From Shawn Fanning (creator of Napster) and Dave Morin (ex-Facebook) comes a new social network platform. Launched just last night in Apple’s App Store, Path creates (and limits you) to a social network of 50 close friends. You can share your personal moments in the form of photos, tag places, things and people, and also capture where you were at the time geographically. Since your network is limited to a max of 50 friends, the creators of Path think that you’ll not only share more often, but you’ll share more personal “Paths” that you normally wouldn’t throw up on Facebook or Twitter. The problem with Path, at least in our limited use of the application and network, is that with no external sharing, and a very, very limited group of friends, we’re not sure how useful the application is and will be. For instance, most of the stuff I want to share is public anyway (Twitpics, Facebook uploads), and the private photos I don’t want to share publicly, well, they are private. In theory, it would be great if there was a public by default option in Path, something that would let you use Path in conjunction with Twitter and Facebook, and a private option which would then limit your photo’s exposure to just your internal Path network of friends. In a world where updating Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr, Instagram, and everything else we’re on constantly, Path at this point seems too limited to be useful. Hopefully that will change, though. Let us know if you have given it a go and what your thoughts are — it’s available now if you want to give a try.

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It’s pretty incomprehensible that until about two weeks ago, I had never used a piece of Sonos equipment. Heard about it, and read about it? Sure, but never used it. What MP3s did for personal audio enjoyment 5 years ago, Sonos does for your home, office, or wherever you want today, ingeniously creating a seamless and practically unlimited expandable system. Sonos is literally one of the coolest things I’ve seen in years; not because they reinvented the wheel (even though they kind of did in some places), but because it works.

Our digital lives are consumed by software updates, OTAs, custom ROMs, and promised OS upgrades, and because of their absence in Sonos’ system the entire experience is completely refreshing. You literally, in the words of Ron Popeill, “set it and forget it.” Once you unbox the sucker you have access to potentially limitless amounts of music spanning dozens of genres and styles.

We were sent two Sonos S5s, which are incredibly powerful units, and include speakers, subwoofers, and the ability to transmit/receive data and signal in addition to a ZoneBridge and Sonos Controller 200. If you want your S5 in the room where your internet router is, great, you just plug it in, and off you go. If you don’t have Ethernet in the room you’d like to host the system in, you can simply buy a ZoneBridge ($99), which will bridge your wireless network to your Sonos base for you. From there on out it is as simple as pairing the additional components.

I started off setting up the ZoneBridge to my network, I then added a Sonos S5 in the kitchen two rooms away. Set up was a breeze. I ran the Sonos software, touched a button or two on the S5, and it paired immediately and connected to my network. Once networked, I had instant access to my Pandora account, Last.fm account, Rhapsody account, Napster account, and Sirius radio account, in addition to whatever music was on my network. Instantly. Before I got too excited and immersed in some music from Billboard charts from 1995, I decided to add the other S5 to the network; this time unit was headed for the living room. The second S5 also seamlessly connected in about one minute. I now had independent control over the music/volume in the kitchen as well as the music/volume in the living room from my computer. So wild. If you’re having a small get together, or raging party, and want the music to play all over your apartment or house, you can simply link the zones together — all your zones will play the exact same thing perfectly in sync. You can also control the volume of linked zones together or independently.

We’re not done…there’s more. Sonos’ new controller is so thoughtfully designed that I’m really not sure what to compare it to. It seems like it should cost $1,000 instead of $349; it even includes a capacitive screen. You have the ability to control the entire system — including changing your playlists, music queue, stations, volume, zones, and everything else — right from the controller. Computer not required. But, Sonos went even further. They basically replicated the entire experience they offered on the remote into an iPhone application. This transforms your iPod Touch or iPhone into another controller, complete control over everything, computer not required (you need to be in range of your WiFi network though, duh).

In terms of the actual music, the Sonos S5 unit itself sounds absolutely amazing and really packs a punch. For something that can be literally picked up and plugged in anywhere it’s pretty remarkable. During the tests I didn’t ever miss having my actual home speaker systems hooked up, the S5s sounded that good.

