New-look Napster up and running

Napster, the original peer-to-peer file-sharing service, has gone live in the US with the Napster 2.0 pay per download service.

The firm, acquired earlier this year by Roxio, said that unlike it predecessor, Napster 2.0 centres on pay per download for music.

It offers consumers downloads for 99 cents per song or $9.95 per album, which can be burnt onto a CD, transfered to portable devices and shared on playlists within its own Napster community. Additional features include interactive radio and music videos.

The company claimed that the new service gives customers access to the world's largest music store, with more than half a million tracks online.

While the standard version of Napster 2.0 is available free of charge, the company is pushing users to upgrade to what it calls the premium service, which offers unlimited online and offline listening and some 40 commercial-free interactive radio stations for a subscription of $9.95 a month.

Napster president and chief operating officer, Michael Bebel, said: "For years, music fans have been asking for a compelling and legal online music service that gives them the ability to share and discover music, the freedom to take their songs anywhere they want, and the choice to pay as they go or subscribe monthly."