Napster users willing to pay for downloads

The majority of Napster users would be happy to pay to use the online music service, according to a fresh survey.

A poll of 4294 students from 10 New England universities revealed that 58.5 per cent said they would continue to use the service if Napster decided to charge subscription fees. And the more regularly they use Napster, the more willing they are to pay a fee for the service, said Ric Dube, an analyst at Webnoize Research, which conducted the survey.

"Clearly people love it and the survey speaks to the viability of having a subscription based service," he said.

However, he suggested that record companies would need to accept that consumers no longer wish to purchase and keep music but instead prefer the flexibility of renting or listening to tracks only once.

Only 27.3 per cent of those surveyed said they had never used Napster. Of those that use the service, 57 per cent said they do so every week and 73 per cent claimed to log on every month.

"Consumers have taken to Napster not just because it provides access to popular music for free, but also because it offers something mostly missing from the online music experience: a rich search and discovery process, with immediate gratification," said Dube.

According to the survey, 47 per cent of students are spending more time on the internet than a year ago, and digital music sites are regular destinations. Around 63 per cent spend more time listening to downloaded music than in 1999.