The the all-you-can-eat subscription model — most prominently pushed of late by Napster with their Napster to Go service (all you can rent for $15 a month) — is not yet catching on, according to market research firm Parks Associates:

Respondents in the recent Parks Associates survey Global Digital Living strongly favored the single-track purchase model over a subscription when presented with both options. Roughly 40% said they were likely to buy songs one at a time, but only 8% were likely to use a subscription service.

"The market has a long way to go in promoting subscription models," said John Barrett, director of research at Parks Associates. "There is hope Microsoft's Janus technology will boost the digital music market by enabling portability and greater integration of hardware and content. However, our data show the industry needs to translate these solutions into something more tangible and desirable to consumers. At present, consumers either do not fully grasp the value of a subscription 'all-you-can-eat' service, or they simply don't want it."

For high-volume music consumers — such as myself — the subscription model would seem to make the most sense, but not with all the restrictions and compatibility issues Rob Pegoraro lays bare in his Napster to Go review:

In its "Do the math" ads, Napster asks customers to focus on the front end of this deal. Open an account, enter your billing info and start downloading. Don't stop until your hard drive is full, and you'll still have paid just $15. At any other music-download site, let alone a CD store, you'd have paid thousands of dollars for the privilege.

....Because this underlying software is so new, Napster To Go is the least compatible music store in existence. You can use it only on a Windows XP computer running Windows Media Player 10, and you can transfer your downloads only to a Windows Media-compatible player that includes special software and circuitry to enforce the pay-to-play deal.

So not only do these downloads not play on any iPod, they also don't work on most non-Apple players. Napster's site (www.napster.com) lists a total of nine compatible devices, seven of which need software updates. Microsoft suggests that others should work, including the latest Pocket PC handhelds from Dell and Hewlett-Packard, but Napster says it hasn't tested them yet.

....Aside from the pay-to-listen requirement, Napster To Go songs can be stored on only three computers and three music players at a time, and they can't be burned to CD at all. [Washington Post]