LOS ANGELES (Napster PR) - Napster, the biggest brand in digital music, announced today the consumer release of its groundbreaking Napster To Go technology and the unveiling of the new Napster 3.0. Napster To Go, the world's first portable subscription service, lets consumers move an unlimited amount of songs from Napster's million plus catalog to compatible MP3 players for one, low monthly fee of $14.95.
Napster To Go marks the most significant milestone to date in the rapidly-growing digital music industry and makes costly download-only stores seem antiquated by comparison. The release will be accompanied by a major $30 million marketing campaign supported by strategic alliances with leading consumer electronics manufacturers Creative, Dell and iriver.
"Napster To Go provides infinitely greater value and is much more exciting than the iTunes pay-per-download model," said Chris Gorog, Napster's chairman and CEO. "This is what consumers want and Napster is once again proud to lead the industry by being the first in the world to offer this revolutionary new way to enjoy music."
A fully-integrated marketing program will support the release of Napster To Go, led by a currently-under-wraps February 6, 2005 Super Bowl television advertisement. This will be complemented by the new "Works with Napster To Go" logo program that enables consumers to easily identify Napster To Go compatible MP3 players at retail. Napster's initiatives will feature the Creative Zen Micro, the Dell Pocket DJ and iriver's H10 MP3 players in retail and direct programs as well as prominent placement in its advertising. All three manufacturers are participating in the "Works with Napster To Go" logo program and will include a free one-month Napster To Go trial subscription bundled with each device purchase.
"The combination of a subscription service like Napster To Go and one of Creative's portable music players, like the award-winning Zen Micro, opens up a whole new paradigm for music discovery," said Mark Adams, vice president of sales and marketing for Creative. "It's so much fun to go through the Napster catalog of over a million songs and fill up your Zen Micro. You can mix tunes from favorite artists, albums, or choose some completely new music - it's like being your own personal DJ."
"Offering our customers the greatest freedom in choosing online music services was fundamental in designing the award-winning H10 5GB player," said Jonathan Sasse, president of iriver America. "By supporting the innovative Napster To Go service, we are confident that our customers will see real value in Napster's music subscription service."
The robust marketplace of MP3 players ensures music lovers have a wealth of choices with which to enjoy the excitement, flexibility and value of Napster To Go. Napster's long-term relationship with Best Buy, the largest electronics retailer in the U.S., will provide expanded in-store support of Napster To Go and many of the Works with Napster To Go-tagged devices. Beginning Sunday, Feb. 6, the Creative Zen Micro, Gateway MP3 Photo Jukebox, iriver H10, and the Creative, iriver, and Samsung Portable Media Centers will all be Napster To Go compatible. The Samsung YH-920 will require firmware upgrades scheduled for release within the next few weeks, as will the Dell Pocket DJ, which will be available direct from Dell at https://www.dell.com.
"Napster to go is an exciting new product that will help our customers to really start understanding the full benefits of digital music," said Scott Young, vice president of digital entertainment for Best Buy. "We've worked hard to educate consumers about digital music and the benefits of subscription services. Being able to take the music with you on a portable player should help take the popularity of subscription services to the next level."
Napster 3.0 also builds on the service's award winning community features and includes new offerings such as Playlists To Go, which allows fans to transfer ready-made play lists of up to 50 songs to a device with one click of the mouse. Napster's hundreds of thousands of subscribers continue to enjoy unlimited listening to full-length songs from the largest digital music catalog in the world, as well as interactive, commercial-free radio stations, six decades of Billboard chart information and a host of other features.
Napster To Go became available in preview mode to users of the Windows Media Player 10 in September, 2004. For non-subscription members, Napster also offers the Napster Light a la carte download store.
