Teenagers are to be offered pay-as-you-go credit cards to allow them to buy music from one of the main online music retailers.
Download site Napster is launching a range of pay-as-you-go cards in a bid to encourage under-18s used to paying for their mobile phone calls in a similar way to start using the service.
The cards, priced at £14.85 for 15 tracks or £56.95 for 60, will be available initially in Dixons, Curry's and PC World through Napster's existing deal with Dixons Group. Buying tracks one at a time on Napster cost 99p.
Music fans who buy the cards will scratch off the surface to reveal a PIN number that upon redemption at the Napster site will give them enough credits to buy a certain number of songs.
The Napster UK general manager, Leanne Sharman, said she was talking to a range of other stores in an effort to get the cards into a wide range of shops before Christmas.
Napster is hoping the cards will tempt teenagers away from illegal file sharing services, recently in the news as UK companies announced they would not shy away from targeting children as part of their crackdown on illegal downloading.
"It opens the doors to under-18s who previously would have needed to use their parent's credit card or turn to illegal sites. The cards also make the idea of downloading a physical, tangible thing," said Ms Sharman.
Users can also choose to pay £9.95 a month for a subscription service that allows them to access the whole catalogue - a million tracks. However, when they stop paying the subscription, their music collection disappears.
Napster is facing an uphill battle to compete with the popularity of Apple's iPod digital music player and its attendant iTunes music store.
But it received a shot in the arm last week when record company chiefs said they were committed to forcing download sites to adopt a standard format that would allow Napster to sell songs that could be played on the iPod, which is by far the most popular digital player.
"We definitely think there should be a common standard - at the moment people don't understand what product is compatible with which service. We don't want to confuse consumers," she said.
Napster is hoping that licensing deals with retailers, together with the launch of a portable version of its subscription offer that allows customers to take their pick of the entire catalogue for a monthly fee, will help it close the gap on Apple. It also recently launched its own download chart in conjunction with Virgin Radio.
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