GristyMcFisty reports that almost a
year after Roxio Inc. took over Napster, the pioneer of file-swapping
software, an online music store has debuted today bearing the familiar brand name. The 'Napter 2.0
store', which is currently only available to a limited public, is
a follow up of Roxio's former online music service Pressplay:
 The service will launch with more than a half-million songs from
all the major music labels and offer both individual song and album
downloads as well as a subscription service. Pressplay, which went
off-line Tuesday, only offered access to songs for a monthly fee.
Like other music download retail sites,
Napster 2.0 will incorporate some usage restrictions, but officials at
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Roxio downplayed their effect.
 "Ninety-nine percent or more of our Napster users will never bump
their heads against any usage rules," Chris Gorog, Roxio's chairman and
chief executive, told The Associated Press Wednesday. "They're going to be
in an environment where everything costs the same, where every song that
they select they can burn to a CD or offload to their device, they can do
it multiple times and they won't even know what the usage rules are
because they are so flexible."
Roxio is betting the Napster brand
will help set its service apart from a bevy of other digital music
retailers that have launched since Apple Computer Inc. introduced its
iTunes Music Store in April. |
According to the article the Napster 2.0 service will be availble to
the general public within a month. Napster 2.0 users can expect prices to be in line with what other
services charge, which is about US$ 1 per song and about US$ 10 for full albums
or monthly subscription.
Source: Yahoo! News
