To more than 13 Million customers

Oct 31, 2008 15:58 GMT  ·  By

Napster and AT&T announced this week the availability of Napster Mobile to more than 13 million AT&T customers, a significant expansion of the service. Napster Mobile lets music fans use their handsets to search, browse and download music from Napster's collection of more than 6 million songs, one of the industry's largest catalogs.

The service is now available on more than 25 AT&T smartphones and handsets, including BlackBerry Bold, AT&T Quickfire, Pantech Matrix and Samsung Propel. The expansion was made possible by less restrictive digital rights management (DRM) requirements from the labels and Napster's adoption of more flexible technology.

"Our goal is to connect people with the music they love, no matter where they are," said Chris Gorog, chief executive officer of Napster. "Switching to our new format gives millions of AT&T customers the opportunity to enjoy the best mobile music experience available, in addition to the world's largest catalog of music."

Mark Collins, vice president of Consumer Products for AT&T's wireless unit, said that "Music fans using our phones are hungry for this capability. As we've worked with Napster to make more phones 'ready to rock,' as we say, we've seen a strong corresponding rise in customers who are adopting Napster Mobile".

AT&T customers can purchase and wirelessly download full-length songs from Napster Mobile for $1.99 each, which includes a copy that is automatically delivered to the customer's PC. Napster Mobile is also available for a $7.49 monthly subscription, which includes five song downloads per month. Charges for downloads are conveniently billed to customers' AT&T wireless bill.

Standard usage rates apply and an unlimited data plan is highly recommended. Details on AT&T's data plans can be found on the carrier's website.