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Napster takes DRM-free fight to iTunes, but no Safari

Tue, 05/20/2008 - 03:40 — Andy Space

 We’ve been watching Napster’s decline for some time, but now the company is fighting back with the introduction of a new download service that takes the market wars to Apple - because it’s made a move to drop DRM..

Napster has announced that all six million tracks it sells through its music service will from now on be available in DRM-free MP3 format, (256kbps bitrate). This means each 99-cents track will play on any device, including Macs, iPods and the iPhone.

What’s also significant here is that all the major labels have signed up to offer their catalogue through the Napster DRM-free service: EMI, Universal, Warners, and Sony BMG have all agreed to sell tracks free of rights-restriction. Having the majors on board means Napster is declaring that its service offers 50 per cent more DRM-free tracks than any other music service. And it’s an aggressive kick at Apple’s iTunes marketshare, where only EMI has so far agreed to sell music DRM-free.

"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," said Napster's chairman and CEO Chris Gorog.

UPDATE TO ADD: What's pretty sad about the company's anti-iTunes attempt is that Napster has failed in one essential element: its online music store is incompatible with Apple's Safari web browser....go figure... 

 

 

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Comments

unbelievable

Tue, 05/20/2008 - 04:28 — Jonny8 (not verified)

It's unbelievable,

apple has always been pushing for DRM free and who get's it first? Amazon and then Napster!
Napster?
They were like the arch rival to the music industry, apple has always been good to them, as far as I know.
And now they offer their music through Napster for 99 cent, what they claim is to cheao in itunes??

I don't get it!

Clearly the music industry

Tue, 05/20/2008 - 05:58 — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)

Clearly the music industry is attempting a bait-and-switch. Convince the music-buying public that iTunes with DRM has a lot less value than Amazon, Napster, etc.

Once iTunes takes a major hit, knocking it out of the "king of music retailers" position, require DRM for ALL sellers, with no exceptions.

This will effectively reduce the value of music offerings for all users. While they're at it, the labels will raise the price of ALL tracks, as only iTunes is capable of keeping prices down... none of the other retailers have enough market clout to negotiate good pricing deals with the labels.

Why else wouldn't the labels sell non-DRM on all tracks for iTunes?

Apple should sue the music

Tue, 05/20/2008 - 07:49 — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)

Apple should sue the music industry. There could be collusion. I'm not a lawyer but something stinks about these deals with Napster and Amazon.

Safari not incompatible

Tue, 05/20/2008 - 08:55 — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)

Under Safari>Preferences>Advanced>check the box for "Show Develop menu in menu bar". then go Develop>User Agent>Firefox. napster will then work. Not that I will buy anything from there, but you can get it to work. :)

collusion

Tue, 05/20/2008 - 10:24 — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)

I agree with 15:49. Apple is probably biding its time for renegotiation with the music labels, then it will say "give us DRM-free tracks", labels say "no" and Apple hits them with a $2 Billion lawsuit for anti-trust and collusion for the restriction of fair competition. It will be a huge event in september. You can quote me on that!

Mad-elph

Doesn't with iPods?

Tue, 05/20/2008 - 11:44 — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)

14. Does Napster work with iPod?
Napster would like to work with your iPod, but Apple has chosen to keep both the iPod and iTunes closed off from Napster and every other digital music service. Napster's philosophy is different. A Napster subscription gives you more ways to discover and enjoy music on more players. For a list of Napster-compatible players, click here.

http://napster.co.uk/faq.html

That's an interesting line

Wed, 05/21/2008 - 01:10 — Mr Lizard (not verified)

That's an interesting line from their FAQ. If they had bothered to check, they would notice that the iPod plays mp3s just fine, so it's not closed off at all.

It doesn't work the other way round though- DRM songs bought from iTunes won't play on a non-Apple device. (iTunes Plus songs will, providing the device plays AAC files)

"Napster would like to work

Wed, 05/21/2008 - 01:45 — Nick (not verified)

"Napster would like to work with your iPod, but Apple has chosen to keep both the iPod and iTunes closed off from Napster and every other digital music service"

Translation:

Napster would like Apple to make PlayFair DRM available to them although Apple have the trouble and expense of maintaining it, because of the contractual obligation Apple have with the labels to fix it in a pretty short span any time it's broken.

Stop whining, Napster, and just sell music *without* DRM. ... Oh, you have? So stop the whining.

Pathetic. And what kind of stupid gesture is it to shut out my browser? Is that supposed to be some kind of poke at Apple?

No thanks, Napster, I'm not buying: not when there are CDs, the iTunes store, Magnatune, Deutsche Grammophon, Linn Records, Chandos, and several other other outlets that insult my intelligence with their lying excuses or shut my software out.

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