Napster to Bring New Service Into the Living Room
Tuesday, September 30, 2003 08:04 AM ET
Unveils Customized Service Developed Exclusively for Microsoft's Media Center Edition 2004, Giving Music Fans Access to More Than Half-A-Million Songs Through Their Televisions
NEW YORK, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Napster, a division of Roxio (Nasdaq: ROXI, news), today announced it will offer a customized version of the soon-to-be-introduced Napster 2.0 service for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 PCs.
Customers of Media Center PCs will be able to enjoy the full benefits of a specially-designed Napster 2.0 interface -- including individual a la carte downloads or a premium service, each offering more than 500,000 tracks -- created to give music fans access to the new Napster service through their televisions in the comfort of their living rooms.
"Napster 2.0 will be the first online music service that allows consumers to enjoy their digital music wherever they want," said Chris Gorog, Chairman and CEO of Roxio. "Our partnership with Microsoft will enable music fans to take their digital music beyond the PC so they can access and enjoy Napster on their televisions or PCs, using just a remote control."
"Napster 2.0 will offer consumers the freedom to enjoy over a half a million tracks any way they choose at the touch of a button on their remote control," said Joe Belfiore, general manager of the Windows eHome division, Microsoft Corp. "This partnership is the next step in Microsoft's commitment to providing consumers with the richest content and best digital entertainment experience on their Media Center PC."
Napster 2.0 will be available by Christmas. The service will offer music fans access to more than 500,000 tracks of the world's greatest music from all five major record labels and hundreds of independent labels. Customers of Napster 2.0 will be able to purchase individual tracks or albums, which can be seamlessly transferred to portable devices and burned to CDs. In addition, consumers may upgrade to a premium version of the service that offers unlimited listening and downloading, radio and community features.
About Napster
Napster is the world's most recognized brand in online music. Napster has extensive content agreements with the five major record labels, as well as the top independents. The service will deliver access to one of the largest music catalogs, featuring artists from Eminem and Miles Davis to the Dixie Chicks and Bob Marley. Napster is a division of Roxio, Inc., (Nasdaq: ROXI, news), The Digital Media Company® and 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 Napster's relationship with Microsoft and with music content providers, the re-launch of Napster, and product development, are forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties such as increased competition, failure to maintain key corporate relationships, product development failures, and undetected errors in the Napster software and service 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 sec.gov . Roxio assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements included in this press release.
Copyright (C) 2003 Roxio, Inc. All rights reserved. Roxio, the Roxio tagline and Napster are 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.
For further information please contact: Seth Oster of Napster, +1-310-281-5027, seth.oster@napster.com; or Tiffany Cook, +1-425-638-7000, tiffanyc@wagged.com, for Microsoft
Source: Napster
Contact: Seth Oster of Napster, +1-310-281-5027, seth.oster@napster.com; or Tiffany Cook, +1-425-638-7000, tiffanyc@wagged.com, for Microsoft |
