Napster - Napster (320kbps AAC): £10/month, 30 day free trial
Product Description: Music streaming service only offering 320kbps AAC streaming with no podcasts or other audio content.
Overall
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Audio quality
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Content
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Music discovery
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Features
Summary
A basic music streaming service which lags behind the market leading streamers in features and audio quality.
Pros
Standard Quality streaming service
Cons
No CD Quality or HiRes streaming service
No podcasts
No innovative content or features
History
Napster started out life as a peer to peer file trading service which was shut down for copyright violations. After bankruptcy and several owners it was bought by Rhapsody another streaming and download service in 2011. Rhapsody amalgamated the two services and rebranded as Napster. In August 2020 MelodyVR acquired Rhapsody and the Napster business and in February 2021 changed its name to Napster.
The Napster streaming business has two divisions – consumer and business – which offer very different services.
The consumer service, branded Personal, offers 320kbps AAC streaming with a respectable 60+ million track catalogue. It has all the standard features such as mobile and desktop apps but when compared with mainstream streamers it does not offer podcasts, lossless streaming or some of the more innovative discovery features.
The business arm provides professional streaming services for mobile phone operators such as Telefónica Germany, radio streaming services for Uforia Music and Sonos Radio, integrations to In Car Entertainment systems and music services to retailers such as Aldi and Rakuten. These are branded ‘Powered by Napster’. Other services have included a HiRes streaming service in Japan in conjunction with Sony Music called mora qualitas which launched in October 2019 but this will be shutting down in Spring 2022.
It would seem that Napster has the capability to be competitive but the current offering now represents poor value for money when compared to the market leading streamers such as Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music. There have been announcements that funding has been raised to relaunch the service but it will have to go some to compete with Apple Music and Spotify.
Services
Subscription pricing and features vary with territory and users should check in their locale.
United Kingdom
Standard Plan
£10/month 30 day free trial
Low and Standard Quality streaming up to 320 kbps AAC
Family Plan
Up to 6 individual accounts in the same household. Stream anytime with separate accounts
Napster offers family plan with three different prices as follows,
- $14.99 for a Parent and a child subscription
- $19.99 for a Parent and 2 child subscriptions
- $24.99 for a Parent and 3 child subscriptions
- $29.99 for a Parent and 4 child subscriptions
Student Plan
£5/month via your NUS Extra membership and using a promo code.
Availability
Available in Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay.
Audio Quality
Napster mobile apps have three streaming options:
- Good (AAC+ 64 kbps)
- Better (AAC 192 kbps)
- Best (AAC 320 kbps)
which equates to Low and Standard Quality in HiRes Audio’s Music Streaming Audio Quality grading.
Home audio systems use 128 to 192 kbps AAC, depending on the device. PC client downloads are streamed in WMA 160 kbps for offline listening.
Content
60+ million tracks in all genres (Pop, Rock, Classical, Jazz, World, Soundtracks etc)
Music Discovery
For music discovery there is the usual browse, search, favourite and playlist functionality. There is also a blog section on their website with information on New Music, recently introduced playlists some of which are exclusive to Napster, Top Picks and artist features.
Features
Napster has apps for iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, PC and Mac which support all the expected browse, search, favourite and playlist functionality. Home device integration is available on Sonos, Denon, Control4 devices, AirPlay and Chromecast plus In Car Streaming for BMW, Mini and Audi models. Napster also supports many multi-room and hi-fi systems, Bluetooth speakers, Smart TVs and game consoles.
Napster subscribers have the ability to download songs, albums, stations, or playlists from Napster’s library for offline playback.
