Napster dumps copy protection; still NOWHERE on mobile

Link: Napster joins move away from copy protection | Media | The Guardian

Napster, the once illegal music-sharing website and now major music retailer, plans to sell downloads in the MP3 format, joining the many companies removing copying protection from online tracks.

Napster said yesterday it would start offering the format from the second quarter in a switch from using Microsoft’s digital rights management (DRM) system.

This is good news. I really do need to sit down with someone from Napster and see if their face twitches when I mention the word ‘mobile’.

I can’t believe they’re sat staring at the wall whilst everyone else on the planet is busy focusing on mobile and music.

Yes the US site has now got a few handsets compatible, but really, it’s downright ridiculous that they’re still marketing MP3 player compatibility.  It’s still 1995 at Napster UK, it seems, with hardly a sausage of a mention of mobile compatibility, at all.  I kid you not. Have a look and see.  It’s all Creative Zens and a few age old Windows Mobile devices (“T-Mobile MDA Pro, anybody?”).

That really doesn’t cut it in today’s industry.  Goodness me.  I wonder what happened?  Did Nokia just never return calls?  Were Vodafone far too interested in the upstart, Omnifone, to bother talking with the once mighty Napster?  There’s surely still a good amount of brand equity and consumer familiarity with Napster to make it worth doing a deal.  I reckon many a normob (“normal mobile user”) would be delighted to see a ‘Compatible with Napster’ badge on his new Nokia, Sony Ericsson or LG.

Well I hope they continue the innovation there at Napster.  Removing DRM should help boost compatibility.  But it’s not just DRM removal, it’s about making the whole thing, end-to-end, work properly.

So when I buy my new [Nokia | Sony | Samsung | LG | Motorola], I can plug it into my computer and download my Napster playlists to it. Simply. Easily.  No arsing about.

Or better still, I just need to type in my Napster username and password on my handset and WOOSH it’s configured and music is streaming, a la Omnifone’s MusicStation.

We shall see.  Come on Napster!  Come on!