Napster Makes Deal with BestBuy Devil: Three Ways Best Buy Can Avoid Screwing It Up

Two years ago Best Buy, in trying to take over the electronics world, joined forces with RealNetworks and SanDisk to create a music subscription download service to rival that of Apple and iTunes. Obviously that was a complete failure because now Best Buy is in negotiations to purchase digital music trail blazer Napster for $121 million.



It's understandable that this deal is tempting for Napster, a company that's been forced to play it safe after they crashed and burned in the late 90's due to lawsuits and questionable file sharing tactics. And it's obviously painful for Napster to watch iTunes snake all their potential business as they tried to make nice with the record studios.

However, from a general consumer's standpoint this buyout is treading in some dangerous territory. With great power comes great responsibility, and I'm not sure Best Buy is ready for that.

Admittedly, Napster needs some serious help. Their stock has been consistently falling and their feeble attempts at music subscriptions has left the company flailing. If Napster is going to go through with the deal here are a few things they need to keep as non-negotiable before they sign on the dotted line:

1. Keep the MP3 Store

For years, Napster and Best Buy's partner RealNetworks relied on a subscription based model to sell music. Bad idea. Subscriptions work for gyms, cell phones and even cable TV, but not for music. People don't like monthly payments for music they can't keep. This model just plain doesn't work, as evidenced by iTunes kicking everyone's trash in music sales. Napster's MP3 store library is impressive and if marketed correctly could blow iTunes out of the water. Get rid of that subscription mentality and run with the DRM-free concept.

2. Don't Make Proprietary Formats

This plays into the MP3 Store concept just a bit. Don't make another special file format that only Best Buy players will work with. The average consumer just wants to know that they're music will play, but they get really angry with they find out the stuff they've downloaded or ripped from CDs are locked into funky formats and only playable on certain devices. "Rhapsody Compatible Devices" sound familiar to anyone? Yeah, they're sold almost exclusively by Best Buy.

3. Give Us Free Stuff We Actually Want

Best Buy is notorious for taking good companies and turning them in to corporate junk. Remember GeekSquad? Yeah, those guys turned into glorified cashiers with a slight background in computer science. If Best Buy really wants people to use their service exclusively, keep the Napster name and give us free MP3 tracks with our device purchase, even if we have an iPod. We do not want a one month "free" subscription and we especially do not want a small selection of pre-chosen no-namers that Best Buy has promised to give a foot in the door. We want legitimate free music of our choice. Besides, using this tactic at least entices new users to download the Napster music player and engine to redeem their free stuff; when Napster is already on their computer they'll be more likely to use the service in the future.

See what TopTenREVIEWS says about Napster's service and read about other online music download services.

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