joegratz.net

So I’ve had a chance to check out the selection on Napster 2.0. If you purchase tracks a la carte, this is a great choice. If you prefer a monthly-fee-for-all-you-can-stream environment (as I do), Rhapsody is still the best choice by far. Some observations on selection:

• Most disappointingly, most of the Matador catalog on Napster is “purchase only”; you can stream it on Rhapsody.
• Recent releases seem to be burn-only on Napster, but are stream-only on Rhapsody. For example, the new Shins album can be streamed but not burned on Rhapsody, but can be burned but not streamed on Napster. This is silly.
• The classical selection is better on Rhapsody, though only because Rhapsody has the Naxos catalog.

Overall, Rhapsody’s streaming selection seems to be larger than Napster’s, but Napster’s burning selection seems to be larger than Rhapsody’s.