May 21

Napster vs. iTunes

In the last months, Apple's iTunes Music Store had no competition, continuously increasing its lead on the market. Now, Napster is back with a vengeance, promising to turn back the tide, and things look pretty well, as far as I can see. Obviously, we can't draw any conclusions yet, because their music store has been opened only a few hours ago, but I guess we should take a closer look at this...

According to Chris Gorog, Napster's chairman and chief executive, "It's great that we have finally gotten here. It is really the beginning of a level playing field, which I think is essential for Napster, but also for the health of the digital music business in general."

From now on, you can get MP3 files from the Napster Music Store in a DRM-free format, compatible with virtually any portable media player or music phone, including the iPod and the iPhone, obviously!

Currently, Napster is the first subscription service to feature content from major labels and offering its entire catalog in MP3 format. But...how large is that catalog? Well, while Amazon claims its catalog exceeds 5 million tracks, Napster is already beyond the 6 million tracks mark. If I think well, that should be enough music to party and entire life, don't you think? :)

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot the most important part - pricing. Don't worry, I won't leave the pricing-related questions untouched, so here you go - 99 cents per track, and full-album downloads start at $9.95. Good enough for you?