CD drives were finally commonplace, and Winamp had seeded the ground by having people build up a library of MP3s beforehand.

I don't know, I remember Napster as being quite late to the party. Everyone I knew (geeks and some non geeks) had been happily using ratio FTPs for years (using usenet and irc to find them) and then later Audiogalaxy took care of the discovery problem. I also remember CD drives being fairly common by 1996/7 (it was CD burners that took a few years longer to hit sensible price points).

But its been a while so maybe my rose tinted glasses have munged things a bit! :)

And you're right, BBSes were doing similar things first (although I assume good ones were harder to find than usenet groups or irc chans - don't know because BBSes were before my time!) but of course the mp3 standard didn't exist back when they were at their zenith. MP3s only started appearing en-mass around 1997 I think (??). Before that, I remember every one used to share tiny wav and midi sound file clips on their homepages (my first ever homepage was made to share wav clips of simpsons and monty python dialogue - lol how embarassingly quaint!)

Re: Sad but true: Napster '99 still smokes Spotify 2012

#92

Post by Splines » Sun, Mar 18, 2012, 4:48 PM UTC

corford wrote: post #91

Splines wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BBS's also functioned in a similar way before Usenet did. That said, Napster made it all really easy. They also came along when CD drives were finally commonplace, and Winamp had seeded the ground by having people build up a library of MP3s beforehand.

I don't know, I remember Napster as being quite late to the party. Everyone I knew (geeks and some non geeks) had been happily using ratio FTPs for years (using usenet and irc to find them) and then later Audiogalaxy took care of the discovery problem. I also remember CD drives being fairly common by 1996/7 (it was CD burners that took a few years longer to hit sensible price points). But its been a while so maybe my…

You know, you're probably right, I think I'm off about 2 years.

Yeah, in my BBS days I remember downloading MOD files and demo videos. I still remember being blown away by Future Crew.

Re: Sad but true: Napster '99 still smokes Spotify 2012

#93

Post by invisible » Sun, Mar 18, 2012, 5:14 PM UTC

thematt wrote: post #61

invisible wrote: post #49

Absolutely a fluff piece. No mention of any other legal services that offer exactly what the author is writing about (namely Grooveshark).

Grooveshark's legality is questionable at best.

Legality is following the letter of the law (e.g. DMCA), to which Grooveshark does and exceeds. Being praised and loved by all labels is what Spotify is doing (by paying out the ass in investor money).

Re: Sad but true: Napster '99 still smokes Spotify 2012

#94

Post by eli » Sun, Mar 18, 2012, 8:27 PM UTC

InclinedPlane wrote: post #90

FreakLegion wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may be a heavy user where "heavy" equals "frequent," but I don't think you're a heavy user where "heavy" equals "eclectic"[1]. Otherwise you'd have experienced firsthand just how useless Spotify is for music outside the mainstream, even (in contrast to what Aloisius said) when you already know exactly what you're looking for. In just the last few days there've been at least half a dozen[2] times when I wanted to…

The one thing that file sharing sites excel at is finding niche materials by certain artists, such as b-sides and live shows or covers. Some of that stuff is quite excellent but almost impossible to find in a music store or on a music site.

Some of that stuff has probably never been released by a real label. I imagine it would be tricky just to figure out who even owns the rights, let alone secure them for digital distribution.