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Napster to reenter net music { October 10 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.newsday.com/business/printedition/ny-bznap103489196oct10,0,1878771.story?coll=ny-business-printhttp://www.newsday.com/business/printedition/ny-bznap103489196oct10,0,1878771.story?coll=ny-business-print
Napster to Re-enter Net Music Fray
By Richard J. Dalton Jr
STAFF WRITER
October 10, 2003
Online music stores will apparently compete on content, not price, as Napster unveiled a legal version of the service yesterday with more songs than any other legitimate online music service but with similar fees.
Napster 2.0 will sell songs for 99 cents and albums for $9.95 at www.napster.com. The service, unveiled yesterday for the news media, will be available Oct. 29.
Napster, owned by software maker Roxio Inc., will offer a half-million songs from five major record labels and hundreds of independent labels. Customers will be able to copy songs to a CD or music player, and customize playlists from 40 commercial-free online radio stations and watch music videos.
Michael Olson, a research associate with U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, whose equity research group follows Roxio's stock, said Napster's interface seemed easy. "To me, it's very similar to [Apple's] iTunes," he said. "I really think they did it right."
In addition to iTunes, whose customers downloaded 6.5 million songs in its first 11 weeks, competitors include RealNetwork's Rhapsody and MusicMatch, with more rivals on the way. Current competitors have 350,000 songs or fewer.
In its heyday, Napster, created by 18-year-old college student Shawn Fanning in his uncle's office, attracted 60 million users at its peak who shared copyrighted songs for free, transforming the music industry. A court shut it down for copyright infringement in 2001.
Fans of free music services spawned by Napster say it will be tough to switch them to paying customers.
But Napster will draw customers because of its ease of use, name recognition and breadth of music offerings, said Michael Bebel, president and chief operating officer of Napster, in an interview before the launch. "The key element here is it's the most comprehensive," he said.
Napster will offer decades of Billboard music charts and emulate the online community that made its predecessor so popular, Bebel said.
Napster also offers a $9.95-a-month premium service for listening to an unlimited number of full-length songs on the PC without copying them to CDs or music players.
Roxio is moving customers of its online music store PressPlay to the Napster service. Roxio's shares closed yesterday at $10.27, down 71 cents, after rising for months.
Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.
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