Napster Offers Free Music Again

It's undeniable: Since its beginnings, Napster has shaken the music world. A renegade service that started in 1999, its 70 million members downloaded music like it was going out of style in those last weeks before it was shut down in 2001 for extreme copyright violations. By 2003, Napster had been purchased by Roxio Software (which then changed their name to Napster), and was relaunched as a paid music service.

In a move that is likely aimed just as much at recalling earlier "pirate" members as to compete with Apple's iTunes, Napster has announced that they will again offer free music. On Google, they currently top the search listings with the heading "Napster is Free Again".

Free Music - Legal and With Limits

Statements released by Napster tout their new move as pushing the company into the future as "the first legal digital music service to offer music fans free, on-demand listening to over two million major and independent-label tracks."

What's the catch? In order to keep it all legal, Napster is releasing the free tunes under an ad-supported service that streams music to their members. Streaming music is a format that Napster feels will be secure - they have stated that the streaming format cannot be copied or downloaded to another device. The final catch is that members can only listen to the "free" song five times before being prompted to pay a download fee or monthly subscription.

According to Napster, their new offer is all about the members. "Napster was born of the idea of eliminating all barriers to discovering, enjoying and sharing music and of putting the power in� the hands of fans," said Chris Gorog, Napster's chairman and chief� executive. "With a vision to empower music fans in a legal environment, with an open, all-inclusive platform, we are very excited to share� our new free music experience at Napster.com."