As the debate over Napster weaves its way into the courts, one segment of computer users is being ignored, though they should be used to it by now: Macintosh users. Napster has no Mac version, though it keeps promising one; you understand, of course, that the company sort of has its hands full these days.
But as is usually the case with popular Windows apps, someone is always ready and willing to fill the void on behalf of Mac users. This month, we're going to take a look at three of the most popular freeware Mac-based MP3-swapping devices: Macster, Rapster, and MacStar. All three have their virtues and pitfalls, as is the case with all freeware (all software, now that I think of it).
Macster http://www.blackholemedia.com/macster is the king of the hill here by a wide margin. Like the other two, its interface doesn't mimic Napster's, but it does give the user access to Napster's servers. That doesn't mean it's perfect, though. It shares two downsides with its Mac cousins, and with Napster itself: Connecting can be a headache, and its search function is sketchy at best. Search for tracks by The Who, and you'll get a long list of songs with the words the or who in the title, but nothing by Roger Daltrey and Co. (Also, does anybody know why users can't get the next 100 hits on a search after scanning the first 100?)
But enough bad news. Macster spends very little time making you wonder about whether the track you've requested is available, and at what throughput, so you can decide quickly whether a slow-moving track is worth the wait. Song lists can be arranged by title, bit rate, connection speed, song length, and other variables; Rapster and MacStar offer this feature too, but it doesn't always work.
MacStar http://www.squirrelsw.com/macstar.html and Rapster http://www.macnews.com.br/overcaster/rapster_.html aren't bad apps; they've just got some bad habits. I seemed to have a much harder time hooking up to Napster's servers with either of them than with Macster; I don't know why.
Also, each requested download in Rapster and MacStar generates its own little pop-up window, which can make for a very cluttered desktop before long. Macster courteously keeps all running and pending downloads in one window. One advantage Rapster and MacStar have over Macster is that both let you create and save hot lists-the song lists of people with especially appealing MP3 collections. (Rapster also comes with an MP3 player, though I never did learn how to work the darn thing.)
The bottom line is that Macster is just far more versatile and intuitive than the other two. It took me a long time to learn how to determine whether Rapster or MacStar had even received my download request, something that's instantaneous with Macster. If you must have an MP3 device before Napster goes Mac, try Macster.
Speaking of adapting apps to the Mac, my favorite free MP3 player, MusicMatch Jukebox http://www.musicmatch.com, now has a beta version of a Mac-compatible unit available for free download. MusicMatch for Windows is a combination MP3 jukebox and CD player that offers an amazing amount of features for a free product.
It offers the capability to build (or dismantle) a play list of MP3s from your hard drive or removable media; CD ripping capability; multimedia tagging for adding cover art and other elements to your tracks; portable player support; and access to the online CDDB (compact disc database), which contains track information about hundreds of thousands of CDs. The Mac beta is quite buggy (I've had to re-download twice so far), but it's worth having nonetheless.
This month's Hot List: Public Enemy's Chuck D. has long been an advocate of freely exchanged MP3s, and now he's putting his money where his mouth is with a page of free downloads from promising new hip-hop artists http://music.tucows.com/cgi-bin/download/0/1100/2048/
I_Love_You_bt_/sarah_mclachlan_i_love_you_bt_mix.mp3.
-Dan Heilman
