Peter Sinclair: File sharing goes on after Napster

By PETER SINCLAIR

"Is there life after Napster?" is the question music-lovers have been asking themselves since the Bertelsmann takeover, and the answer appears to be a resounding "Yes!"

Because, for the moment, nothing's changed. The file sharer continues as before — there are 1,570,462 music tracks available in 10,164 libraries as I write — while the German giant decides how best to harness its high-profile acquisition to the serious business of making a Deutschmark without losing the 40 million surfers who made it a phenomenon in the first place.

My advice: get all the tracks you want now while the getting's good because as soon as they make up their minds you'll have to pay a subscription of $US4.95 ($11.80) a month at least.

If you're a free spirit and don't want to subscribe, you'll also need to think of a replacement for Napster's no-frills but serviceable built-in MP3 player. A quick rundown of some of the leading software contenders as of right now:

Earjam IMP 2.0 (beta): a new feature lineup includes: SmartInstall, saving download time by up to 50 per cent; full-screen video for great eye-candy; CD-burning on the fly; Audiobot Search — you tell Earjam what type of music you like and it trawls the web to find and deliver it; heaps of free stuff, and the list goes on. No wonder this user-friendly new kid on the block is getting a lot of downloads either free or $US29 ($69) de luxe.

MusicMatch Jukebox 6.0: the original and, many swear, still the best around. I used it briefly when it was about the only player available for MP3 conversions, but didn't find its catalogue system particularly friendly.

WinAmp 2.7: Nullsoft's contribution to the online music upheaval, my own choice and still about the most popular player around. Friendly and skinnable — I use MondriAmp, based on the work of the French painter Mondrian, for a touch of class.

Sonique 1.808: until recently, the hottest player for the sub-teen crowd, with a gaudy, Japanese-style interface and built-in access to music resources on the web. But this kind of killer accessorisation gobbles up resources on all but the gruntiest machines, and kids aren't fools.

FreeAmp 2.1: for Linux and Windows 95, 98, 2000, and NT, this is a pack-your-own-sandwiches player which nevertheless features a powerful music browser and playlist editor, a built in download manager and user-defined prebuffering for slower machines. The bare-bones way to go.

Liquid Player 5.0: emphasises its library resources, for this is the player of the status quo, of old music, with a heavy emphasis on retail rock.

RealJukebox 8.0: some great skins and features, but this pioneering player has recently begun hammering its Plus edition at $US30 ($71.40) to the extent you feel they're making it as hard as possible to download the leaner, freer version. As well, early this year Real was forced to admit it was tracking users' surfing habits and while it swears it's reformed, the cynical remain suspicious.

Media Jukebox 5.0: most under-rated player of all — plays more than 20 different formats, rips and encodes to CD-quality MP3 and many other formats, plus it lets you play more than 1300 Web-TV and radio stations from around the world. Best-kept secret on the web.

Links:

Napster

Earjam IMP 2.0

MusicMatch Jukebox

WinAmp

Mondrian

Sonique

FreeAmp

Liquid Player

RealJukebox

Media Jukebox

petersinclair@email.com