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Napster Bundled With NTL Broadband

Posted: 14th Jun, 2004 By: MarkJ

The UK's largest cable operator, NTL, is to bundle the once controversial (now legal) Napster online music service with its Broadband Plus content package. It will also be offered as standalone product to NTLs 1 million+ hi-speed users:

ntl and Napster sign major broadband partnership

Napster® UK, Ltd., a subsidiary of Roxio, Inc. (Nasdaq: ROXI), has announced a major broadband marketing partnership with ntl Incorporated, the UKs largest provider of broadband services. Under the terms of the agreement, ntl will bundle the Napster subscription service with its Broadband Plus package giving its 1 million-plus broadband customers access to the worlds largest online music catalogue. ntl customers can also access the worlds biggest brand in online music via a web link from www.ntlworld.com. Both offers, which are available from July, include a special introductory 30-day free trial of the Napster subscription service and start with a pre-awareness email campaign. Napster has now sold in excess of 10 million downloads across its US, UK and Canadian services.

Launched in the UK on May 20, Napster offers access to over three quarters of a million tracks and a huge range of value-added community features at a cost to subscribers of £9.95 a month. Alongside the subscription service, Napster Light offers music fans an a la carte download store. Broadband Plus from ntl costs £3.99 a month excluding the Napster service, or £9.95 per month with Napster.

This is a significant deal for Napster because we are partnering with the biggest provider of broadband services in the UK, and ntls own research has shown that over 75% of broadband customers download music each month, said Brad Duea, president of Napster. We are impressed with ntls track record for driving growth in the UK broadband market and are confident our partnership will further encourage increasing numbers of UK music fans to enjoy the freedom of high speed internet access.

We are very proud of this exclusive agreement, said Aizad Hussain, managing director of ntls home business. Our customers will have easy access to this high quality music service at an outstanding price. This supports our ongoing drive for new subscriptions and adds significant value to our broadband services.

Napster 2.0

After downloading the free Napster jukebox at www.napster.co.uk, Napster subscribers can listen to the worlds largest digital music catalogue on demand, and download any track they choose onto the hard drives of up to three PCs and listen offline - to save bandwidth while they surf, or for convenience when on the go. Ten interactive advert-free Napster radio stations allow listeners to see which song is coming next, skip forward or jump back with favourites easily added to their Napster library with one click. Napster can even build subscribers their own custom radio station on the fly simply on the basis of selecting three songs. Napsters rich community features allow subscribers to browse each others play lists and even share songs among other Napster users. Subscribers can also listen to and save full-length songs taken from the past 10 years of Official Charts Company UK charts, and can purchase and burn tracks for as little as £0.88 per song when they buy multiple tracks.

If UK music fans elect not to become a subscriber, by downloading Napster for free at http://www.napster.co.uk , they can still purchase tracks any time they want for £1.09 and albums for £9.95 after listening to free 30-second samples of the Napster UK library. At no cost, Napster Light users can organise their entire music collection in Napster by using the ripping software in the Napster jukebox to take tracks from CDs they already own to play on Napster, import MP3s into their Napster Library, or transfer tracks theyve bought to a wide range of portable devices. Napster Light also offers consumers free access to Fuzz, Napsters online magazine; their own Napster Inbox; and the chance to sample the OCC UK charts.