Napster Is Making A Comeback, Sort Of

Streaming service Rhapsody has a lot of people scratching their heads wondering why they have rebranded under the name of Napster – cool cat in headphones and all. Well, the fact that more people are now talking about this than have ever actually used Rhapsody it starts to make more sense.

Rhapsody was part of one of the first waves of streaming provides. Think Grooveshark – a wave that has recently started to lose momentum in the tsunami that is the current streaming landscape. As it turns out, Rhapsody was just about as popular as the aforementioned and now defunct largely unpopular service.

Back in 2011, the masters that be acquired the rights to Napster – The Robin Hood of Gen X, the Joan Of Arc for millennial entertainment, the we feel distain for Lars Ulrich and for a while at least, one of the most recognised names and brands in digital service providers.

Now it seems Rhapsody will be syphoning the international pull that comes with such a reputation. Already in Canada, Napster 2.0 has been in full swing and today throughout North America Rhapsody subscribers will notice their service has a new but familiar name and will be served with a notice that they’ll be “No changes to your playlists, favourites, albums, and artists. Same music. Same service. Same price.”

That said, there’s every chance that two entire generations have grown up without ever using the service and only hearing about it in The Italian Job. I for one met a 19 year old recently who didn’t know who Hanson were. It’ll be tough to steal their attention away from the shiny new Spotifys of the world when you’re dangling in front of them something their uncle used in the 90s.

It’s not yet known when the changes will be made in Australia. But does anyone here actually use Rhapsody? I for one will be signing up to Napster the moment it’s available here because fuck Lars Ulrich.

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