Did Napster break up with the Clip+?

MP3 players Sansa Clip | Clip+
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My Clip+ reminded me today that I need to connect it to Napster to renew my tunes.  So I did the same thing I’ve done for years - connect my Clip+ to my laptop, open the Napster PC sofware on my laptop, then sync, and the Clip and Napster go off into the sunset, hand in hand, until its time to do it again.  

But this time, the Napster software simply refuses to recognize that my Clip+ is connected.  Has Napster ghosted on us?  I’ve emailed Napster to ask the same thing, but I thought someone here might have some info while I wait to hear back. 

If Napster has indeed turned its back on mp3 players, what’s a girl to do for her mp3 subscription-music needs?  Am I gonna have to turn to a seedy back-alley underground mp3 music speakeasy-like service to get my fix?  Or do I need seek out a 12-step mp3 music program?

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I heard back from the Napster folks.  

It’s a Windows 10 Anniversary Update issue – the most recent version removed support for WMDRM.  Napster is working on a Windows 10 app that will allow download and offline playback, but no ETA on when that will be available.

Here’s the full reply from Napster.

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Please note that customers who have installed Windows 10 Anniversary Update on their PC will no longer be able to use the Mp3 player or downloaded songs. Since windows 10 Anniversary Update (recent version) which removed the support for WMDRM tracks. This is the reason for the issue. Napster songs are all WMDRM protected songs.

Some of our customers already reported this issue. Microsoft removed the DRM and we cannot put it back.

We are working on a Windows 10 app that will instead allow download and offline playback.

In the meantime, to resolve this issue, we recommend you not to proceed with this Windows 10 Anniversary update.

If you have already installed the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, then please uninstall it as per the steps are given below:

Select Settings > Update and Security > Recovery and select the Go back option.

You can get the detailed information about the issue from the article given below :

https://help.napster.com/hc/en-us/articles/224373367-Cannot-Download-Play-Offline-or-Use-MP3-Players-with-Napster-PC-Client-after-Windows-10-Anniversary-Update

You can also follow the instructions given in this article to uninstall the Windows Anniversary update:

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/uninstall-windows-10-anniversary-update

Once you have reverted to windows OS version, you will be able to use your device.

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Thanks for the update–sad when Windows breaks functionality . . . . 

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This is an unacceptable response.  The only reason I maintain my Napster subscription is to put songs on my Sansa Clip device.  An appropriate response from SanDisk is, “Here’s what happened, here’s what we’re doing to solve it, here’s when we plan to have the fix: <enter date>.”  Instead, I am told to ROLL BACK my operating system updates for Windows 10.  Not a realistic solution short or long term.

The fact that the company has not seen fit to issue such a response tells me that they are not actually going to release a fix and that I can now discard my Napster subscription and my Sansa Clip and simply use my iOS device.

You’d think tech companies would have learned by now how to respond to issues such as these.  We all understand that they come up, but the opaque response with no tangible timeline to solution is amateurish at best.

After 10+ years, good bye.