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Napster introduces price cut to take on Spotify

Posted by David Walker on Thu 8 Oct 2009

Still unlikely to break Spotify's grip on the UK

Remember Napster? Of course you do, one the bad boys of music downloading, they went legit, offering unlimited streaming and the option to fill your MP3 players for a fixed monthly fee. But then Spotify came along and they melted into the background.

Until now that is, with Napster fighting back against the new boy with cut-price packages and free downloads. Specifically, that means unlimited streaming for £5 per month (at 128Kbps) and if that's not enough,  five DRM-free downloads without charge. If you're a regular download purchaser, it's tempting, especially with extra downloads charged at a modest 59p.

£5 is half of what Spotify charges for its Premium service, which doesn't include the monthly freebies. Yet the majority of Spotify users pay nothing, opting to go for the ad-laden service instead and those who do pay for Spotify have two big bonus features Napster cannot and will not match - offline playback and apps for both the iPhone and Android handsets.

Not that Napster is worried about the competition. Speaking to Cnet, a company spokesman claimed that 'ad-funded models have never worked in the past, and there's no reason to believe they will now'. The company also dismissed the iPhone as a 'niche product', so you can forget an app anytime soon.

So can Napster survive by ignoring apps and undercutting Spotify? Only time will tell. In the meantime, it's certainly worth considering if you love your digital tunes.

Link: Napster (via Crave)

 

 

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