We’re transferring your playlists and library over to Rhapsody. Here are some key dates to keep in mind for the coming week.

Sunday, Nov. 27
Last day to make changes in your account

Tuesday, Nov. 29
Last day to listen to Napster

Wednesday, Nov. 30
Napster will be offline while we move your account. You will not be able to sign in to Rhapsody until tomorrow, December 1.

Thursday, Dec. 1
Sign-in and start listening

Saturday, Dec. 3
All of your account information and valid credits will have moved over to Rhapsody

The Rhapsody Rundown:
From mobile apps to MP3 players to the PC software, find out everything this #1 music subscription service offers.
Learn more

Questions about Rhapsody?
Visit the FAQ page

Thanks for listening,
Your friends at Napster

Filed under: Corporate, Napster News, Napster Products by Blog Admin on Monday, November 28, 2011
35 Comments »

There’s a flurry of activity amongst the Napster and Rhapsody teams . We’re coming together to give our members a great listening experience. We have been avidly reading and listening to your questions and comments. In this post, we ’re answering as many of them as we can. You can also check the original blog post on this topic for more information.

Please keep the comments and questions coming and we will keep answering.

What is Rhapsody?

Rhapsody is America’s #1 digital music service and the largest community of music lovers. Like Napster, Rhapsody is an on-demand subscription music service. You’ll get unlimited access to a catalog of millions of songs, as well as access to hundreds of radio stations spanning a variety of genres, themes and moods. Here are some features which set Rhapsody apart:

Expert editorial staff. Rhapsody has an expert team of music editors that program and create exclusive content, interviews with artists, playlists, musical features and more.

Music discovery. Create your own Rhapsody Music Profile so you can follow other members and friends to find new artists and playlists.

Music sharing. Rhapsody recently announced an exciting partnership with Facebook that will allow you to share what you are listening to with friends on your Facebook Timeline in real time.

Rhapsody + electronics. Rhapsody lets you connect to your subscription music at home, at work, or on the go with compatible smart phone apps, home audio electronics and MP3 players.

What happens to my Napster account?

You don’t have to do anything now. Continue to login to Napster and enjoy your music. In early December, your account will transition over to Rhapsody along with your account information, library, collection and playlists. At that point, you will be able to sign into Rhapsody with your Napster login and password and keep listening. Throughout November, we will send emails with more specific details including information on topics such as how to download our mobile apps, PC software, etc.

NOTE: International Napster Members are unaffected by this change and continue to enjoy Napster in Canada, Germany and United Kingdom.

How much will I pay?

You will be migrated to a Rhapsody subscription consistent with your current Napster pricing and service. We will not move your account to a Rhapsody service that is materially different than your current Napster subscription without your approval. Just like with Napster, our software is free to download; this includes our PC Client software as well as our mobile apps for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Windows Phone. If your current Napster price plan offers access via smartphone apps or MP3 players, you will have that same access to your music on Rhapsody.

What will happen to my library and playlists?

You’ve worked hard to create the perfect playlists and library. That’s why we’re making sure that your library and playlist information will be available on Rhapsody when we make this transition. In some cases, there may be a song here or there that we can’t match because of different licensing or rights issues. In these cases, we will try to identify any discrepancies in catalog and acquire the necessary rights.

Can I listen to my music in all the same ways?

As with Napster, you can listen to Rhapsody on a wide variety of devices including computers, smartphones, MP3 players and home audio devices including TiVo, Vizio, Sonos and others. Click here for a list of devices that Rhapsody supports. Even if your device is not on this list, it may still work with Rhapsody. If your mobile MP3 player works with Napster then it should work with Rhapsody. We are also working with our hardware partners to address devices not currently supported by Rhapsody.

What happens to Napster To Go?

Rhapsody has a corresponding subscription plan that fully supports listening on smartphones and MP3 Players. If your MP3 Player works with Napster then it should work with Rhapsody’s PC software. Click here for a list of devices that Rhapsody supports. Even if your device is not on this list, it may still work with Rhapsody.

Can I still use my prepaid card or promo code?

Yes. For now click on Napster’s redeem cards & codes link. After the transition, you will be able to redeem unexpired cards and codes at Rhapsody.com. Stay tuned for more information about specific dates.

Does Rhapsody have the same catalog?

Rhapsody and Napster have similar catalogs but they are not exactly the same.

When will this happen?

Look for this transition to take place in early December. At that point, instead of logging into Napster to listen to your favorite music, you’ll log into Rhapsody, using your Napster login and password. Over the coming weeks we will contact you with more information about this transition.

