Napster is Back in Canada! (But This Time, It’s Totally Legit)
If you’re of a certain age, you’ll probably remember how Napster opened your eyes to a universe of a la carte music choice that was a cross between magic and science fiction. No, it wasn’t legal, but given how ripped off we felt by the usurious prices of CDs, we felt justified in doing a little looting. Okay, a lot of looting.
The Napster orgy didn’t last long once the recording industry sent its lawyers after the company. (It also didn’t help that John Fanning, the head of the company, was a bonehead in dealing with the labels.) The original Napster was shut down and sold for parts, its brand equity and logo heading for Bertelsmann, the German media conglomerate. But when a judge kiboshed that deal, Napster’s assets ended up with Roxio which used the name to rebrand its Pressplay streaming service. From there, it ended up in the hands of Best Buy for a brief time before it was flipped again to Rhapsody which absorbed whatever was left.
But what’s this? Napster is coming back to Canada? Yep.
Napster is now a fully-licensed streaming music service available in Canada, just like Spotify, Rdio, Slacker, Deezer and Apple Music. The company has legal access to the same 35 million track library as everyone else for the same price: $9.99 a month. What’s different? Same as all the others: the UI.
If you’re interested in trying out the new Canadian Napster, go here. The first three months are just $1.