Following its recent offering of gift cards through thousands of retail stores, digital music provider Napster continues to build its connections with the brick-and-mortar world. Napster and parent Roxio Inc. have teamed with Imation Corp. and Case Logic to sell through Target stores and Target.com a complete system for downloading digital music.
"Napster, Roxio, Imation and Case Logic worked with Target to design an assortment of products that will appeal to both experienced music downloaders as well as novices," said Mike Bebel, president and COO of Napster. "This is an important first step in bringing the richest music experience to a mass audience and Target is the ideal venue to reach customers."
Larry Linietsky, Napster’s senior vice president of business development and analysis, said in a conference call with reporters today that Napster is discussing similar arrangements with other retailers. "Target was a great place to start this, because they’re good at building brands and reaching large amounts of consumers with products consumers want, and because they’re also online," he said. "We hope to duplicate that experience wherever we can."
Steve Eastman, vice president of merchandising for Target, said the arrangement with Napster and the other suppliers offers a way for Target to provide an easy way for its store and online customers to get outfitted for downloading music from Napster.com. "The Napster line offers Target guests a unique combination of options to obtain and store the music they want in the most desirable way -- from pre-paid download cards to CDs and storage cases," he says.
Target will display the digital music products in an end-cap in its consumer electronics section in all of its more than 1,100 stores nationwide. The deal calls for Target to sell pre-paid Napster download cards, a Napster 2.0 and Roxio software package for downloading music and burning it to CDs, blank Napster-brand CDs from Imation, and a Napster-brand CD storage cases from Case Logic.
In a separate deal, Napster and Digital 5 Inc. have partnered to launch StreamRite QoS and Universal Plug and Play software that lets users of Napster’s Premium music service to access digital music through connected DVD players and other electronics devices, supporting the playing of music throughout a home on multiple devices.
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