What will happen to my account and personal information?

Your account (including credit card information) will be transferred to Rhapsody. If you have a Napster subscription that expires after the end of November, your remaining subscription period will transfer to the Rhapsody subscription service. If you have a recurring Napster subscription, it will become a Rhapsody subscription around the first of December and Rhapsody will charge your credit card for your subscription on your next billable date. Your account will be subject to Rhapsody’s Terms of Use. LikeNapster, Rhapsody is committed to protecting your personal information. Rhapsody will handle your personal information in a manner consistent with the terms of the Napster Privacy Policy before, during and after the transfer, unless you give Rhapsody your consent to do otherwise. To explore the Rhapsody Privacy Policy click here.

Can I keep my quarterly and annual Plan?

Yes. If you are on a quarterly or annual subscription with Napster you will be able to maintain the same payment schedule with Rhapsody.

NOTE: International Napster Members are unaffected by this change and may continue to enjoy Napster in Canada, Germany and United Kingdom.

Filed under: Corporate, Napster News, Napster Products by blogadmin on Wednesday, November 2, 2011
138 Comments »

Napster is joining Rhapsody! You’re now part of America’s #1 digital music service, and the largest community of music lovers just like you.  With Napster, you’ve already been enjoying unlimited access to on-demand music.  And now as a Rhapsody member, you’ll have even more ways to discover share, and listen to your favorites.  Over the coming weeks, you’ll learn more about this exciting transition.  For now you can continue to enjoy Napster as you normally would.

What is Rhapsody?

Like Napster, Rhapsody is an on-demand subscription music service, where you can enjoy unlimited access to a catalog of millions of songs, as well as tap into a hundreds of radio stations spanning a variety of genres, themes and moods.  But Rhapsody makes it easier to find and enjoy the music you love.  Rhapsody has an expert team of music editors that program and create exclusive content, interviews with artists, playlists, musical features and more.  Rhapsody has cool social features. Create your own Rhapsody Music Profile so you can follow other members and friends to find new artists and playlists.  Rhapsody recently announced an exciting partnership with Facebook that will allow you to instantly share what you are listing to with friends on your Timeline.  Finally, because Rhapsody is compatible with numerous consumer electronics gadgets, you can enjoy your favorite music in more ways than ever before.

What happens to my Napster account?

Your account along with your library and playlists will eventually move over to Rhapsody.  You don’t have to do anything now.  Continue to login to Napster and enjoy your music.  We will contact you over the coming weeks to give you simple instructions on how to login to Rhapsody with your existing credentials.

What will happen to my library and playlists?

We understand and appreciate all the work you’ve done to build your perfect library and playlists.  That’s why we are working to make sure that nothing will be lost or changed, and your library and playlist information will be available on Rhapsody when we make this transition.  In some cases, there may be a song here or there that we can’t match because of different licensing or rights issues.  In these cases, we will try to identify any discrepancies in catalog and acquire the necessary rights.

Can I listen to my music in all the same ways?

Sure.  With Rhapsody, you can actually listen in more ways.  Not only can you listen on your PC, Mac and mobile devices, you can also listen on a variety of compatible TVs, DVRs and home audio systems.  Click here for a full list of compatible gadgets.

What happens to my MP3 credits?

Rhapsody has an MP3 store where your credits can easily be applied. Your credits will be transferred along with your account information.

Note: There’s one exception: if your subscription plan includes MP3 song credits in addition to streaming, those credits will expire after November 28th so we encourage you to use those credits right away. If you are a Napster subscriber who also receives MP3 song credits, click here for more information.

I am a Napster subscriber who also receives MP3 song credits with his subscription. Will I get a similar subscription level over at Rhapsody?

Rhapsody doesn’t have an equivalent subscription plan to the one you are receiving from Napster so they are making you a special offer. You’ll get:

• A 7-day free trial of Rhapsody. Listen to your library and playlists on your computer, Smartphone, MP3 Player and home audio gear. The free trial will begin on December 1.
• 50% off Rhapsody Premier. If you want to continue the music experience you can purchase a Rhapsody Premier subscription for half-off the normal monthly price for 3 months. That’s just $5.00 per month instead of the usual $9.99
• Any remaining value of your current Napster subscription can be applied to your Rhapsody subscription. If you don’t want to do that, the remaining value will be refunded to you.
• Keep the music party going! All your music including library and playlists will be waiting for you at Rhapsody on December 1.

To accept the special 50% offer, just sign-in to Rhapsody starting December 1, 2011, with your Napster member name and password, listen for free, then sign-up for the offer when prompted.

