Napster Making A Come Back With New $5/mo Service

Napster might best be known for their years of running a peer to peer file sharing service that was eventually shut down due to massive copyright violations. However the new company has been working for years to shed the stigma associated with their sorted past.

Starting today, the new Napster which was bought by Best Buy last year, will unleash its new $5 per month deal that will provide subscribers with unlimited on-demand streaming access to Napster's full library of music packed with more than 7 million tracks from several major and independent publishers. Along with the stream audio service subscribers will also be allowed to download and keep up to five unrestricted "CD quality" MP3 tracks each month from Best Buy's music service.

There are a few strings attached that really drag the deal down. Mainly there is the fact that those 5 monthly downloadable tracks are going to be DRM'ed unlike the MP3 downloads, and you can only listen to those tracks on your desktop PC. Not wanting to give up on Napster Mobile they are disallowing users to move those free tracks to a portable device. Instead limiting that ability to Napster Mobile subsections only.

For more details on the new service you can checkout the full press release below:

Napster Unveils Latest Digital Music Service

Napster Offers MP3s With its Popular On-Demand Streaming Service for One Low Monthly Price

LOS ANGELES – MAY 19, 2009 – Napster, the pioneer of digital music, today unveiled its latest music offering combining the freedom of MP3s with the discovery benefits of a high-quality streaming music service – all for one low price. For as little as $5 per month, Napster users get five unrestricted MP3 downloads, and unlimited access to Napster's award-winning on-demand music streaming service.

Music fans now have the best of both worlds: MP3s to keep forever, play, transfer and burn as much as they like, as well as unlimited music listening from Napster's catalog of more than seven million tracks. "There's no need to settle for 30-second clips to decide if you want to buy a song," said Chris Gorog, CEO of Napster. "For five bucks now you can have access to our entire music catalog and get five MP3s to add to your permanent collection."

Napster users can now:

• Get five MP3s each month to download, with their choice of songs from the Napster MP3 library that covers all types of music from all the major labels and includes the largest catalog of independent artists available.
• Listen to any track, as often as they like, in CD quality from Napster's catalog of more than seven million songs.
• Choose from more than 60 commercial-free radio stations and more than 1,400 expertly programmed playlists.
• Discover new music and artists through personalized recommendation tools.
• Enjoy the top hits from more than 50 years of Billboard charts. Want to know what was popular when you graduated high school? Now you can.
• Play MP3s on any MP3 player, including iPod®, iPhone® and music-enabled MP3 mobile phones.

"A decade ago, Napster revolutionized the way people discovered and enjoyed music," said Julie Owen, senior vice president of entertainment for Best Buy. "The brand that started it all is shaking things up again with this new service that provides music lovers continued access to the entertainment experience they've come to expect of Napster and Best Buy."

The new Napster offering is now available for U.S. residents at www.napster.com.