While it’s great that the hardware and wireless network side of things work so incredibly well, what good would all that be without quality music sources, right? Here’s how Sonos’ music breaks down:

• If you have a PC or Mac on your network, Sonos can make use of any existing library pending of course the music is DRM-free. This includes all of your iTunes music, ripped music, downloaded music — whatever is stored locally on your computer
• Rhapsody (subscription based access with free trial, streaming)
• Napster (subscription based access with free trial, streaming)
• Pandora (streaming)
• Last.fm (streaming)
• SIRUIS (streaming)
• Internet radio (25,000 stations, streaming)

All in all I loved listening to a seemingly endless catalog of music that I could tailor to my daily routines, activities, and moods. Times when you’d normally just forget about turning on tunes dissolve away when there’s a Sonos remote nearby — hopefully the neighbors aren’t too mad at me. Check out some more photos in our gallery, and definitely hit up Sonos directly to learn more!

Click on over to our Sonos Music System gallery!

Napster Offers MP3s With its Popular On-Demand Streaming Service for One Low Monthly Price

LOS ANGELES – MAY 19, 2009 – Napster, the pioneer of digital music, today unveiled its latest music offering combining the freedom of MP3s with the discovery benefits of a high-quality streaming music service – all for one low price. For as little as $5 per month, Napster users get five unrestricted MP3 downloads, and unlimited access to Napster’s award-winning on-demand music streaming service.

Music fans now have the best of both worlds: MP3s to keep forever, play, transfer and burn as much as they like, as well as unlimited music listening from Napster’s catalog of more than seven million tracks. “There’s no need to settle for 30-second clips to decide if you want to buy a song,” said Chris Gorog, CEO of Napster. “For five bucks now you can have access to our entire music catalog and get five MP3s to add to your permanent collection.”

Napster users can now:
• Get five MP3s each month to download, with their choice of songs from the Napster MP3 library that covers all types of music from all the major labels and includes the largest catalog of independent artists available.
• Listen to any track, as often as they like, in CD quality from Napster’s catalog of more than seven million songs.
• Choose from more than 60 commercial-free radio stations and more than 1,400 expertly programmed playlists.
• Discover new music and artists through personalized recommendation tools.
• Enjoy the top hits from more than 50 years of Billboard charts. Want to know what was popular when you graduated high school? Now you can.
• Play MP3s on any MP3 player, including iPod®, iPhone® and music-enabled MP3 mobile phones.

“A decade ago, Napster revolutionized the way people discovered and enjoyed music,” said Julie Owen, senior vice president of entertainment for Best Buy. “The brand that started it all is shaking things up again with this new service that provides music lovers continued access to the entertainment experience they’ve come to expect of Napster and Best Buy.”

The new Napster offering is now available for U.S. residents at www.napster.com.

[Via Giz]

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The Isle of Man, a small self-governing subsidiary of the United Kingdom with perhaps the coolest flag ever (see above), is proposing a new law that would allow its residents immunity from prosecution for illegal downloading of copyrighted material. Each citizen would be forced to pay a monthly 1 Pound (roughly $1.40) fee into a communal fund that would be redistributed to copyright holders by a centralized government office. Both publishers and labels would benefit, and the residents of the Isle could breathe more easily knowing that their Torrent habits won’t land them a stint in some horrifying Isle of Man jailhouse. The downside, of course, is that the amount of compensation on the copyright holder’s side would be pretty nominal, leading us to believe that it’s going to be a hard sell. Then again, the concept has been batted around since the formative days of Napster, so there must be some appeal to such a business model. It’s certainly innovative, and some cash is better than nothing, so it will be interesting to see if regulators and government officials manage to pull this one off.

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Before you ask, yes Napster does indeed still exist. What’s more, with a current subscriber base of around 700,000 it’s still a pretty respectable offering. Napster’s current incarnation offers three main plans for accessing its library of over six million songs; the first is an iTunes-like music download service that provides a la carte tracks for 99¢ and album downloads for $6.95 and up. A basic subscription service allows users to pay $12.95 per month for unlimited streaming to any PC and download access (up to three PCs) to the full Napster library, though you’ll need to purchase tracks before they can be transferred to a portable device or burned to a CD. Finally, Napster To Go rings up at $14.95 per month and adds unlimited transfers to any compatible portable device. Napster To Go subscribers still must purchase tracks before they can burn them to a CD. So now that you’re up to date on Shawn Fanning’s storied brainchild, get ready to watch it go corporate. Best Buy has announced that it will shell out $121 million to acquire the nearly-forgotten game-changer and the current management team will stay on to run the show. The boys from Metallica must be rolling over in their graves. Oh wait, apparently they’re still alive too! Live and learn. Congrats to the Napster team – we wonder how long it will be before Napster cards replace all of those iTunes gift cards currently dangling around Best Buy registers.

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