MP3 - Napster, is it back?

The world famous file sharing network, Napster, will be launching its secure subscription service. But Napster will have an uphill battle to lure consumers as they were used to Napster free service offered a year ago before order by a federal judge to shut down.

Napster has taken the first step towards its relaunch by unveiling a private beta test of its software.

CEO Konrad Hilbers said users would have access to nearly every song when the subscription service launches within three months. That would require Napster to sign individual deals with each of the five major labels, an undertaking Hilbers said will be accomplished. "

There has been a battle for Napster, negotiating licenses for the music. Since 1999 Napster has been battling the music industry with it copyright violation. The company was ordered to shut down it file sharing network by a federal judge, while its programmers developed a secure network.

"The beta test is an important milestone because we're executing a peer-to-peer system that is secure," said Hilbers. "That is the criteria put forward by the labels to get licenses. The MusicNet deal was important at its time because it showed that Napster was able to close deals."

There will be obvious changes to the new service compared to the old. The file-sharing network will continue only with high quality music files. But all this comes with a cost, $5 for 50 songs each month.

Napster will be the only subscription service to offer both portability and burning capabilities. This means that users can download burn music to CDs or upload to portable MP3 player.

But it is going to be a battle for Napaster as it has to compete with many other free file sharing networks, which sprung up when Napster was ordered to shut down its network.

But now Napster has to contend with many other free file sharing networks, which sprung up when Napster was ordered to shut down its network. Gnutella, KaZaA, MusicCity and a plethora of other software applications filled in the void where Napster left off.

"The way you can compete with free is to offer more, and we have lots of mores," said Quirk. "Because we went out as a streaming service, we can offer people an all-you-can-eat. The competition wasn't set up to encourage exploring, because every download counted against you."

Will Napster regain its 80 million or so users back? Will it be able to compete in the file sharing business with the other free networks? We have to wait and see when Napster releases it new subscription service soon.

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