Napster now offers 6 million DRM-free MP3s - All four major labels
By Dave Parrack
Napster may have started as a service offering users the opportunity to share songs and albums illegally over the Internet, but today, almost six years since the original site was shut down, a new Napster has today announced it now offers 6 million DRM-free MP3s, including content from all four of the major record labels.
Shawn Fanning was the guy who started Napster while a college student. The site then went on to become the number one community for illegal file sharing back in the year 2000. But it consequently became the number one target for the RIAA and it’s supporters who managed to get the site shut down in July 2001.
But it bounced back in a new form, with the name and logo being retained but the service becoming a legitimate business selling songs and albums with the money being given to the copyright owners. The service has struggled to regain it’s former glory in this new guise though, with Apple iTunes, along with Wal-Mart and Amazon all doing much better business.
That could all change from here on in though, as Napster has today announced that the whole of its library of six million songs is now available in MP3 format, with no DRM protection attached. What’s more, that includes not only a host of independent record labels, but the big four of EMI, Universal, Warner Bros., and Sony BMG.
Napster’s download store is now 50% larger than any of it’s rivals in terms of MP3s, a fact which will surely worry Apple, Amazon, Wal-Mart and eMusic. The removal of any DRM limitations now means that every song or album file downloaded from Napster will work on virtually any MP3 player, including the iPod and iPhone. Wow, Apple must be sick.
Napster’s Chairman and CEO Chris Gorog said in an official statement:
“Music fans have spoken and it’s clear they need the convenience, ease of use and broad interoperability of the DRM-free MP3 format, and they want to be able to find both major label artists and independent music all in one place. Napster is delighted to deliver all of this and more with the world’s largest MP3 catalog,”
“Our new MP3 store, together with our award-winning ‘all you can eat’ music subscription service, provides the most comprehensive and exciting music experience available. Virtually any portable device in the world can now be used to enjoy tracks purchased at Napster, which is an important breakthrough for our company.”
Every track is now available at the standard rate of 99 cents, with albums costing $9.95. The majority of the content is also now available in high-quality 256kbps bit rate, and come complete with high resolution artwork.
This is a good day for people who want the ability to purchase music legally online, as virtually every song you could ever want to own is now available in one place and without restrictive DRM. While however, I can’t see it making those people who continue to flout the law by sharing music online illegally suddenly go legit, it does at least show the music industry is waking up to the idea of offering it’s wares for a fair price on the Internet.
As to why Apple couldn’t secure such a deal first for it’s iTunes service, Opal looks in to that in-depth over at MAC.BLORGE.
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May 20th, 2008
Steve Jobs and Apple have long and repeatedly advocated DRM-free music, but the music industry imposed DRM on Apple out of greed.
Now they are selling DRM-free music to Apple’s competitors, while requiring Apple to keep DRM, handicapping Apple, because of industry resentment at iTunes success.
If they are going to sell music, they should sell the same product, available to everyone…and stop discriminating against Apple. It is an unfair business practice, anti-consumer, and Apple should sue.