Napster is (Allegedly) Available for iPhone

By  |  Monday, September 20, 2010 at 5:29 pm

The original Napster was a scandalously easy way to get music for free. I’ve just been trying to use the new iPhone app from the latter-day, not-free service that carries the Napster name–and so far, it’s proven to be an annoyingly difficult way to pay for music.

Actually, I haven’t gotten it to accept my money at all. I began by downloading the iPhone app from the App Store and trying to upgrade my existing Napster event to the $10/month plan needed to stream and cache unlimited music on an iOS device. The app sent me to Safari to do the upgrade–and when I got there, I was greeted by an error message.

I tried doing the upgrade on a PC. Same error. Figuring that something might be wrong with my aged Napster account, I started to sign up for a new one, and didn’t see the $10 iOS plan among my options.

Then I noticed that there was no mention of iPhone compatibility on the Napster site. Scratch that–there is a reference to it…one that says that full-blown Napster doesn’t work with Apple devices.

I see no reference to an iPhone app on the Napster blog or in its press releases, so I wonder if the software wandered onto the App Store a bit ahead of schedule.

Maybe some of the dozens of folks who wrote about Napster for iOs today were able to get it up and running, but I’m giving up. With MOG, Rhapsody, Rdio, and Thumbplay already offering worthy on-demand music services for iOS, Napster is pretty darn late to the iPhone game. (Me, I’m currently partial to Rdio.)

If you’re able to make Napster work on an iOS device, lemme know what you think…

 
3 Comments


Read more: , , , ,

3 Comments For This Post

  1. @karmamule Says:

    I got it working fine on my iPod Touch. So far it's a pretty good app, and I like that it automatically keeps the last 100 songs played for offline listening, in addition to any you specifically request to keep offline. It's supposed to keep playlists between your iOS device and the online service in sync, and that works for the most part, but I've run into a couple minor glitches. Overall though it looks like a strong contender, especially given Napster's large library. You're right it's a crowded market, and with Slacker's new offering coming up in October, and Spotify coming (in theory) in the next few months it'll just get more crowded.

  2. Collins Says:

    Napster? *sigh*

    Hail BitTorrent and Limewire. Throw legality out of the window; we all know it's more fun to get in the grey area, at least every once in a while.

  3. nainzheni Says:

    Hello! The burning hot summer arrived, this is the demonstration stature good season,
    the retreat winter sincere appearance, lets lithe, the individuality, the fashion,
    the sex appeal, mature you start from here! Has a good news to tell everybody: Recently,
    every bought full 200 US dollars in this company, then has the present to see off,
    Vietnam which buys delivers are more, please do not miss this good opportunity!!!
    welcome to :====== http://www.newgoing.com/ ====
    free shipping
    competitive price
    any size available
    accept the paypal