Use your MP3 credits by November 28th!
The remaining value of your Napster subscription is based solely on the amount of subscription time remaining, and will not change regardless of how many MP3 credits you use. Any MP3 credits that were included with your subscription membership will not roll over to Rhapsody and will expire after November 28th.

Can I still use my prepaid card or promo code?

Yes.  For now click on Napster’s redeem cards & codes link.  After the transition, you will be able to redeem unexpired cards and codes at Rhapsody.com.

Does Rhapsody have the same catalog?

For the most part, you will see very little difference in catalogs.  Rest assured we are working to make this transition as seamless as possible.  This will include identifying any differences in catalogs and acquiring any necessary rights.

When will this happen?

Look for this transition to take place at the end of November.  At that point, instead of logging into Napster to listen to your favorite music, you’ll log into Rhapsody.  Over the coming weeks we will contact you with more information about this transition.

What will happen to my account and personal information?

Your account (including credit card information) will be transferred to Rhapsody. If you have a Napster subscription that expires after the end of November, your remaining subscription period will transfer to the Rhapsody subscription service. If you have a recurring Napster subscription, it will become a Rhapsody subscription around the first of December and Rhapsody will charge your credit card for your subscription on your next billable date.  Your account will be subject to Rhapsody’s Terms of Use. Like Napster, Rhapsody is committed to protecting your personal information. Rhapsody will handle your personal information in a manner consistent with the terms of the Napster Privacy Policy before, during and after the transfer, unless you give Rhapsody your consent to do otherwise. To explore the Rhapsody Privacy Policy click here.

NOTE:
International Napster Members are unaffected by this change and may continue to enjoy Napster in Canada, Germany and United Kingdom.

NOTE:
neither your price nor your service level will change without your authorization. If you currently pay Napster $5/month for streaming only, you’ll continue paying $5/month for streaming only. If you’re a Napster To Go customer, Rhapsody offers that same service and you’ll pay the same price you’re paying today. If you’re on an annual subscription plan and are paid up through next July, your current subscription is good through next July. If you have a gift card or other codes used for buying songs, the current outstanding balance will transfer over to Rhapsody and you’ll be able to buy MP3s with those credits.

There’s one exception: if your subscription plan includes credits for downloading MP3s in addition to streaming, that’s the one Napster service we don’t offer and can’t match. Those credits will expire at the end of this month, so I’d encourage you to redeem those credits in the next few weeks. We are working on what we think is an attractive offer for a service we do provide, and you should receive an email with more information in a couple of weeks.

We’re working hard on other details of the migration, including how to handle those of you who (like me) have accounts with both Napster and Rhapsody already. We’re doing our best to make this transition as smooth and seamless as we can for you.

Filed under: Corporate, Napster News, Napster Products by blogadmin on Wednesday, October 5, 2011
605 Comments »

After weeks of hard work, we finally released the new version of “My Collection” today. In the past, when you went to My Collection and clicked on songs, you would find a long list that would show 100 songs at a time.

This worked fine if you only had a few hundred songs in your collection, but once you got into the 1000’s, it became harder to manage.

After a lot of thought and discussion, we’ve created a whole new interface for browsing and searching for your saved songs.

You are now able to scroll through your entire personal connection on the same page – you no longer need to go from page to page to find the songs that you’re looking for. The layout is fairly standard for most music applications, but we still want to call out a few features that will make the new My Collection more useful.

Sorting songs: You can sort your collection by Song, Artist or Album name by clicking on the table headers.

Search Collection: At the top of the page, you will find a “Search Collection” input field which will search your entire collection for whatever you type and immediately show you the results.

Individual song options:  For each song, you have the following options:

Delete the song by click the delete button following the song,

Play a song immediately or add it to the player queue from the play button,

View an album, add a song to a playlist, or buy a track or album from the options button,

We hope that you like these new features as much as we do, and stay tuned as we continue to add more features and improvements to this part of the site.

Filed under: Get the Most out of Napster, Napster Products by blogadmin on Thursday, September 15, 2011
8 Comments »

Starting today, Napster users can share songs, albums and playlists with friends from their iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android mobile and tablet devices. Quickly post any song, album, or that playlist you’ve been carefully curating, to your Facebook feed… share them on Twitter… or, simply send them via e-mail to anyone in your mobile address book. With well over 20 million songs in Napster’s global catalog, there’s endless music to share!

