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I recently signed up for Napster, and so far it’s a pleasant experience. The price proposition convinced me – unlimited music streaming to your computer AND you can purchase Un-protected (DRM Free) songs for keeps. When you buy 3 months at a time, it comes out to $5 per months which gives you 5 songs and Unlimited streaming of their huge library, whole month.

Actually, what initially convinced me was their recent partnership with Coca Cola’s MyCokeRewards site, redeeming some free single-song downloads. It takes quiet a lot of points, but we had them laying around anyways… Today I noticed they added not just song downloads, but also Subscription plans! I didn’t do the math, but I think 3 months subscription is best value. It gives you 15 song downloads (for keeps) and 3 months of unlimited streaming of any kind of music out there.

Sadly, they don’t let you stream to phones. In fact, they go extra mile to block any streaming from mobile devices, since essentially it should be possible as your mobile smartphone is on the same Internet as everyone.

Anyhow, until Spotify gets here, only sensible option I found is GrooveShark. Their $3 (or less) per month plan lets you stream unlimited music to their iPhone app, but of course many people will be satisfied with free Pandora or Last.fm radio Apps for iPhone.

Enjoy!

Ok, here’s the summary: Wow!!

Overall I really love it so far, and although I experienced the famous disappearing bars issue first hand, I am really not concerned. One negative so far I noticed is the camera. There are comparisons to other smartphone cameras that say iPhone 4 is better, so maybe I just expected too much… Here’s best shot I managed today, judge for yourself (click for original). This one was outside, but inside photos not as nice, even with flash…

I listed below main positives that I did Not see in mainstream media. I feel that these are really Biggest innovations and they don’t get nearly enough coverage:

• Long Battery Life – Yes, it easily lasted 3 days with pretty heavy usage, including WiFi on all the time, steaming video over 3G and over WiFi, games, surfing, etc. This is amazing technological achievement and was main selling point in my considerations versus Evo and other competitors.
• Fast Internet – I felt that surfing is way faster, but couldn’t explain it. Today I found technical details, and I immediately ran my own SpeedTest to confirm: 4 Mbps down and 800kbps up!! Just in a random mall location! Interestingly enough, there was HTC Evo on Sprint 4G network on display at the mall today, and Internet on it didn’t feel any faster; in fact whole phone didn’t impress much…
• Reader Friendly Display – This is the Secret Feature; Sure everyone is talking about Retina display, but the truth is the screen is not only very sharp, it also feels softer, lending itself to effortless reading! The fonts are paper quality, think laser printer, and the backlight can be adjusted to soft luminance, making reading a joy! This definitely makes iPhone an ePaper competitive reading device – think 10 hours battery life, beautiful soft display AND colors! And of course interactions and video, what more do you need?

Overall – Amazing device and so far I am really satisfied with my purchase. Organizing icons into folders is fun and allows for quick access as well as ability to see what Apps I have in each category, to help me cleanup things I may not be using. I didn’t try the voice recognition features yet, but certainly planning to. I also noticed that typing is easier for some reason. Somehow it is even better at recognizing buttons I want to click, and I find myself able to type faster. Another win for Apple and shows us that closed hardware/software combination can achieve some amazing heights.

Yep, my iPhone 4 arrived via FedEx today and so far all I did was Shamelessly Fondle It all over. It is in the long process of synching with iTunes, and filling it up with Apps and Stuff.

So, Not much to report yet, but you know now that I decided to lock myself in with Apple and AT&T again, for perhaps as much as two years. Yes, Android EVO 4G from Sprint was really tempting option and I even tried to have educated discussion about it on Twitter. But my big concern was battery life and with my heavy usage it most likely wouldn’t last a full day even…

Versus advertised 10 hours video and Wi-Fi surfing on iPhone 4 with their custom CPU! And yea, there’s an App for almost anything, hard to resist that aspect also. And Gazillion games, many of which I paid for and now get to enjoy on two devices.

The new packaging is small yet still impressive – see picture with Sprite for perspective.

Stay tuned for actual usage reports!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled (aka: nonexistent) blogging to bring you this special message.

I raved about Mass Effect 2 in the past, it’s a Movie gone Game, or Game gone Movie, either way makes for amazing Sci-Fi experience. I also love Steam, with their sensible license allowing you to install the game you purchase on your PC and on your Laptop, and play on either one, depending on what you happen to be on at the time.

If you are not reading this on June 19th, the sale offering this game for $23.95 is likely gone, and so I am sorry.. But, I am sure with time price will come down to even lower level! Or just pony up the extra cash, it’s Worthy Investment (ahem…)!