NAPSTER’S BACK
Napster 2.0 Now Live For Music Fans Nationwide
LOS ANGELES, CA (October 29, 2003) - Napster, a division of
Roxio (Nasdaq: ROXI), announced that the highly-anticipated
Napster 2.0 music service went live to music fans across America
today. The most well-known music brand in the world, Napster
2.0 offers consumers downloads for just 99 cents a song or
$9.95 per album, CD burning, transfer to portable devices,
decades of Billboard charts, shared playlists within the Napster
community, exclusive and original content, interactive radio,
music videos, and access to the world’s largest music store with
more than half-a-million tracks and growing.
"We have created the most exciting and comprehensive music
experience in the world," said Chris Gorog, Chairman and CEO of
Roxio, Napster’s parent company. "Napster 2.0 is extremely
easy-to-use and music fans will find endless enjoyment as they
search for, discover and share music."
Napster 2.0 boasts an extensive list of exclusive tracks from
leading recording artists, including: Coldplay, Wyclef Jean,
David Bowie, The Strokes and The Ataris. The new service also
features exclusive live sessions recorded in Napster’s Los
Angeles studio from Guided By Voices, MxPx, Brian McKnight and
Cold, among others. Exclusive tracks and live sessions will be
regular features on the service.
Napster 2.0 users can freely sample the world’s largest and most
diverse online collection of music, featuring more than 500,000
tracks. A revolutionary user-friendly interface allows people
to quickly search for music, discover new artists, burn CDs and
transfer music to an array of portable devices. Any visitor to
the service can download Napster 2.0 free of charge, watch music
videos on demand, listen to 30-second music clips, browse decades
of Billboard charts, read Napster’s online magazine,
Fuzz,
email tracks to friends, browse other members’ collections and take
full advantage of the most robust music recommendation engine
ever created - all without spending a dime. Napster 2.0 also
allows users to import their existing music files from their hard
drive into the service so they can store, organize and access all
of their music from one central location. Napster’s customer
support is available both via phone and email.
Music fans also have the option to upgrade to the Napster’s
premium service, which offers all of the features of Napster 2.0
plus unlimited online and offline listening, over 40 commercial-free,
interactive radio stations and additional community features, all
for just $9.95 a month.
"For years, music fans have been asking for a compelling and legal
online music service that gives them the ability to share and
discover music, the freedom to take their songs anywhere they want,
and the choice to pay as they go or subscribe monthly," said Napster
President and COO Michael Bebel. "Napster 2.0 addresses everything
consumers have been looking for and a whole lot more."
Napster’s global partnerships enable fans to enjoy music anywhere -
in the living room via Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center Edition
4 and Gateway Hearth systems, or in the car, the gym or at the beach
using the Samsung-Napster digital audio player. Additionally,
Napster is working with Intel to co-promote the benefits of the
Napster service running on Intel-based PCs. PCs featuring the
Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor with HT Technology give music
fans the power to easily manage and store their music collection
while listening to their favorite artists on the PC.
Napster will also have a significant retail presence this holiday
season when pre-paid Napster Cards offering 15 songs for $14.85
become available in more than 14,000 leading retail stores nationwide
by mid-November. The Napster Card will enable consumers to give the
gift of online music and legally download music and burn CDs without
the use of a credit card.
Napster’s launch will be commemorated this evening with an exclusive
concert at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles
featuring some of the hottest artists in the nation. The event will
be headlined by Ludacris and will feature Dashboard Confessional,
Interpol, Metric and DJ Melo-D. More than 500 Napster fans received
free tickets to be part of the celebration.
About Napster
Napster® is the world’s most recognized brand in online music.
Napster has content agreements with the five major record labels,
as well as hundreds of independents. Napster delivers access to
the largest catalog of online music with more than 500,000 tracks
spanning all genres and artists from Eminem to Miles Davis. Napster
is a division of Roxio, Inc., (Nasdaq: ROXI), the Digital Media
Company, provider of the best-selling digital media software in
the world. Napster has offices in Los Angeles and New York.
* * *
Safe Harbor Statement
Except for historical information, the matters discussed in this
press release, in particular matters related to demand for the
Napster service, relationships with certain corporate partners
including marketing partners and hardware and software
manufacturers, relationships with content providers, and product
development, are forward-looking statements that are subject to
certain risks and uncertainties such as decreased demand for our
products, increased competition, failure to develop new products
or improvements to existing products, failure to maintain business
relationships with our partners and general economic conditions,
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
projected. Additional information on these and other factors are
contained in Roxio’s reports filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC), including the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form
10-Q as filed with the SEC on August 14, 2003, copies of which are
available at the website maintained by the SEC at
http://www.sec.gov.
Roxio assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements
included in this press release. Copyright © 2003 Roxio, Inc. All
rights reserved. Roxio and Napster are either trademarks or
registered trademarks of Roxio, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the
United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks used
are owned by their respective owners.