Napster has launched what it bills as the world’s first portable music service. The service is called Napster To Go.
The marketing of Napster To Go is aimed directly at users of the extremely popular 99 cent per song Apple iTunes service. The Napster To Go website begins with this statement …
“Introducing the world’s first portable music service. Now you can fill and refill your compatible MP3 Player without paying 99 per track.* Get all the music you want in a whole new way.”
The site continues …
“For only $14.95 a month, you can fill and refill your compatible MP3 player with your favorite music, artists you’ve just discovered and the latest releases without paying 99 per track. Get everything Napster has to offer PLUS unlimited music for your Napster To Go-compatible MP3 player.”
Napster plans to spend $30 million on marketing to promote Napster To Go. And yes … Napster will begin their marketing blitz with a Super Bowl commercial this Sunday. No word on whether the commercial will mock Apple’s famous 1984 Mac commercial which also launched in a Super Bowl advertisement.
In addition, Napster has marketing partnerships with consumer electronics manufacturers Creative, Dell iriver and others.
“Napster to go is an exciting new product that will help our customers to really start understanding the full benefits of digital music,” said Scott Young, vice president of digital entertainment for Best Buy. “We’ve worked hard to educate consumers about digital music and the benefits of subscription services. Being able to take the music with you on a portable player should help take the popularity of subscription services to the next level.”
“Napster To Go provides infinitely greater value and is much more exciting than the iTunes pay-per-download model,” said Chris Gorog, Napster’s chairman and CEO. “This is what consumers want and Napster is once again proud to lead the industry by being the first in the world to offer this revolutionary new way to enjoy music.”
Interestingly, Napster hasn’t completely left its peer to peer roots as you can see by this comment on the Napster To Go site:
“
FINDING MUSIC
: If a member has opted to share their information, then their collection will be displayed in the window to the left. Members are displayed based on the number of tracks they have recently purchased or downloaded.”
murdok is the CEO of murdok which publishes over 200 websites and email newsletters.
Rich also publishes his blog WebProBlog which focuses on internet business and marketing trends.
