“Piper Jaffray reiterated an ‘outperform’ rating and $14 target price on Napster, saying the company is in a strong runner-up position to iTunes from Apple Computer in the online music services sector,” Forbes reports.
“The research firm recently surveyed teens on digital audio downloading. Napster usage was cited by 9% of teens, while 59% of students have used iTunes… Piper said 79% of those surveyed indicated an awareness that Napster is back as a ‘legal’ online music service, up from 65% in the fall of 2004. Illegal file-sharing services are still popular among teens, according to the research firm, with 80% of students who download music indicating that their source of content is a peer-to-peer network, with only 20% using legitimate online music services,” Forbes reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s online music service has nearly 60% usage vs. Napster’s 9% and that’s considered “a strong runner-up position?” Sounds like a distant second to us. The report also found that Napster is followed by MusicMatch with 4% and Real with 3%. The survey also found that 70% of the respondents who were going to buy a device in the next 12 months said that they were interested in purchasing Apple iPods (which work with Apple’s iTunes Music Store, but do not work with Napster) followed by 15% who plan to buy a Sony player.
And Napster’s take is that at 9% they are in second place, while Apple at 59% is next to last….a sentiment echoed by the know-nothing analysts.
It’s going to be a long and hard uphill battle for Napster. Apple makes the player and the software, plus they are great at doing so.
DOOM! DOOM! APPLE AND iTUNES ARE DOOMED! FLEE TO NAPSTER!
<cough, cough>
There. Now that I’m back in reality, seeing that all the hoo-ha that accompanied MusicMatch led to a big fat thud, Napster’s hype rings with equal hollowness. No one has the glamor of Apple right now and it doesn’t seem as if anyone can manufacture it.
Hey – What ever happened to BUYMUSIC.COM ?
What a joke that turned out to be… not even mentioned anymore.
AND of the 9 percent who have used Napster, 98 percent had only signed up for the free two week trial. Otherwise known as “All you can steal”.
It’s funny. Apple fanatics are always complaining about how the Windows world touts that the Macs are so inconsequential and that a 3% martketshare is no threat. Yet most of us are doing the exact same thing with iPod and iTunes competitors.
Yeah 59% is a big lead, but Napsters 9% is nothing to scoff at. Their “to-go” service is still very new and growing fast.
Never underestimate the competition. Leave it to Microsoft to do that.
“There are no points for second place”
–> Iceman, Top Gun
Reminds me of the old joke where one guy is bragging that he came in second place in a race and the other guy placed second to last. He just neglects to mention there were only two people in the race.
Well then I guess Apple must be a like a joke because they are a VERY distant second to Microsoft.
Right on, Hypocrites.
What will the Napster/WMA-loving community say/do if/when Apple offers a subscription service with the next iteration of ITMS/iTunes? Huh?
The Stockholm Syndrome is undeniably in effect when it comes to the predominant OS on the world’s computers (Windoze); that battle is, sadly, over.
But the NEW Battle of the 21st Century–easy, affordable access to the world’s entertainment media–has just begun, and Apple’s advantage is, happily, insurmountable!
“Well then I guess Apple must be a like a joke because they are a VERY distant second to Microsoft.”
Except the race being referred to there is as a doorstop for offices and POS terminals … hardly a creative race … OS X wins hands down as the top operating system when usability and design is considered. (VMS coming a close second … 😎 )
Misery has company (MW) as in there a lot of miserable Windows users out there! Sad … so sad … I even join in sometimes just for the fun of it (and keep my multiplatform skills up) … fun like pulling one’s fingernails across a blackboard (do they still exist?) …
We have whiteboards…
On another note, it “is” funny how the people who have a 3% market share platform are always droning on about how important they are and how 3% really is a big number with all things considered. It’s like BMW and Ford.
But the same people laugh at others paltry 9% market share because 9% is so small and stupid.
Do you people every hear yourselves?