Napster to offer lower rates, free downloads
On the evening of May 18, the online music service Napster (a subsidiary of Best Buy) intends to drop the price of its least-expensive subscription music plan from $12.95 down to $5. The low-cost subscription plan allows users unrestricted streaming from a catalog of over 7 million songs, as well as a new offering of five DRM-free MP3 downloads per month. Although Napster's music service has an international reach, the new subscription plan is currently available only to U.S. customers.
Napster will continue to offer a $14.95 premium plan for users who wish to take subscription content with them on portable devices (although, the service is still not supported on iPods). It is unclear, at this point, whether premium subscribers will also have access to the five free MP3 downloads offered with the $5 plan.
Microsoft's Zune Pass music service adopted a similar subscription model in November of 2008, offering unlimited subscription tracks and 10 free MP3 downloads for a monthly fee of $15. Rhapsody, the most significant subscription music competitor of both Zune and Napster, has yet to announce any tweaks to its pricing model (a $13 basic plan, $15 for portable device support). Time will tell if the demand for Napster's low-cost subscription plan will pressure both Microsoft and Rhapsody into repackaging their subscription plans, as well.
Donald Bell is CNET Reviews' senior editor for MP3 players and portable audio, and one half of the MP3 Insider blog and weekly podcast. He also likes getting his hands dirty with digital audio tools for musicians and DJs.
Donald Bell is an electronic musician, a veteran record store employee, and a fearless hardware hacker. He's also CNET's Senior Editor for MP3 and digital audio.
Jasmine France is CNET's resident digital audio doyenne, writing and editing product reviews, crave blogs, and feature stories on all things MP3. And if you need advice on headphones, she's your girl.
but the point is the DRM-protected subscription music, big names would never return our full user rights,
That's why DRM removal software has potential market, I use Aimersoft music converter to cope with the iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, Zune Pass DRM-protected music.
http://www.all-media-converter.com/music-converter.html#136
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by mjrei1
May 19, 2009 11:44 AM PDT
- Napster (my personal choice for the past 4 years) is hitting a home run in my book with this change! Who'd have thought that being bought by Best Buy would result in this kind of gift to the Napster faithful?
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by bleu_tropix
May 19, 2009 10:04 PM PDT
- Napster-To-Go has also been my first and only choice since 2005 and I haven't felt the need to look elsewhere for all-you-can-eat subscription downloads. I just hope they transfer that 5 downloads per month privilege to those of us paying $14.95...it's only seems logical.
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(6 Comments)Napster has been so user-friendly and has always been nearly toe to toe with itunes for selection that the new changes can only bring more people "back" to Napster. All in all, with mp3 downloads vs. dmr wma downloads and now the $5 subscription fee, is there any reason not to make Napster your music choice?