Rhapsody picks up Napster

Rhapsody must have looked upon Napster with a longing, and in another case of a corporate giant swallowing up smaller entities, America’s largest on-demand music service has decided to fork out the dough to acquire Napster’s subscriber base in order to extend their leadership position to the next level.

Napster was a unit of consumer electronics retailer Best Buy, and the new terms of agreement will see Rhapsody take charge of Napster subscribers as well as other assets, while Best Buy will in turn receive a minority stake in Rhapsody. A modern barter trade of sorts, this transaction is said to finalize sometime in the region of November 30 later this year.

This particularly strategic move will see the subscriber bases of the two largest premium on-demand music services in the US merge, further enhancing Rhapsody’s product line so that its member base will be on the receiving end of even greater value. How do you think this will affect you as an end user on either Napster or Rhapsody’s side?