Second coming of Napster, iTunes for Windows.
[link|http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5088838.html|http://news.com.com/...27_3-5088838.html]
A brand-new Napster unveiled its digital face Thursday morning, a year after the once-proud file-swapping service was sold in pieces in bankruptcy court.
The new digital music service, owned by CD- and DVD-burning software company Roxio, bears little resemblance to the original anarchic Napster. In its place is something like a cross between Apple Computer's iTunes download store and the Pressplay monthly digital music subscription service Roxio purchased not long after buying the Napster name for about $5 million in court.
Like an increasing number of rival digital song stores, the new Napster will offer 99-cent downloads of single tunes to anyone who downloads the free software. People also can pay about $10 a month to listen to an unlimited numbers of streams and downloads, although subscribers will be more limited in what they can do with those downloaded songs.
Roxio is betting that the Napster brand name and the familiar earphone-wearing kitty logo will be enough to win back people's attention, followed quickly by their wallets. Analysts say the company is likely to get a quick look from many nostalgic online music lovers, but building that initial curiosity into a profitable business will be a long-term task.
Roxio bought out the corpse of Napster and turned it into an iTunes like service. 99 cents a song, $10USD a month for unlimited downloads.
Also Apple announces next week's launch of iTunes for Windows:
[link|http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5088849.html|http://news.com.com/...27_3-5088849.html]
Apple Computer is expected next week to expand its online music service to Windows-based computers.
The Mac maker has scheduled an event for next Thursday at San Francisco's Moscone West convention hall. "The year's biggest music story is about to get even bigger," Apple said in an invitation to journalists.
The company is expected to launch the long-awaited Windows version of the iTunes Music Store at the event, according to Wall Street brokerage Needham. Apple earlier said it would release the Windows service sometime before the end of the year.
Although Apple popularized the pay-per-song store idea when it launched the Macintosh version of the service in April, the market is quickly becoming crowded. Musicmatch has launched a similar service and is expected to partner with direct PC giant Dell. Roxio announced its Napster 2.0 service on Thursday, with PC seller Gateway among its partners. Others, such as Yahoo and Amazon.com, are seen as likely players, while more PC makers, including Hewlett-Packard, are expected to partner with one service or another.
About time a Windows client is about to be released, Apple can reach more people this way.
Looks like the pay-per-song business is going to do very well. Proof that file sharing, if done right, can work to the music industry's benefits.