When people talk about the music streaming scene, they're often comparing familiar brands when considering which service to use. Some go with the big boys of Google, Apple or Amazon, and others maybe opt for smaller companies like Spotify or the Jay Z-led Tidal. Napster though? It's not normally in the debate.
Napster was actually pretty controversial in the early days of music being online, as it allowed people to freely share MP3s; unsurprisingly laws caught up with the service and it had to 'go legit'. As a brand associated with questionable online practices, its moves into the mainstream prompted it to drop off the radar for most.
Yet it is now a legitimate music streaming service, boasting over 34 million tracks. Surprisingly it's coming to the Wii U eShop in Europe as a free app on 17th December; it's a subscription service but new users will be able to get a free 30-day trial from the Napster website. It'll utilise the GamePad screen for some navigation, promising the full service of streaming music, setting up playlists, searching the library or listening to curated radio stations.
Of all the music services we wanted or expected to come to the Wii U, Napster wasn't on the list. In any case, will you be giving it a try?
[source nintendo.co.uk]
Comments 50
See if it works from China....
Two things. 1) I didn't even know it was still in existence. 2) why would you want to stream music from your Wii U when you have countless other devices that can do it, and do it a lot easier and better.
Napster is still a thing?
NAPSTER!!!! didn't think it still existed!!! Definitely try it
Man, I remember getting my personal cease and desist letter from Dr Dre for downloading his album off Napster. Shame it won't be as good now cause it had to go legit.
eh, got spotify.
"My Music. Anytime.Anywhere." Finally!!! A chance to get rid of that awful uncomfortable iPod and switch to a much more portable device!
Can you set up an AOL email account yet?
Pretty soon you lucky Europeans will be able to set up websites with very basic GIF animations on GeoCities, too.
If NoE REALLY catches up with the times, you might even be able to set up one of those fancy MySpace pages.
This app makes absolutely no freaking sense whatsoever... a music streaming service... on a non-portable device? I can understand if this were available on 3DS, hell I would welcome it, but on Wii U.......................
cue tumbleweeds and wistful wind
@sillygostly Its convenient if you don't have a full speaker system, as TV's generally have pretty good speakers.
Napster? What year is it!?
Seriously, I didn't know Napster was still a thing.
The reason why it comes to Wii U, is because Spotify isn't on it. There is competition on the consoles, so i expect some to subscrice because of the touch pad as remote.
thepiratebay > any streaming service
I can't see myself using a console for streaming purposes and even if I did I'd use Youtube. For someone who likes to listen thru stereo system this could be nice.
RIP napster
I may download this but subscription fee not too keen on that tho.
Everything beautiful has it's moment and then fades away. Napster's time was roughly 16 years ago.
I'll stick with megaboon, thanks.
God I remember napster, big deal at the time for American music industry, all the while, the rest of the world were using things like soulseek. I think slsk is still going too.
Metallica vs, Napster- those were the days. Many a parody was made of this. Still, I don't blame the band- it was illegal sharing after all, but it did bring to light the changes the music industry needed to make.
I prefer my Nintendo 3ds Music app thanks. . .
Music Streaming sites generally do not pay their artists fairly. .
Napster?
I think its neat, if a music service came to the Wii U in the US and was well implemented with good sound quality, I would definitely be interested!
That name bring back memories. A time of dial up where it would take over an hour to download one song. We have it too good these days.
On topic, that is nice. I'm surprised Pandora wasn't the first one to do it, or the very least Amazon since they already have the Video service.
What about Bearshare? Kazza? Limewire? lol Maybe NA can get Pandora?? Probably won't happen...
@Qun_Mang ah South Park.
Is this part of the Virtual Console range?
Remember Napster? It's back! In pog form!
You could argue that it's useful for people without a smart TV but in reality any TV with a USB port now you can hook up to your phone using Chromecast and no doubt other devices too. So I don't entirely see the point but I guess it's useful for that 1% of people who don't have a TV that was made in the last 6 or so years?
I'm curious to use the opportunity to see the selection of artists and music they have. This will be of no use to me however if I can't save albums and playlists to my hdd. My internet is way too slow to stream even music
I might give this a try. My Wii U runs through my amp so I assume I can control the app from the gamepad and have good quality sound without needing to have the TV on.
I didn't even know Napster was a thing...
Are collectible pogs going to come back too?
I'll wait for LimeWire on the 3ds
I thought that service died.
Since this news is clearly from the year 1998, any word on an N64 release?
@MadAdam81 Lol good one.
would make more sense on the 3ds if you could always be connected to the net
Napster? why not spotify??? Is napster even available in NZ tho?
Dont tell me I woke up in 2001 again! D:
So, my dad actually does have a Napster account! He doesn't have a WiiU though. He's 60 and plays Uncharted on the Playstation...Who is this for again?
@BakaKnight lmao
Wow, Napster... I remember that like it was yesterday.
flashback
It was back before man walked the Earth. Craig the dinosaur was working at the office when his buddy Terry came in and he said: "HEY TERRY? DID YOU CATCH THE END OF THAT SHOW LAST NIGHT?" and Terry responded "SORRY CRAIG-O! I DIDN'T. A METEOR FELL ON MY HOUSE!" "OH NO THAT SUCKS! BUT AT LEAST YOU HAVE HOME INSURANCE, ...RIGHT?"
Napster? but it died like a decade ago.
I'll try the trial, but I doubt I'll get a subscription. Sadly, the Wii U doesn't support multitasking aside from the console's own apps (Browser, Miiverse, Eshop, etc.) like the PS4 does. There, you can listen to spotify etc while playing a game. If the Wii U had this feature, I would maybe consider getting a subscription.
To all the posters that got nostalgic, did you really miss Napster becoming a legit music streaming service? That happened like ages ago!
Sure, I also will remember Napster most and foremost as the MP3 sharing site from back in the days, but since then a lot has happened.
Right after the shutdown, in 2002 the name Napster was aquired for an online music store (owned by Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment) that was called Pressplay until then. In 2008, Napster was purchased by Best Buy and was also used as an online music store for MP3's. And in 2011, it was purchased by Rhapsody and became the music streaming service that it is today.
So you see, Napster still existing is really old news.
Maybe they'll get a search engine on the Wii U next. Maybe it'll be Lycos or Ask Jeeves. Maybe they'll even get Chip's Challenge on the eshop....
...hmmm....On second thought, Chip's Challenge would be pretty amazing on the eshop.
I'm actually extremely excited for this. I would have preferred pandora and spotify but knowing nintendo this doesn't surprise me. They always choose the weird one. Look at EVERY. CHOICE. EVER. That said I can now stream music on my big screen through my Wii U.
Very pleased.
I wonder if this means that it will be coming to the Australian eShop as well. We missed out on Wii Karaoke U after all.
Napster and Nintendo!
Now we're talking nostalgia!
Now when are we getting MySpace back?
Guess it's time to get my Myspace password active again with all these throwbacks!
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