Carphone Warehouse, Napster team up for music offer

The Carphone Warehouse has partnered with Napster to offer its mobile phone handset customers free access to the US music streaming service.

Customers purchasing contract or prepaid iPhone and Android phones at The Carphone Warehouse will be able to redeem three months free access to Napster Unlimited, plus Mobile.

The service, normally costing £10 per month, allows users to browse a library of 17 million tracks for unlimited streaming, along with downloads for listening while offline.

Napster was one of the pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing services when it launched in the late 1990s, peaking with more than 26 million users worldwide in February 2001.

The company was synonymous with Sean Parker, played by Justin Timberlake in hit film The Social Network, although it was actually founded by Shawn Fanning and his uncle John Fanning.

Despite its early success, Napster was forced to declare bankruptcy and shut down in 2002 following a string of lawsuits from the music industry, including actions from Metallica and Dr Dre.

Napster later returned as a legitimate operator, including the launch of an MP3 download store in May 2008 to challenge Apple's iTunes. The company was acquired later that year by US electronics retailer Best Buy in a $121 million deal.

Discussing The Carphone Warehouse partnership, Napster's vice president of sales and marketing Europe Thorsten Schliesche said: "In delivering this offer we are now able to break down the barriers to entry and open up a world of music to new users.

"This is a great opportunity for us to showcase our new mobile app and continue to expand on our promise to deliver truly unlimited mobile music in an accessible and entertaining package.

"Enjoying three months of free unlimited access to such an incredible amount of music is an excellent chance to open your handsets to a new and inspiring mobile musical experience."