Don’t use Napster!
When my computer crashed a while back, I had to reinstall Windows. Before reinstalling, I backed up all my mp3s to a separate hard drive. Once Windows was back up and running, I tried playing some of my mp3s I bought from Napster. Surprise, surprise, they did not play. I contacted Napster for help. You should see the process you have to go through to recover your files! (See post continuation below for details). It wasn’t that difficult for me, but I would pity any non-techie who had to attempt this!
At the end of the email, it said to contact them if I had further problems. I followed the steps and was able to recover one of the CDs I purchased from Napster (The Killers), but not another (Joss Stone). So I emailed them back:
This worked for one of my purchased albums (The Killers, Hot Fuss),
but not the other. I also purchased a Joss Stone album, and these
tracks don’t show in my "Purchased Music" folder, only in "My
Playlists." We I try to play the Joss Stone MP3s saved on my hard
drive, they won’t play. I know I bought them from Napster. How can I
get them back?
Simple. Straightforward. To the point.
In their complete incompetance, they send me an email about streaming music. Where the heck did I say I had a problem streaming?
Their email to me:
We apologize for the inconvenience that you are experiencing. We will
need to collect more information to further troubleshoot this issue.
Please answer the questions below:
1. What type of tracks are you trying to stream? Are they 30 second clips or full streams or both?
Full streams are available to premium members only.
30 second clips are Buy Only tracks (premium members) or all tracks for basic members.
2. Do you use a firewall (ex. Zone Alarm, Norton Firewall, Kerio) or other internet security programs?
3. Which version of Windows Media Player are you using?
· Open Windows Media Player—
· Start/Programs or All Programs/Accessories/Entertainment/Windows Media Player
· Find the Version number
4. Are you able to stream tracks in Windows Media Player?
Click on Start/Programs or All Programs/Accessories/Entertain
On the left, click on Radio Tuner
Select any radio station, and then click Play.
5. Is the date and time correct on your computer?
· On the bottom right hand side of the screen, double click on the
clock. Be sure that the Month, Date, and YEAR are correct.
How on earth does this help my problem?!!!
So I wrote them back:
I’m confused. I’m not trying to stream tracks. Where did you get that from?
I’m trying to play tracks I’ve already purchased. Before my PC crashed
and I had to reinstall Windows, I backed up all my mp3s to a separate
hard drive. After I reinstalled Windows, I couldn’t play the mp3s I
bought from Napster in my media players (Windows Media Player &
WinAmp). I contacted support and they showed me how to recover my
music by redownloading it. I was able to recover one of the CDs I
purchased this way but not the other. The other CD I purchased is
"Joss Stone: the Soul Sessions." I have all the Joss Stone mp3s on my
computer, but they won’t play in any media player, including
Napster’s. I want new copies of the mp3s since I did purchase them in
the past from Napster.
Honestly, this whole process is beyond ridiculous. It’s shouldn’t be this difficult to get new copies of mp3s I bought and paid for. Why can’t they just offer me a link to redownload them? I doubt I will ever purchase from Napster again at this point.
Recovering Napster tracks - my tech support email from Napster:
We apologize for the issues you experienced with your Napster tracks.
To check that your computer is "individualized," or prepared to accept licensed content, please try the following:
1)
Navigate to C:\Program Files\Napster and locate a file called
WMP_upgrade.wma. Right-click on this file and select "Open
With>Windows Media Player." You should then see a message box appear
within Windows Media Player indicating that "your Windows Media Player
is up to date." Please let us know whether or not you receive this
message - if you do not receive the message above, let us know what you
do see so that we may take the appropriate next steps.
If you do receive the message above, please continue with the following:
Rename your db2.bin file
1. Double click on My Computer
2. Double click on your Local C: drive
3. Double click on the Program Files folder
4. Double click on the Napster folder
5. Double click on the User Data folder
6. Locate db2.bin
7. Rename this file to db2.old
Rename the folder in which Napster stores music
8.
Locate the folder in which your Napster tracks are stored once they are
downloaded. The path to this folder may be found by clicking on
"File>Options" within Napster. Browse to this location on your hard
drive and rename this folder. Once this folder is renamed, click on
"File>Options" within Napster and take note of where your Napster
tracks will be stored once they are downloaded This new folder path
should be different from the original one.
Perform a Sync/Restore
9. Open Napster and click on "My
Account>Sync/Restore" and then click Continue. Select your tracks
from the list and click on Sync/Restore selected tracks.
10. You should then see your tracks begin to re-download. Once they have downloaded, make sure they play.
11.
Navigate to the music folder that you renamed in step #8. Now that your
new tracks are playing, you may delete the old tracks from this folder,
and delete the folder if you wish.
If you continue to experience any issues, please let us know.
Follow the conversation at YackTrack!
Customer service in this country sucks. After you get through the automated computer menu that does not address your issue, the employees in CS don’t bother to even listen. Irritating.
Down with Napster, my purchased tracks still won’t play.
they say crime doesn’t pay but my “shared” tracks play perfectly, the ones that I bothered to pay for do not play even after following all the steps above.
PS: they just stopped playing! I didn’t change computers or anything… Never answered my emails!!
Information on how to remove the licensing from mp3 and wma files:
SARAH! I AM LOVING YOU RIGHT NOW!!!!
I can’t thank you enough for the info on Napster. I am going to click all the ads on your site 10 TIMES!!!!
I uninstalled Napster and cleaned my PC (deleted registry and temp files etc…) everything was “pristine”…except the music I downloaded from Napster. I paid them money for those! I hate DRM!!! (DRM is the licensing that comes encoded in an mp3 and wma file when you are ripped off by companies like Napster. Actually it is a fairly well know licensing standard but just hasn’t been put in to practice…a lot anyway)
I found out you can burn the tracks to disc as an “audio CD” (only 15~20 songs max!) then re-rip them onto your PC from the disc as mp3s. Doing this “loses” the DRM licensing information that is SLAPPED! on by Napster.
