ATT Pairs Up With Napster

Just when I thought Napster was down for the count, the company finds another way to rejuvenate itself. Now Napster has joined forces with cell phone service provider AT&T for mobile music downloads. This will give AT&T users the opportunity to access Napster’s library of over 5 million tracks and download them to their phones.

This is a bit of a surprising move for several reasons. First of all, it’s a bit surprising that AT&T is getting into digital music downloads so far behind rivals Verizon and Sprint. Secondly, its incredibly strange that AT&T would pair up with Napster even though they are the sole carrier for the iPhone. You’d expect more of a partnership with Apple and iTunes considering they are already rather strong bedfellows.

Wired points out another oddity in the AT&T/Napster partnership: pricing. The companies are offering tunes at a $1.99 price point, which towers above iTunes, Amazon.com, and Sprint’s service, all which offer music downloads for half that price. Only Verizon rivals the $1.99 price.

The new service launches in November and it’ll be interesting to see how this helps Napster’s dwindling business. It seems like the price and the late entry to the marketplace might cost both companies in the long run.