Napster Japan startet heute mit 35.000 Verkaufsstellen/bald bei NTT (50. Mio. Handykunden). - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

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Napster Japan ist heute online gegangen und in 35.000 Verkaufsstellen in Japan sind Prepaid-Karten erhältlich. Dabei wird es über tower records vertrieben. Demnächst auch auf vielen neuen Handys von NTT verfügbar (50 Mio. Kunden):



Quelle und Bericht siehe:

http://www.physorg.com/news79073063.html

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Mit den 35.000 Verkaufsstellen schreibt Napster selbst:

"Napster Opens First Music Subscription Service in Japan

LOS ANGELES, Oct 03, 2006 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- Napster (Nasdaq: NAPS) announced today that its award-winning digital music service is now available to music lovers across Japan, which is the largest music market in the world outside of the U.S. The new Napster Japan service is a product of the Company's joint venture with Tower Records Japan ("TRJ"), the leading music retailer in that country. The launch of Napster Japan marks the introduction of the digital music subscription model to Japanese consumers, who until now have only been able to experience digital music by paying for each track and album individually.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061003/LATU065 )

Napster Japan features a music catalog of nearly two million tracks spanning all genres from both major and independent record labels, including a library of local Japanese content and the largest collection of non-Japanese music available in the country. Tower Records Japan's extensive music resources and highly respected "voice" in the Japanese music industry have helped Napster Japan amass an abundance of significant editorial content and enables it to offer personalized recommendations and other powerful music discovery features specifically tailored to the Japanese market. The service also features a variety of community features, interactive, commercial-free radio stations, Napster playlists and other tools designed to enhance the digital music experience.

"Napster is very pleased to bring the first music subscription service to Japan's vibrant music and technology market," said Chris Gorog, Napster's chairman and CEO. "Our joint venture with Tower Records Japan, the nation's largest and most successful music retailer, has enabled us to deliver a product with a deep focus on local tastes and programming that also happens to offer the largest digital music catalog available in the market."

Napster Japan offers Japanese music fans two different ways to enjoy the benefits of its subscription service. Napster's basic subscription tier enables unlimited listening to music from Napster's subscription catalog on up to three PCs for 1,280JPY [$10.99 U.S.] per month. The Napster To Go premium subscription tier enables the same unlimited PC-based listening as the basic service, but also gives subscribers the power to transfer an unlimited amount of music from Napster to their choice of compatible portable devices, all for only 1,980JPY [$16.99 U.S.] per month.

There are currently over 20 portable devices in the Japanese market that are compatible with Napster To Go, including MP3 player models from Creative, iRiver, JVC and Toshiba, and NTT DoCoMo's popular F902is mobile handset. Many more Napster To Go-compatible portable devices from a variety of leading manufacturers are expected to hit the Japanese market in the coming months. Most notably, NTT DoCoMo, Japan's leading mobile communications company, has confirmed that the vast majority of its future mobile handset models will be compatible with Napster To Go, which will enable its 51 million mobile subscribers to easily enjoy their favorite music on the most-advanced hardware available.

In addition to its subscription services, Napster Japan also offers the ability to purchase individual tracks and albums through an a la carte store. Napster Japan subscribers who wish to purchase music to burn to CD and non-subscribers who do not want to enjoy unlimited access can purchase music from Napster Japan, where prices average between 150-300JPY per track. Music purchased from Napster Japan can also be enjoyed on a wide variety of popular portable devices.

Napster Japan is being supported by an extensive online marketing initiative as well as a campaign designed to increase Japanese music fans' interactions with the service in various offline environments, including transportation hubs and entertainment venues across the country. TRJ has leveraged its extensive retail presence and created in-store demonstration kiosks at 17 major Tower Records store locations, which give customers an opportunity to learn more about Napster Japan and actually test drive the service. In addition to kiosks in select stores, all Tower Records locations have begun selling Napster Japan pre-paid cards. The cards, which can also be found at over 35,000 other retail locations across Japan, enable music fans to purchase a subscription to Napster Japan without entering a credit card number online.

For a complete list of service features, minimum system requirements and compatible portable devices, please visit Napster Japan's Web site at www.napster.jp.

About Napster

Napster, the pioneer of digital music, offers the ultimate interactive music experience. With an expanding roster of offerings including free, Web-based music listening and sharing, subscription and portable subscription services, and an advanced mobile music platform, Napster creates better ways to discover, share, acquire and enjoy music -- anytime, anywhere. Napster is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in New York, London, Frankfurt and Tokyo.

About Tower Records Japan, Inc.

Tower Records Japan Inc. is the number one music brand in Japan. With 108 stores located throughout the country generating approximately $700 million in annual sales, TRJ is the country's leading retailer of recorded music. TRJ also publishes leading music magazines that are circulated monthly to over 400,000 people and operates some of Japan's most popular music Web sites that attract approximately two million users per month.

Safe Harbor Statement

Except for historical information, the matters discussed in this press release, in particular matters related to Napster's strategic relationship with Tower Records Japan, the size of the Napster music catalog and the compatibility of the Napster service with current and future devices contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties such as failure to maintain strategic relationships, risks associated with governmental regulation and legal uncertainties, reliance on content provided by third parties and failure of the Napster service to interoperate with popular hardware devices, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Additional information on these and other factors are contained in Napster'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 2, 2006, copies of which are available at the website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. Napster assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements included in this press release.

Napster Contact:
Dana M. Harris
Napster
310-281-5000
[e-mail]

Tower Records Japan Contact:
Tatsuro Yagawa / Tokiko Kida
Public Relations Group, Corporate Communications
Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]


SOURCE Napster, Inc.

Dana M. Harris of Napster, [phone], [e-mail]; or Tatsuro
Yagawa, or Tokiko Kida, both of Tower Records Japan, Inc., Public Relations Group,
Corporate Communications, [phone], [e-mail]

http://www.napster.jp

Copyright (C) 2006 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

News Provided by COMTEX"

Quelle:http://investor.napster.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=2131…