Napster, the former scourge of the record industry, was reborn yesterday as a legitimate digital music store, predicting that it would help to bring about the demise of the high street record shop within 10 years.
The service, which caused panic among record executives when it was unleashed by college student Shawn Fanning in 1999 and gave away music to 60 million users, sprang a surprise by launching in the UK earlier than expected.
The move was hailed as "momentous" by Roxio, the company that rescued Napster after record company litigation made it bankrupt in 2002 and employed Mr Fanning to help relaunch it in the US last October.
This time around it was also welcomed by artists and major labels, which blame piracy and online file sharing for their recent woes. They hope Napster will revive sales and discourage use of illegal sites.
Global music sales slumped for the fourth successive year in 2003, dropping by more than 7% and leading to hundreds of redundancies at companies including EMI and Warner Music.
The chief executive of Napster, Chris Gorog, predicted digital music would kill off high street record stores within 10 years, playing on Napster's illegitimate heritage to sell the new industry-approved offering to consumers.
"When Napster went live, the world changed as we knew it. Music would never be the same and nor would the music industry. 2004 is set to be a very momentous year in the evolution of the music industry," he said.
The early launch is an attempt to establish Napster before Apple brings its successful iTunes music store to Europe this summer. It has already sold 70m tracks in the US.
Napster has signed deals with all five big record companies, as well as hundreds of independent labels, to offer 700,000 tracks representing a huge range of artists from Beyoncé to U2, bar some notable exceptions including The Beatles. It has also teamed up with Microsoft, Intel and Samsung and signed a nationwide UK distribution deal with the Dixons Group.
A marketing blitz and seven-day free trial is designed to promote the fact that its service is compatible with more than 60 portable players. In contrast, owners of Apple's iPod can only download songs from iTunes.
In the UK, Napster will cost £9.95 a month, allowing users to download as many songs as they like. Subscribers will then pay an extra 99p per track, or £9.95 per album, to transfer the songs to CD or a portable player.
Non-subscribers can also access the service, listening to 30-second clips and downloading individual tracks for £1.09p each and full albums for £9.95.
In an effort to replicate the community atmosphere of the original Napster, users will also have access to an online music magazine, interactive radio stations and a chart archive, as well as email options allowing them to share favourite songs.
But not everyone was convinced by Napster's rhetoric predicting the death of the record store.
A Virgin Megastores spokesman said: "Customers still love to get their hands on an actual product and are using downloads to try out artists before they commit to buying a whole album ... it's good news for everyone."
