No and I'm glad I wasn't. The Crystal Ball "fiasco" proved the gross incompetence and carelessness ordering from Prince.

homesquid said:

No and I'm glad I wasn't. The Crystal Ball "fiasco" proved the gross incompetence and carelessness ordering from Prince.

I find it incredible how unforgiving the community was (and still is) when it comes to Crystal Ball (which, BTW, had nothing to do with NPGMC, being 3 years earlier).

This was a first attempt for Prince (or any other major artist, for that matter) to sell material directly to fans online. Was it clumsy and unfortunate to have the CDs in stores before fans received them? Yes. Was it such a crime coming from a literally home handled operation? IDK. + Prince apparently tried to make up for it by sending some customers free t-shirts or copies of The War.

Now the anger regarding lotusflow3r.com I can understand. Prince had been dealing with websites and selling his material directly to fans for about 15 years, there had been several years of NPGMC to experiment and the technology had become easy to handle. He should and could easily have delivered. The way he handled this was a big "fuck you" to the fanbase. I was rather pissed myself. Even the anger towards NPGMC 2002's CDs eventually amounting to 3 comercially available CDs, one exclusive CD and one exclusive digital album I can understand given that something else had been promised (and how hard could it be? Worst case, we could have been given IDK, 8 digital albums to make-up for the fact that Prince may have realized it would be too costly to print physical CDs if that was his reason). I also was disappointed.

But Crystal Ball, IDK. Admitedly I wasn't concerned as I hadn't ordered it online and happily got it from my record store on the day of release, but it was an understandable slip-up for a first time experience IMHO.

Any you all remember your Screen names on the NPG Music Club website?

Mine was "SonofPrince" and my Band is going to try to play some of his music in our Set List this year.

Facebook.com/truefunk777

https://www.instagram.com/truefunk7

[Edited 2/21/25 21:31pm]

I enjoyed being a member. Sound checks and special concerts. Website (and the idea in general) was way ahead of its time. Plus, I received my tshirt!

luv2tha99s said:

Yes, fro day 1.

It was a very exciting time, on the edge of what technology could deliver. The Ahdio Shows (which we would now know as podcasts) would take 8 hours to download (all 60MB), or if I went into university, their superfast broadband could download it in 40 mins, which I would then have to transfer to a Zip drive.

Getting monthly releases was an amazing thing, along with the soundcheck and aftershow access.

Kares said:

olb99 said:

Yes. It was exciting and at the same time, we complained all the time, as usual.

.
We complained rightfully. Prepaying $100 for a second annual membership and then having the club shut down after 1-2 months without any refunds was not cool. Getting terrible quality and copyprotected wma and mp3 files wasn't cool. I understand the technical challenges his team faced but he made a lot of money on the service yet their database was on post-it notes...
.
The whole thing was being run extremely unprofessionally – although I respect the fact that he trusted and routinely gave opportunities to people with no relevant experience. This also led to a few positive fuckups, like getting 2 copies of Crystal Ball sets, 2 copies of Rave In2 and a couple of other extras. (Returning them would've been cost-prohibitive as I'm in Europe).

My recollection is that we got 320kbps mp3 files, which are pretty good quality for most uses (althouhg the Ahdio Shows were 128, presumably because the files were 'huge').

The second year ran it's full course and we received at least 4 CDs. The third year is when it went down to $25 and most of the goodies and exclusivity disappeared.

leecaldon said:

Kares said:

.
We complained rightfully. Prepaying $100 for a second annual membership and then having the club shut down after 1-2 months without any refunds was not cool. Getting terrible quality and copyprotected wma and mp3 files wasn't cool. I understand the technical challenges his team faced but he made a lot of money on the service yet their database was on post-it notes...
.
The whole thing was being run extremely unprofessionally – although I respect the fact that he trusted and routinely gave opportunities to people with no relevant experience. This also led to a few positive fuckups, like getting 2 copies of Crystal Ball sets, 2 copies of Rave In2 and a couple of other extras. (Returning them would've been cost-prohibitive as I'm in Europe).

My recollection is that we got 320kbps mp3 files, which are pretty good quality for most uses (althouhg the Ahdio Shows were 128, presumably because the files were 'huge').

The second year ran it's full course and we received at least 4 CDs. The third year is when it went down to $25 and most of the goodies and exclusivity disappeared.

I don't recall the files being as high as 320kbps, but they were reasonable quality for the time. There was a lot of seriously low quality digital files back then. The DRM on the WMAs was easy to remove.

For year 1, the NPG Ahdio Shows were 128-192 kbps and the individual tracks were 256 kbps. Nothing at 320 kbps. Weren't some early files re-released at higher bitrates when fans complained? Didn't we get some files at 96 kbps first?

[Edited 3/5/25 7:45am]

olb99 said:

For year 1, the NPG Ahdio Shows were 128-192 kbps and the individual tracks were 256 kbps. Nothing at 320 kbps. Weren't some early files re-released at higher bitrates when fans complained? Didn't we get some files at 96 kbps first?

[Edited 3/5/25 7:45am]

Ah yes, 256.

