LA (Billboard) - Although Napster promises to deploy a fee-based system for trading and downloading music files in the near future, the majority of online music fans won't be there to support it, according to a recently completed Billboard.com poll. An overwhelming 65% of 8,520 voters believe that Napster has become irrelevant, and that there are other places on the Internet to trade music. An additional 15% said they didn't bother with Napster in the past, so the relaunch of the site with a paid subscription plan won't affect them in the future. Just 10% of respondents believe spending a few dollars to get music via Napster will save them money versus CD purchases. Another 9% are happy that the new Napster will compensate artists, and view paying a small fee for access to the music as a fair deal.
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