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| Friday, February 04, 2005 |
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Napster taking on Apple's hot iTunes
By PHYLLIS FURMAN
Napster is back - and ready to take on Apple's super popular iTunes music store.
The once rogue file sharing service unveiled a legit digital music emporium yesterday that will let fans download all the songs they want for a monthly subscription fee of $14.95.
Napster thinks it can make a dent in the seemingly unstoppable iTunes, which now controls 70% of the digital music market.
Since its launch, iTunes has sold more than 250 million songs. The Apple service charges 99 cents per song.
But Napster thinks its all-that-you-want, flat monthly fee is a better deal, though its customers can't make permanent copies of their songs. On iTunes you can make permanent copies.
The new Napster To Go will get a $30 million marketing push starting this Sunday with an ad on the Super Bowl.
The commercial will tell music fans to "Do the Math," pointing out that they can either pay $15 a month for 10,000 songs on Napster or shell out $10,000 for 10,000 songs from iTunes.
"Napster To Go provides infinitely greater value and is much more exciting than iTunes pay-per-download model," said Napster chairman Chris Gorog. "This is what consumers want."
Napster will let shoppers know which MP3 players are compatible with its digital store by stamping its logo on those products.
The service will work with portable music players from Creative Technology, Dell and iRiver, but not Apple's own super-selling iPods.
Napster's entry into the market comes as the digital music market is heating up in a big way.
Others are planning to jump in with similar services, including RealNetworks and Virgin Digital.
Music retailer Trans World Entertainment recently launched its own $15-a-month portable subscription service in partnership with MusicNet.
But Napster won't be the only online music store at the Super Bowl.
Apple has partnered with Pepsi for a big promotion.
They will have two commercials pitching a bottle cap contest that will offer 200 million free songs from iTunes and 1,700 free iPod mini players.
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| posted by Perimbean @ 8:00 AM |
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