Napster launched a new music download service in Japan today as it tries to play catch up with the 800lb iTunes gorilla.
Japan is the second largest music market in the world and offers Napster a chance to expand into additional markets with which to compete with iTunes. iTunes, available in Japan since last year, became quickly popular with its tech-savvy population and means that Napster will have much ground to cover if it is to catch up.
What Napster is banking on is the lure of its unlimited download subscription model, which will be available in 3 different packages:
* Basic Plan: 1,280 yen ($10.87; euro8.57) and allows unlimited downloads to as many as three personal computers.
* Napster to Go: 1,980 yen ($16.82) a month for unlimited downloads to three computers and three portable devices, such as MP3 players or mobile phones.
* A La Carte: service 150 yen ($1.27) per Western song and 200 yen ($1.70) for Japanese songs.
Teaming up with Tower Records Japan, Napster will offer almost twice as many songs as iTunes, 1.9 million as compared to 1 million.
Additionally, Napster is teaming up with NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s biggest mobile phone company, to create new mobile phones that will be able to download and play songs.
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Why more for Japanese music than western music?