An mp3/wma file has a portion of code set aside for licensing information. Burning a CD as an “Audio CD” converts the mp3/wma to a “wave” file (more of a …hmmm…”blueprint” of the audio. It is an analog (not digital) recording/representation and they are very large files. The wave file standard has been around for decades and was not intended for licensing.)
Here is what you do:
1. Select your music files in the Napster Library window.
2. Right click and select “Burn track(s)
(Some tracks may not have the rights to burn to CD so you will be prompted to buy this feature [sons o' bitches!] you’ll have to pay for this!
3. After shelling out even more money! Click the “Burn” button in the bottom right hand corner.
4. Answer any stupid questions about play lists (soon to be the last of their crap you’ll deal with, he he!)
5. The CD should eject with “.cda” files of each song you burned.
6. Now put the CD back in and open Windows Media Player
7. Select “Tools”, “options” and then the “Rip Music tab.
8. In the “Rip Settings” section, select “Windows Media Audio Lossless” (!!!Do not select “copy protect” !!!)
9. Click “Apply” then “OK” to close the window.
10. Click “Rip” in the main menu bar (on top).
11. Your tracks from the CD should be in there, make sure your files are “checked” in the box to rip them from the CD.
12. Click “Rip Music” in the upper right hand corner of Windows Media Player.
(You can click “Find Album Info”, it will error out and you will be prompted if you would like to enter in the information, feel free to do so, if you don’t you’ll have to figure out what songs are what when they are ripped to the hard drive and rename them.)
13. Click on “Burn” again, insert a new CD, add the newly ripped tracks to your burn play list and burn them to the CD.
14. Now go through the process of ripping the music from the CD again except this time change the RIP Settings Format to “mp3″. Rip away…
15. Now enjoy your newly license free tracks!
16. After completing the conversion process for all your tracks, uninstall Napster, go to Walmart and buy the stinkin CDs for $15. …or download them from a free P2P file sharing software title.
Thanks again Sarah, you’re the only one on Google that came up with any information on the quote of the DRM licensing error. I hope this information gets you a lot more hits if you are making some money off the clicks! Saw the pics, your hubby’s cute (but your much cuter!), let me know if you want to dump him, I’ll be waiting lol
Got a couple of questions about this. I came home to visit mom for the weekend, who uses Napster. She downloaded me an album that we both wanted (being that I am a poor, poor college student), but the bastard program had an error every time I tried to burn it.
My question is: Does iTunes cause all these problems? That’s the program I use because my school’s network watches what we do, so we can’t use P2P programs. Just curious. Thanks for the help!
yea i feel just like everyone else had it for about a month an already wont work for me now cant play an of the songs i downloaded or the ones ive bought an the ones i wanna burn an pay for it wont do it cause it says still needs to be downloaded however they already are downloaded an in my playlist. an napster has gave me the same advice on how to clear it up. well what they say to do doesnt have to do with what needs to be done. an im not a comp. person. guess everyone who told not to download napster i should have listined to an if anyone knows of a good site to get music from PLEASE TELL ME!!!!!
Thank YOU SO MUCH! After my computer crashed, Napster would refuse to open. I uninstalled and reinstalled multiple times but no dice. Turns out it was looking for that db2.bin and that must have been corrupted. Now I can finally access my Napster Account again!
Hi, I found your blog when looking on how to fix my Naptser. Costumer support didn’t reply to my requests and nothing would work. After reading your entry, I am now able to play the songs I purchased. I’m screwed though, I got a one year contract with them for a free mp3 player… the deal is not terrible, their costumer service is!
Thanks for posting this!
so how do i fix the licence errors and save the music i’ve purchased
I can’t uninstall this piece of crap (yes, Napster)! I’m not sure which program I installed that “installed Napster for me”, I certainly did not install it on purpose. I have gone through Add/Delete Programs a half a dozen times (yes, I allowed the Uninstall Program to restart my computer immediately) and when my computer reboots, IT’S STILL THERE!!!!!!!! I hate it when this happens…
Any ideas?
I did not bother to read your hole post but this goes without saying.. where there is a protection there will always be away to breakit like with DNS there is DNS spoofing SERials there is keygens cds there was blanks sattilite tv a hacked box or card okay what you need to do with any and I mean any protected music file is remove the protection so if a music file has a drm remove the drm and if you don’t know what a drm (DRM is Digital rights managment) so in your case you would need something that removes the DRM like tunebite http://www.tunebite.com/websit.....liate=3321
or other anti - drm or dedrm
If you need “free” copy h a c k e d download it here
http://www.tunebite.com/websit.....2ed41ed96f〈=en
for the serial when it ask for it just type this Serial:359334674 in DO NOT register
Serial:359334674
Description:
Tunebite lets you record copy-protected music, audio books and video clips in WMA, M4P, AAC, M4B and MP4 formats by playing them and save them as unprotected MP3, OGG, WMA, WMV or MPEG4 files you can use anywhere!
Download:
http://www.tunebite.com/websit.....2ed41ed96f〈=en
click the download tunebite setup to download it
Serial:359334674 here is the key to make it a full version so you can make your songs play copy etc
Version 3 of tunebite (download above) is ok, but the older version worked faster and had fewer hardware issues. Get V2.1 if you can.
wow i had the SAME EXACT PROBLEM, thanks for everyone for helping us with the DRM
I think it’s funny that at the bottom of the Post adsense showed me a advert for a free trial of Napster, talk about prodcut placement!