Return of Napster-Part II: Pay for music to your ears

The music industry has blamed such file-sharing services for its sharp decline in music sales over the last few years. Napster’s relaunch is the latest example in a crowded field of online services aiming to convert an online community used to getting their music for free into paying customers.

One of the most successful of these services, Apple Computer Inc’s iTunes, is widely expected to launch a version of its service for Microsoft Windows users next week. Others include RealNetworks Inc’s RealNetworks Inc’s Rhapsody service and privately held companies like MusicMatch and BuyMusic.com.

Dell Inc, AOL Time Warner Inc’s America Online and Amazon Inc are also considering services of their own. They all will continue to compete with free services like Kazaa, even as the record industry tries to stamp out such operations in court.

‘‘Clearly Napster is a very well-known brand,’’ said James Preissler, associate director of research for Majestic Research. ‘‘But there are other powerful brands out there, like AOL, Amazon, Dell and others. It remains to be seen what products they release and how well they compete.’’ He noted that the market potential for online music was huge for the service that was the easiest to use and provided the best value. ‘‘But it’s way too early in the game to say who that’s going to be,’’ he said.

In its free incarnation, Napster garnered 60 million users at its peak, until the five largest record companies successfully sued for copyright infringement. It shut down in 2001, and after several attempts to relaunch as a pay service, it filed for bankruptcy protection in September 2002. (Reuters)