Napster Launches Rent-A-Tune-To-GoNapster Launches Rent-A-Tune-To-Go

Napster Inc. on Thursday launched a rent-a-tune subscription service and a $30 million marketing campaign that looks to convince consumers that it's better to rent than own the music they like to take with them on the road.

With the Napster To Go, subscribers pay $14.95 a month for unlimited downloads from the Los Angeles-based company's store of a million song tracks. The music plays on any device that supports Microsoft Corp.'s Janus copy-protection software found in Windows Media Player 10.

Most subscription services today only allow music to be played on a computer, but Napster takes it a step further by letting consumers take their tunes with them. Music downloaded through the service, however, cannot be burned onto a CD, and subscribers have to link up to the Napster site at lease once a month, or the songs will expire and will have to be reactivated.

With its new service, Napster is taking a different tack in attacking the market dominance of Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes music service, which sells songs for 99 cents a piece, and albums starting at $9.99. The music can only be played on one portable music player, the Apple iPod.

Beginning with Sunday's Super Bowl football championship, Napster is launching a $30 million marketing campaign, which will include print, TV and web advertising, to convince consumers that renting music is a better deal than buying.

In the Super Bowl "Do The Math" ad, Napster will highlight how buying 10,000 individual songs on iTunes would cost nearly $10,000, while the same number of songs would cost $15 a month with Napster To Go. Of course the big difference with the two models is that consumer gets to keep the songs they buy, while rented music eventually disappears.

Nevertheless, Napster, which also sells individual songs and albums, said its own market research has shown consumers are ready to try the company's rental model, which Napster claims is more in tune with the digital age.

"We're challenging the notion of what it actually means to own something digitally," Napster spokeswoman Dana Harris said. "It's really all about access to whatever you want, whenever you want it and where ever you want it."

Music-player manufacturers that have agreed to ship product that's compatible with the new service are Creative Technology Ltd., Dell Inc. and Iriver Inc.

Based on independent consumer research, however, Napster will have to work hard to convince consumers to rent, rather than buy.

"What consumers are most interested in is buying CDs," Joe Wilcox, analyst for market researcher JupiterResearch, a division of Jupitermedia Corp., said. "But when it comes to online music, there's a much greater interest in owning then there is in renting."

Music downloaded from the Internet, either through individual purchases or subscription, accounted for only one percent of the $12 billion spent on music in 2003 in the United States, according to JupiterResearch. That percentage, however, is expected to increase to 12 percent by 2009, when consumers are projected to spend $13.5 billion on music.

Music downloaded through subscription services like Napster's, however, could catch on if a couple of conditions are met, Wilcox said.

Firstly, consumers will need to be educated on what it means to rent music and on its advantages. Secondly, the process of synchronizing a music player with the subscription service will need to be hassle free.

"Napster, Microsoft and device makers are going to have to really work to make sure that the subscription service is absolutely seamless," Wilcox said. "(If that happens,) I suspect consumers won't care if they're listening to something they rent, or something they own."

Digital rights management systems, which are used to protect music copyright, can often cause compatibility problems between hardware and downloaded music.

Another issue Napster must deal with is the fact that the hardware is driving the legal online music market today.

"The bottom line right now is that the market has a greater interest in the device than the service," Wilcox said. "And the device everyone is buying is the (Apple) iPod, and the iPod doesn't work with Napster To Go."