Napster hits your living room

Napster 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.