Napster sings new free tune with ads

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 02 May 2006 08:01

Your IT - Home IT

Napster the original online music file sharing service that got slapped with lawsuits, was shutdown and returned as a paid service, is now back with a free service supported advertising.

According to Napster, the new Web service offers listeners the chance to listen to over 2 million tracks for free and is a breakthrough business model for the music business because it is supported by advertising rather than users having to pay to listen.

Napster.com reportedly held negotiations with record companies for months and, under the deal, will split advertising revenue with the record companies.

Under the deal, Napster's file sharing capabilities will be limited to sending links to other parties who can listen to a track up to five times. If they want to continue to listen, they will have to pay. Napster currently has a subscription service where users pay a montly fee of $14.95 to listen to tracks online.