It seems as though Napster is making a return, and this time no one has to get arrested for being associated with it.
The once-illegal music downloading service has relaunched in Canada, this time as a simple music-streaming service.
Napster was acquired back in 2011 by Rhapsody, at the time offering a legitimate music streaming service, but it was folded into Rhapsody's own offerings and shut down. It seemed at the time as though that would be the end of the Napster name until earlier today, when it was announced that Napster would be launched yet again as a new music-streaming service, going head to head with services like Spotify and Apple Music.
The new Napster is selling subscriptions to its service for $9.99 Canadian dollars per month, about $7.60 USD, but it is also offering a trial to its service for $1 CAD per month for the first three months of use. This is very similar to what Rhapsody currently offers in the U.S., and the new Canadian Napster website even looks similar to the Rhapsody website in the U.S.
Napster will be offering many of the same features that users have come to expect from modern-day music-streaming services, including access to a catalog of millions of songs and some options for users to personalize what they listen to. Of course, Napster will have heavy competition, but it's likely that by using the Napster name, it may be able to entice users into a sense of nostalgia.
It will certainly be interesting to see whether Napster is able to compete in the increasingly competitive music-streaming industry, and only time will tell if it is able to gain a decent fan base.
Via: The Verge
