Napster Tips for Power Users (and Beginners too!)
Written: Apr 18 '00 (Updated Apr 18 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: use Napigator to get the tunes you want. Follow my other tips as well and happy downloading (This is a tutorial so I really don't analyze pros and cons)
Cons: hard to get songs with slow modems,
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| drdavec1's Full Review: Napster |
Like many, I LOVE Napster. Over the months, I have garnered many ideas that will make Napster work for you. In this opinion, I will help you find any song you desire, connect to the server with ease, and get the most out of your downloads.
CONNECTING TIPS
Connecting to napster is easy right? All you do is click on the connect button and theoretically you are in business. However as any user knows there are rare times when the server is down and it becomes impossible to connect! Have no fear, here is where I help you. The program you need is called Napigator. Available as a free download from ZDNet or the creator's website www.thirty4.com , Napigator shows all of the Napster servers (unbeknownst to me there are over 20 servers) and shows you the ping response to each one. Simply double click on a fast server and you should be able to start a connection and begin downloading music!! If that server does not work, choose another. Trust me, at some point you will get through when you may not have been able to before...
DOWNLOADING FROM FAST SITES
This is very intuitive and many probably already do this. When you search for a song or artist, restrict the search to "AT LEAST Cable". Who would you want to download from, my S L O W 28.8 modem or a lightning fast cable or T3. This makes a huge difference. The fast connections can handle many uploads (you downloading from them) while you concomitantly download. NOTE- For some reason, when you search Cable and above, Napster includes 14.4 modems (red). Make sure you don't click on these guys, no matter what the ping is
A NOTE ON PING
For those who don't know, ping is the time it takes to connect with another computer. Low numbers are good, high ones are bad. However, before always going with the lowest ping, make sure the song is complete.
FINDING THE SONGS YOU WANT
When downloading, I always have amnesia and forget the songs that I've been dying to download. What I recommend is if this happens to you, find a chat room that interests you, pick the user on the left with the monster collection and add them to your hotlist. Then, go to the hotlist screen and browse their collection. Even if you do not download from them, browsing a large collection can give you many ideas you never would have imagined. (Like I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred for example)
Also, important when looking for songs is to 1)increase the number of songs you search for from 100 to 400 or so and 2)make sure you spell the words correctly. If this doesn't work, try writing a few words of the song title... If this still doesn't work, check out the next section
FINDING THE RARE SONGS
i'm sure like me, there are some rare songs that you are dying for. However, when you do a general search by the artist, most songs you see are the most popular ones... What I recommend here is to use my friend Napigator again (Again available at ZDNet and www.thirty4.com ) As I mentioned before, there are many servers to connect to Napster. What you may not know is that each server has different users and thus different songs!!! So, if you are desparate from the B side to I'm Too Sexy, use napigator to search each server individually. If one server doesn't have it, try another. (Unfortunately, there is no way to do a Meta-Search) By checking on multiple servers, you will greatly enhance your odds of finding the tune!!!
AVOIDING INCOMPLETE SONGS
Don't you hate when you download somebody's song and it is 1 minute short. The way to avoid this, is check the length (in minutes) before downloading. Compare it to other available copies of the same song. Sometimes, there may be a 1 or 2 second variability. However, if the song is 10 seconds shorter, avoid it!!
MAXIMIZING YOUR DOWNLOAD SPEED (AKA BEING A PIG)
I admit it, I am a napster pig. I do not allow uploads. What I do is I go into preferences and set uploads to 0. this prevents others from downloading your tunes. I really only recommend this if you have a slow modem and need all the bandwidth you can get. if you have cable and above, you are lucky and I am jealous. For you guys, maybe limit the number to 2,3 or 4, but there is no need to lock out the little guys :( I must note, every time you start Napster, it will ask you if you want to file share and allow uploads. I feel guilty, but I always check No. If you hit yes, you have to go back into preferences to remedy this...
TIPS FOR CABLE MODEM USERS
If multiple copies of a song you like are available, download 3 at once. If one streams in at a nice speed, abort the others and keep the fast one..
TIPS FOR SLOW MODEMS
Set your downloads to a maximum of one. I know it is tempting to get several songs at once. DON'T DO IT. You are leaving yourself vulnerable to other people disconenecting and stopping your download...
Well, that's all for now. I hope these tips help you download the music you want... For other tutorials see my other reviews. Comments are also appreciated
A FINAL NOTE ON NAPIGATOR
I must mention that Napigator also has their own experimental servers. I have beeen able to connect but not download. Stick to the napster ones (you'll see what I mean) Also, Napigator theoretically can display the number of users on Napster serves. this hasn't worked yet, but I do get the ping response which is crucial. I have found that the number of users on each napster server is roughly similar. Also, there are times too when napigator times out... However, I do think overall it is a good (not perfect program)
EDITED 5 minutes after submitting this 4/18 5 PM EST
Well, for some reason www.thirty4.com isn't working so well.. You can find Napigator in the MP3 section at ZDNET...
Recommended:
Yes
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