At some point there were files with DRM.

leecaldon said:

olb99 said:

For year 1, the NPG Ahdio Shows were 128-192 kbps and the individual tracks were 256 kbps. Nothing at 320 kbps. Weren't some early files re-released at higher bitrates when fans complained? Didn't we get some files at 96 kbps first?

[Edited 3/5/25 7:45am]

Ah yes, 256.

At some point there were files with DRM.

Just the basic Microsoft DRM on the WMAs - easily removed once you opened the file on Media Player

Details about the NPGMusicClub sites, downloads etc. can be found at PrinceVault:

https://princevault.com/i...ineLtd.com

Sam Jennings' Prince Online Museum is very informative:

https://princeonlinemuseum.com

Cool!

skywalker said:

I was. I loved it. The best part was early/easy access to the best seats at concerts. When I saw the Musicology tour I was in the first row for every show. It was well worth the membership....

I feel the same. It was the only time I was ever able to sit in the front row at a Prince show. Try getting front row seats to see anyone at Madison Square Garden now. Several hundred dollars a ticket if the bots don't snatch them up first.

IanRG said:

leecaldon said:

My recollection is that we got 320kbps mp3 files, which are pretty good quality for most uses (althouhg the Ahdio Shows were 128, presumably because the files were 'huge').

The second year ran it's full course and we received at least 4 CDs. The third year is when it went down to $25 and most of the goodies and exclusivity disappeared.

I don't recall the files being as high as 320kbps, but they were reasonable quality for the time. There was a lot of seriously low quality digital files back then. The DRM on the WMAs was easy to remove.

.
The low bps files were understandable at their time of first release (bandwidth was expensive back then), but it would've been nice to be able to order the same material on CD too, at least a couple of years later, for a modest fee for anyone who's been a club member before. But of course we know P never cared much about the availability of his back catalog, I guess he expected us to keep moving onto the next project as he did too.

Kares said:

IanRG said:

I don't recall the files being as high as 320kbps, but they were reasonable quality for the time. There was a lot of seriously low quality digital files back then. The DRM on the WMAs was easy to remove.

.
The low bps files were understandable at their time of first release (bandwidth was expensive back then), but it would've been nice to be able to order the same material on CD too, at least a couple of years later, for a modest fee for anyone who's been a club member before. But of course we know P never cared much about the availability of his back catalog, I guess he expected us to keep moving onto the next project as he did too.

Almost all of the tracks have subsequently been available in lossless (or close to lossless) formats. But it would be great to get the Ahdio Shows and videos in top quality.

yep same, was a great time to be a Prince fan!

FJODOR said:

Member from day 1 till it folded.
it was fun while it lasted.

I have fond memories of those days. The first year was so freaking great with the monthly downloads and Ahdio shows.

The choice seating at shows was also a nice perk in the later years. Saw Prince from the second row both nights of the Houston Musicology shows, and got to attend the small show in 2006 where he debuted Tamar. After his passing, I'm even more grateful to have had those experiences.

olb99 said:

Yes. It was exciting and at the same time, we complained all the time, as usual.

Well, at least it allowed me to shook Prince's hand at an afterparty. That was nice of him.

[Edited 2/12/25 7:30am]

Did NPG members get to sit/stand up front at afterparties?

TheTruth123 said:

olb99 said:

Yes. It was exciting and at the same time, we complained all the time, as usual.

Well, at least it allowed me to shook Prince's hand at an afterparty. That was nice of him.

[Edited 2/12/25 7:30am]

Did NPG members get to sit/stand up front at afterparties?

I think it was different at different aftershows, but I recall getting in for free (possibly +1) at the Marquee (now Islington Academy) aftershow in 2002.

I have very fond memories of the NPGMC. As someone who has mostly lived in Australia, I really felt connected to what was going on in Prince world properly for the first time, rather than being behind the times. I didn't even have a personal internet connection and downloaded all the content to zip discs at the local internet cafe whenever it would appear.

I remember it coming in at 50kbps and it would take hours, but time well spent.

I have great memories too...

It was amazing for concert tickets... like others on this thread, I got to see many soundchecks in venues with approx 2-300 hundred other lucky ppl.

Plus the best seats at most shows. It was a brilliant time to be a fan of Prince.

The web presence was always unpredictable, but it was interesting... so I look back with fondness and some incredible memories of that time.

It was an amazing window of opportunity, and well worth whatever it cost. Peanuts in today's crazy, inflated concert ticket rip off world.

T

langebleu said:

Details about the NPGMusicClub sites, downloads etc. can be found at PrinceVault:

https://princevault.com/i...ineLtd.com

Sam Jennings' Prince Online Museum is very informative:

https://princeonlinemuseum.com

The OP asked about the NPG Music Club, which is this site (2001-2006):

https://princevault.com/index.php?title=NPG_Music_Club_(Website)

Flickr album with screenshots from the final hours of the NPGMC site...maybe some of you other old-timers will see yourself in here!


https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjC8mN8#mce_temp_url#

Was this the same kind of letter he wrote to the Revolution???

CandaceS said:

Flickr album with screenshots from the final hours of the NPGMC site...maybe some of you other old-timers will see yourself in here!


https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjC8mN8#mce_temp_url#

Wow, That is really cool CandaceS