AT&T to Offer Napster songs Through Phones
AT&T Inc said on Monday it would offer wireless song downloads from Napster's digital music service, expanding an existing agreement.
AT&T, which already lets Napster subscribers transfer music from their personal computer to their cell phone via a cable or a storage card, said it would sell Napster music directly on its phones for $7.49 for a bundle of five songs, or $1.99 for a la carte purchases, beginning in mid November.
Napster, which only gives customers access to the downloaded music as long as they pay monthly subscription fees, charges about $15 a month for unlimited music transfers for its existing portable music service. Its computer only services costs subscribers about $10 a month.
Apple, which leads the digital music market, sells songs for 99 cents each as does Sprint Nextel, the No. 3 U.S. mobile service.
Napster, which draws on a library of 5 million tracks, is the second over-the-air music offer from AT&T, which was slower than its rivals to deliver song downloads directly to phones.
AT&T already offers wireless downloads through digital music store eMusic at similar rates to its Napster fees.
AT&T did not say on which phones the Napster service will work. It will not work on Apple's iPhone, which only supports to Apple's iTunes music service and does not allow wireless downloads over the cellular network.
Napster, which only gives customers access to the downloaded music as long as they pay monthly subscription fees, charges about $15 a month for unlimited music transfers for its existing portable music service. Its computer only services costs subscribers about $10 a month.
Apple, which leads the digital music market, sells songs for 99 cents each as does Sprint Nextel, the No. 3 U.S. mobile service.
Napster, which draws on a library of 5 million tracks, is the second over-the-air music offer from AT&T, which was slower than its rivals to deliver song downloads directly to phones.
AT&T already offers wireless downloads through digital music store eMusic at similar rates to its Napster fees.
AT&T did not say on which phones the Napster service will work. It will not work on Apple's iPhone, which only supports to Apple's iTunes music service and does not allow wireless downloads over the cellular network.