Napster returns on Oct. 9

LOS ANGELES: Napster, the pioneering song-swap service that was shut down for copyright infringement, is coming back next week to face the music as a paid site in a vastly changed online music arena.

Digital media company Roxio Inc. , which bought Napster for $5 million last year, plans an Oct. 9 test launch for a new, legal version of the service called Napster 2.0, according to Napster spokesman Seth Oster.

Oster said the company also will unveil full details and the official launch date for Napster 2.0 at the service's "beta," or test, launch event in New York City, next Thursday, where over 200 members of the press and industry are invited.

A major recording artist will be featured at the event.

In the past Roxio had said Napster 2.0 would launch by Christmas, but sources familiar with the matter said the new Web site will be online and running no later than November.

Roxio bought the Napster assets in November 2002 touting the strength of the once popular brand name.

The strategy seems to be paying off as Roxio's stock has risen nearly four-fold from a low of $2.29 in late October last year to more than $9 currently. Roxio shares ended trading up 6.57 percent, or 57 cents, at $9.25 on the Nasdaq on Wednesday in a generally positive day for media stocks.

But while Napster commanded over 60 million users in its heyday before being idled for promoting unauthorized copying and free swapping of music, it now has to compete with a growing number of legitimate entrants to the online market as well as several renegade but popular swap sites like Kazaa that have sprung up in its wake.

Oster said Napster was confident it will be the strongest music service available by matching brand awareness with a superior product offering.

This past summer, Napster said it would be the only music Web site to offer consumers a choice between an a la carte download model or a premium subscription service.

Napster also will debut with a catalog of more than 500,000 songs, more than any other service to date.

By contrast, Apple Computer Inc's AAPL.O widely-touted iTunes music store offers Macintosh users the right to unlimited downloading only and plans to make the services functional on Windows-based competitors by the end of the year.

RealNetworks' RNWK.O Rhapsody is a subscription service which offers 79 cent downloads to subscribers, while BuyMusic.com launched its own music store in July and MusicMatch launched a download service earlier this week.

A few weeks ago, Napster and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd 05930.KS jointly announced they would offer a new digital audio player that will work seamlessly with Napster 2.0.

And on Tuesday, Napster and Microsoft Corp. announced a specially designed Napster 2.0 interface, which will be included on Microsoft's new media center product.

© Reuters