When you share via Napster mobile, friends on a computer are just a couple of quick clicks away from listening to your shared music – with no subscription* or download required. To listen on their iOS or Android mobile devices, they need only to download the Napster app.* (no account creation required!) Napster just made it really simple to share whatever you and your friends are jamming to, at any given moment.  Napster’s musicologists are constantly curating music to be discovered and enjoyed, so comb through Napster’s thousands of playlists, radio stations (commercial-free!), new releases and more… Discover some great music and share with your friends.

From iOS or Android mobile devices, after you click to play any song, playlist or album, simply click “Share” – and let the fun begin!

Enjoy! Let us know what you think…  If you’re reading this on your mobile phone, click here to test things out with Katy Perry. And stay tuned… Napster has more fun stuff on the way!

The Napster Team

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter

*If you’re not either a subscriber or taking advantage of Napster’s free trial, you can still play 25 songs free on any compatible device.

Filed under: Get the Most out of Napster, Napster Products by Christina Ra on Saturday, August 27, 2011
6 Comments »

Today, we released a few website upgrades – primarily, we made some changes within the “My Account” section, in addition to fixing a few bugs.

The new My Account

The My Account section (you can get here by clicking on your username in the upper left corner) would previously load in a pop-up window and wasn’t the easiest to navigate. The section is now part of the main website – no more pop-up window. We also added a few more features that weren’t previously available.

In addition to accessing the My Account section by clicking on your username, you can also click on “My Collection” and then select the “My Account” tab.

All options from the old version of My Account are available in the new version, but we also added a new “Manage Devices” menu where you can review and deactivate your mobile or home theater devices.  This feature is especially useful if you just purchased a new mobile device or perhaps sold your old TV that had Napster installed on it.

Facebook and Twitter links.

We have added links to Napster’s Facebook and Twitter accounts in the footer of every page on the site. This gives you a handy shortcut to visit us, become our friend or just follow us for news updates

Saving songs to My Collection.

So far you have only been able to save songs to a playlist, but with the new “Save to collection” feature you can now also save any song to your collection.

Whenever you click a save button for a song, you now also have the option to save to “My Collection” as seen below.

The same feature has been added to the album view where “Save to My Collection” will add all the songs from the album to your Collection.

Adding songs to a collection is no good if you can’t remove them again, so each song in your collection now also has a delete button that will permanently remove it so that you only have to keep what you really like!

The Napster Team

Filed under: Napster News, Napster Products by blogadmin on Tuesday, August 16, 2011
8 Comments »

Today we’re excited to release Napster 1.5 simultaneously in 3 different countries (United States, United Kingdom, and Germany) and on two different platforms (iPhone and Android). That’s a pretty big milestone for us just 8 short months after launching version 1.0 of the iPhone app in the United States.

We’re listening and responding to our members’ top requests as quickly as possible. Thanks for all of the amazing feedback. We love the application too, and you’re helping to make it even better. This release includes:

The Player has a new screen design for enhanced functionality:
Persistent Player controls make it easier to use for quick play, pause, and skip action! Not that you should try to endanger yourself by multitasking, though.

You can now scrub, seek and scan to the exact moment of any song with the new song ‘Scrubble’.

Easily access the artist’s full catalog or album from the currently playing song. Tap on the song/album title or artist name in the Player to go to the album or artist page.

More info on the Artist screens:

Now the Artists’ latest release is easier to get to, and we’ve also added interactive biographies as a great way to discover information on your favorite and new artists.

Enhancements to the Now Playing Queue:

When you view your queue, the currently playing song will scroll into focus more reliably. You can also play/pause by tapping the currently playing song.

Bug Fix:

If you paused in the middle of a song, resuming playback after unlocking your screen works more reliably.

Get the app for your mobile device:
Download the iOS app from the App Store
Download the Android app from the Android Market

We have even more exciting stuff lined up for you too!

- The Napster Mobile Team

Filed under: Android, iPhone, Mobile, Napster Products, Uncategorized by Michael Robinette on Wednesday, June 29, 2011
24 Comments »

Thursday, June 30, is a special day.  The Napster team is always doing everything we can to make our service the best it can be.  Yet, every so often, we drop everything else for a day, and the entire team has a chance to shift focus.  Whether you are a developer, engineer, designer or marketer, the day is about removing that day-job hat, and brainstorming outside of your everyday responsibilities.

Our goal is for this shift in perspective and intense focus to hatch some new thinking — to make Napster an even better experience for all of our users.  Nothing is necessarily off the table, so everyone focuses on what he or she chooses:  music discovery, usability, aesthetics or making Napster more social.

