“Napster Inc. said on Tuesday it launched an online song distribution site in Japan, challenging Apple Computer Inc. and popular music phones,” Reuters reports.
“Napster Japan, a joint venture between America’s Napster and Tower Records Japan Inc., will introduce a service that lets members listen to and download an unlimited number of songs from its database of 1.5 million selections for 1,980 yen ($16.80) a month. Users will also be able to transfer music to compatible music players,” Reuters reports.
“About 90 percent of Napster Japan’s lineup is music from outside Japan… Napster Japan targets 1 million subscribers in three years. The site also lets consumers buy songs without subscribing. The companies expect about 1 million individual downloads a month by around March,” Reuters reports.
Reuters reports, “Napster’s challenge in Japan, along with other online music sites like Apple’s iTunes music store, is to expand in a market where more people download music directly onto mobile phones than to personal computers. KDDI Corp., the country’s No. 2 phone company, leads the market for wireless music download… NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan’s No. 1 mobile operator, offers a phone model that is compatible with the Napster service, he said, and it plans to make more phones that are Napster-compatible.”
Full article here.
Yawn. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Maybe Tower Records Japan, Inc. will end up buying beleaguered Napster since nobody else seems to want it or even want to work with it.
Related articles:
Beleaguered Napster hires UBS to evaluate possible company sale – September 18, 2006
Beleaguered Napster circles bowl, subscribers drop 7 percent, Gorog won’t rule out sale of company – August 03, 2006
Free, legal and ignored: Mac- and iPod-incompatible beleaguered Napster dying at colleges – July 06, 2006Napster CEO Gorog blames Microsoft for failure to compete with Apple’s iTunes Music Store – March 01, 2006
Napster CEO Chris Gorog has ‘secret plan’ to help beleaguered company become profitable – February 09, 2006
Google: no interest in Napster, no plans to develop music store at this time – January 31, 2006
Napster does the math: layoffs commence with 10-percent of workforce lopped off – January 25, 2006
EMI Music Chairman: Music subscription services like Napster and Rhapsody haven’t beeen huge – January 23, 2006
Napster CEO Gorog: ‘we are extremely excited about the future’ – January 18, 2006
Report: Napster executives do the math, consider selling or shutting down, layoffs imminent – January 16, 2006
Napster CEO Gorog: Apple iPod is a ‘villain’ – December 12, 2005
Do the math: Napster posts $13.6 million second-quarter loss – November 02, 2005
Napster President: Apple CEO Steve Jobs has ‘tricked people into buying a hardware trap’ – August 22, 2005
Apple’s roadkill whine in unison: ‘incompatibility is slowing growth of digital music’ – August 12, 2005
Napster: the only thing missing is the sock puppet – August 04, 2005
Napster, other Windows Media-based music services ‘chasing a niche opportunity’ – June 29, 2005
SmartMoney: Napster is a snooze, gushing money and renting music is un-American anyway – July 06, 2005
Napster To Go Soon? Reports $24.3 million net loss on $17.4 million net revenue – May 11, 2005
Napster is a joke – April 05, 2005
Napster CEO Gorog: Steve Jobs ‘must be pretty frightened’ of Napster To Go – March 14, 2005
Napster’s math does not add up – February 28, 2005
Users thwart Napster To Go’s copy protection; do the music labels realize the piracy potential? – February 15, 2005
Napster CEO Gorog: ‘it’s stupid to buy an iPod’ – February 10, 2005
$10,000 to fill an iPod? Napster’s going to end up with egg on their face – February 04, 2005
Why ‘Napster To Go’ will flop – February 03, 2005
Napster CEO: We’re ‘the biggest brand in digital music, much more exciting than Apple’s iTunes’ – February 03, 2005
The de facto standard for legal digital online music files: Apple’s protected MPEG-4 Audio (.m4p) – December 15, 2004
Napster CEO: ‘it would be great’ if Apple iPod supported WMA – March 09, 2004
Napster CEO: Apple iTunes, iPod ‘consumer-unfriendly experiences’ – March 09, 2004
Napster 2.0 posts US$15 million relaunch loss – February 08, 2004
Apple iPod, iTunes Music Store absolutely rule Japan’s digital-music player market – February 24, 2006
Japan Today: Apple iPod+iTunes exposes ‘lame-ass efforts’ of Japanese competitors – November 20, 2005
Apple iPod & iTunes Music Store both number one in Japan; iPod market share nears 60-percent – November 16, 2005
Apple’s iTunes Music Store takes just four days to become Japan’s undisputed online music leader – August 08, 2005
Apple’s Japan iTunes Music Store sells one million songs in first four days – August 07, 2005