Many music fans will recall Napster, which was one of the first online peer-to-peer music sharing networks and helped usher in the era of easy file swapping with all the good and bad that bought along with it.
Napster was one of first peer-to-peer networks attacked by RIAA. Eventually Napster was forced into significantly changing to its method of operation. Napster was at first a free service that allowed users to share music in their collections with other users running Napster software. After the RIAA started its legal action, Napster turned into something altogether different and became one of the first networks where you had to pay for music downloads.
Since Napster went somewhat legit, it has had a difficult time actually turning a profit. In 2006, Napster launched a bid to gain ground in the online music world by going to a monthly fee for sampling a specific number of songs each month, similar to what Rhapsody does. At the time, DailyTech reported that Napster had raised and lost in the area of $73 million USD in venture capital.
In another attempt at profitability, Napster announced in March of 2007 that it was teaming up with AT&T on a system to allow AT&T mobile users to download tunes from Napster to their mobile phones. The service, Napster to Go, promised to give mobile users access to a database of more than 3 million songs at a price of $14.95 per month.
AT&T has finally announced its very first mobile phone that is compatible with the Napster Mobile service from Samsung called the SLM. The SLM will be available via AT&T on November 23 for an introductory price of $149.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate. AT&T’s SLM phone features dual-band 3G connectivity and ships with a 512MB SD memory card for music storage.
The phone will also ship with AT&T’s mobile banking application pre-installed. With the SLM phone, the Napster service will cost $7.49 for the ability to download five tracks per month or single tracks can be downloaded for $1.99 each. Other features of the SLM include a 2-megapixel camera, advanced messaging options and stereo Bluetooth technology.
What is more interesting to many isn’t that AT&T is finally offering Napster compatible phones months after teaming up with Napster for the music service, but that Napster is still around at all.