Word is that Napster is dumping their desktop client and relaunching with a fully web based client as part of an effort to broaden their reach. Customers will be able to listen to their music over the web on any computer after signing in. The new web client will make it possible to join a slew of other online music services in creating embeddable music widgets to push their product and become accessible on web enabled devices.
However, the desktop client is only part of what’s holding the company back. Napster is still a subscription-centered service, which keeps them incompatible with the leading digital music player, the iPod (not a good idea, say industry experts). Consequently Napster has lagged behind Apple’s end to end iTunes system which reportedly controls 70% of the digital music market.
But the company is holding out for a glimmer of hope. Amazon has already crossed the chasm into open digital downloads. Christopher Allen, chief operating officer at Napster, forecasts that by the end of next year these DRM free MP3s will become standard. So far, only Universal Music Group and EMI Group sell music DRM free. However, with labels loving the iPod but hating the revenue split, other labels are sure to follow.
In other music news, Ars Technica is expecting iTunes to lower the price of DRM-free songs to $0.99. That’s still $0.10 more per song than Amazon is charging. Note our recently article on the inevitable march of recorded music towards free.
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Accessibility on Web Enabled devices is the future of this business model
Consumers are going to demand access on mobile devices
Big change in how the music industry works are on the cards!!!
ipods are mobile devices. Stop harping on with the stupid idea of cellular streaming, the engines (network) cannae take it.
Question: we all know who Napster is, but who the hell is still using it? It’s so 1998. No?
It will never be like to original Napster - the best app I ever used.
Napster is great. My other favorites include Lycos (for searching - when hotbot doesn’t give me what I want), AOL (for chat), Geocities (for my web site), and “I kiss you” or the dancing baby when I need a good laugh.
To the client: Good Riddance! If Napster can offer value adds like ability to stream from any computer, or perhaps to download again at any time, then they could get back into the game.
I still can’t believe Roxio bought them and then sold off their (probably profitable) burning software business.
Interesting news, thanks TC. Also, you might enjoy my roundup of 5 alternative models for selling music.
Actually, the windows client is not going away. I am a Napster customer and just downloaded the new client. Here is a better article explaining the changes.
http://money.cnn.com/news/news.....315689.htm
Quote:
“The Napster 4.0 client user interface mirrors the web-based service. PC-based subscribers can use the client to manage their music collection, rip and burn CDs and transfer tracks to a compatible portable device. “
It will be interesting to see how this stacks up with grooveshark
I hope the performance is not affected….but I am sure it won’t be like the original Napster
http://vidsonly.blogspot.com
Actually Amazon charges 89 cents for ONLY some of their tracks with many costing 99 cents or even more for longer tracks. But no big deal as it is NOT all about cost as some think, it is about convenience and the user experience.