AT&T offers music download from Napster

AT&T is offering its customers direct access to a catalogue of five million songs from digital music provider Napster.

There is an agreement already in place between AT&T and Napster Incorporated that gives AT&T subscribers access to services provided by Napster by connecting their mobile phone to the computer using a cable or a storage card.

The new agreement unveiled on October 22, 2007, which would go into effect from the middle of November 2007, would allow subscribers to download directly songs and music from Napster into their mobile phones at $7.49 for a five-song package.

AT&T subscribers would also have the option of buying music a la carte by paying $1.99.

Napster Incorporated is one of the main providers of digital music to users online. Customers of Napster can at present access unlimited music for a subscription fee of $15 a month. It also offers just computer services to customers at $10 a month.

Other competitors such as Apple and Sprint Nextel offer similar services at rates lower than what AT&T is proposing. Apple, currently the leading provider of digital music, and Sprint Nextel, the third largest provider of mobile phone services in the United States, offer songs at 99 cents a song.

In a statement from AT&T, Rob Hyatt, director of premium content at AT&T, agreed that his company’s pricing was much higher than its competitors and that the price was likely to put off a number of customers. However, he added that the comparatively higher price of AT&T would not deter customers in the younger age bracket “wanting to buy music spontaneously, as they are usually not too sensitive about cost.”

IDC, a technology research firm, has projected that, in 2007, 10 million American users would download about 70 million songs from digital music providers into their mobile phones. It has also predicted that, by 2011, the number of users downloading music digitally would soar to 44 million.

With digital technology fast spreading across the world, digital music is rapidly becoming one of the popular services that mobile operators are offering their customers. Other such services include video as well as internet surfing.

By doing so, mobile service providers aim to encourage users to put their mobile phones to more uses than just making and receiving calls.

AT&T already allows users to download music from eMusic. The rates for those downloads are the same as what is being offered for the Napster downloads.