I suppose you have heard of the new restrictions imposed on those of us
who listen to Radio Netscape and who have bought products from the
performers' labels, distributors or what have you. In the last few days
we were encouraged to download a NEW version. Little did we know that
doing so would put a clock on the amount of music we could listen to
during the course of any 24 hour period.. Somehow, AOL is at the root of
all this restriction. They want to sell us AOL Broadband Radio. I sure
as heck got an AOL service icon on my work space after the download was
completed.
- Ron
Yes it's true. Radio@Netscape has changed. The online audio source that offers about 175 different streams is now limiting free useage to about 1 hour-a-day. After the daily useage limit has been reached, users see this message:
"We're sorry, you have exceeded the listening limit on radio@netscape for today. Please tune in again tomorrow!”
Radio@Netscape explains the new changes this way:
"In order to play music online, Radio@Netscape needs to pay fees to the recording industry and ultimately the artists who make the music you enjoy. By putting a daily limit on listening, we can continue to provide you with the best FREE online music experience, with limited commercial interruptions, while still keeping our costs in check.
Unlimited listening is available to AOL members through our popular Radio@AOL service which offers the same great audio programming in addition to more exclusive content and convenient access to all of the other great features of AOL. AOL for Broadband members get the added benefit of commercial free, CD-quality listening experience on Radio@AOL for Broadband."
For an alternate, you might consider LAUNCHcast from Yahoo! Here's what you get for free:
You can listen to 400 songs per month for free without any special restrictions. After 400 songs in a month, if you still want to listen to the free service, you'll experience the following restrictions:
You can bypass all of these restrictions with LAUNCHcast Plus The upgrade gets you commercial free radio without all of the restrictions above. The cost is $2.99/month if you pay one full year in advance ($35.99)or $3.99/month if billed monthly.
It's not free, but it's not unreasonable, either. It should not be a surprising reality check that companies and individuals who offer a service or product cannot do it for free forever.