All of us here are engrossed in music all day and night.  We know many of you are as well.  What new features do you wish Napster could offer?  In what new ways could Napster enhance your music experience?  Please leave us a comment to share your thoughts.

Thanks for taking the time to share.*

The Napster Team

*Just a reminder, as with anything else you post on our blog or site, you acknowledge that we have the rights to use these ideas in any way, as we attempt to make the service better for you and all of our users.

Filed under: Uncategorized by Christina Ra on Tuesday, June 28, 2011
42 Comments »

On June 16, we released an update to the Napster Music Player that offers some small enhancements and addresses a variety of bugs.  Here’s a quick summary of the improvements offered by the latest software update:

• Patched the Napster Music Player to prevent the playback of corrupted audio files.
• Improved the behavior of the “Remember Me” checkbox on the sign in screen.
• Enhanced the look and feel of several elements within the player.
• Moved the “Feedback” link to the website footer.
• Improved reporting of “Recently Played Albums” on the “My Activities” page.
• Addressed a bug that caused layout issues on the Help page.
• Improved display of title graphics for Napster Radio Stations.

Screeching music not what you expected? Neither did we!
Some users reported occasionally hearing a screeching sound instead of music when listening through the web player.  We pinpointed the cause of the issue and fixed it.

“Remember Me” will really remember you!
For some reason, the “Remember Me” checkbox on the sign in page was, until Thursday, really forgetful and didn’t seem to remember much of anything.  Now, checking this box and clicking the “sign in” button will keep you signed into Napster for up to one week unless you click a link or button to “Sign Out” of your account.  To prevent unauthorized use of your account, please do not use the “Remember Me” feature if you share your computer with others or access Napster from a public machine.

Subtle tweaks and improvements to the player
We added “-” and “+” indicators within the volume slider, added a subtle gradient effect to the background of the play controls, improved the interactivity of the “Save All” and “Remove All” buttons below the queue, updated some of the tooltips on clickable parts of the player interface, and cleaned up the title bar above the queue.  We hope these many small changes improve the visual experience and overall ease of use of the Napster Music Player.

Looking to provide some feedback or take our survey?
We want to hear from you and get a better idea of how we’re doing.  If you want to send us feedback, the feedback link, which once appeared as a tab stuck to the left side of the Napster website, is now available in the footer at the bottom of every page.  Alternatively, you may see a brief survey appear in your email inbox that lets you send feedback to the Napster team in a matter of seconds.

I swear I just played that album!
The Recently Played Albums listing on the “My Activity” page now correctly reports the albums you listened to recently.  We annihilated a bug that caused the data to be swallowed by a black hole.  With that bug out of the way, you can easily kick off an album you enjoyed recently by visiting the “My Activity” page.

We hope these bug fixes and enhancements help you gain deeper enjoyment from your Napster experience.  Please let us know what you’d like us to address next in the comments below or by using the “Feedback” link at the bottom of the Napster music website.

Thank you,
The Napster Team

Filed under: Get the Most out of Napster, Napster Products by blogadmin on Tuesday, June 21, 2011 | Social tagging: FAQ-Player > release notes
11 Comments »

On Thursday, we published the latest updates to the new Napster Music Player for the web. This week, we focused on making the queue work better for you. Here’s a quick summary of the fixes and enhancements:

• Added an easier to use remove button next to each song in the queue
• Added new visual shuffle feature that rearranges songs in the queue when shuffle mode is enabled
• Fixed a bug that could cause a new song to start playing when re-arranging items in the queue
• Addressed miscellaneous performance and stability issues in the queue

Easy to add.  Easy to remove.

When we launched the new Napster Music Player for the web last month, many customers told us they wanted an easier way to strike a song from the queue. The updated queue now allows you to remove songs with a single click. It’s super easy to remove the music you don’t care to hear.

See it shuffle.

Songs in the queue will instantly rearrange themselves each time you enable shuffle mode and put themselves back into their original order when you disable shuffling. Now, it’s easier to see when the queue is shuffled and you can more quickly identify the awesome song that just ended. The new shuffle mode has a few other tricks and nuances to explore. So, go ahead, turn on shuffle mode; see what happens.

It’s only been a week since our last player update and we’re already hard at work on our next batch of fixes and enhancements. Please keep the feedback coming as we work to build a better music player.

Thank you,
The Napster Team

(more…)

Filed under: Get the Most out of Napster, Napster Products by blogadmin on Friday, May 20, 2011 | Social tagging: FAQ-Player > release notes > Releases
10 Comments »