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NAPSTER MUSIC VOUCHERS GO ON SALE IN 1,000 MORE STORES ACROSS THE UK FOLLOWING DEAL WITH TM RETAIL
Presence in UK’s largest chain of newsagent and convenience stores follows major national roll-out of Napster Music Vouchers and Pre-Paid Cards at the Post Office® and Dixons Group LONDON - (November 25, 2004) - Napster UK, Ltd. a subsidiary of Roxio, Inc. (Nasdaq: ROXI), has announced a retail partnership with TM Retail Ltd, the UK’s largest chain of newsagents and convenience stores. Under the terms of the agreement, TM Retail will distribute Napster® Music Vouchers throughout its entire UK network of over 1,000 shops, including McColl’s, Martin’s, Forbuoys, RS McColl and Dillons stores. Ideal as gifts or for those without a credit card, the Napster Music Vouchers can be picked up in any regional TM Retail store from November 25 and exchanged at the till for a receipt with a unique code that music fans can redeem against subscriptions or purchases of tracks from Napster’s catalogue of over 1 million tracks at www.napster.co.uk. The Napster Music Vouchers are colour coded. Green vouchers provide access to Napster’s online music subscription service for 2 months at a cost of £20 or 4 months for £35. Blue vouchers entitle the bearer to take their pick of permanent downloads from Napster in bundles of 10, 22, and 33 tracks at a cost of £10, £20, and £30, respectively. The TM Retail partnership follows the launch earlier this month of Napster Music Vouchers across all 16,000 Post Office stores - the first time the retailer has ever stocked music-related products - and the decision by the Dixons Group to sell Napster pre-paid cards in its Dixons, Currys, PC World and The Link stores. "TM Retail is an excellent partner for Napster because it gives our localised UK online music service a high street presence in hundreds of smaller shops around the country. Our retail roll-out is gathering pace and shows the tremendous appeal of the Napster brand to traditional offline retailers," said Napster vice-president and UK general manager Leanne Sharman. "For those who may be unfamiliar with the internet or perhaps don’t have a credit card, Napster Music Vouchers offer a very easy route to the Napster service - giving clear and simple instructions on how to redeem subscriptions and track purchases." "This really brings digital music to the mainstream market and together with Napster we are offering a digital Christmas present for the first time," said Mike Godwin, TM Retail’s general manager buying. "This is another new offer for our customers, maintaining our presence as the Number One Neighbourhood retailer." Napster 2.0 Launched in the UK on May 20, Napster offers access to over one million tracks and a huge range of value-added community features at a cost to subscribers of £9.95 a month. Alongside the subscription service, Napster Light offers music fans an a la carte download store. After downloading the free Napster jukebox at www.napster.co.uk, Napster subscribers can listen to the world’s largest digital music catalogue on demand, and download any track they choose onto the hard drives of up to three PCs and listen offline - to save bandwidth while they surf, or for convenience when on the go. Over 15 interactive advert-free Napster radio stations allow listeners to see which song is coming next, skip forward or jump back - with favourites easily added to their Napster library with one click. Napster can even build subscribers their own custom radio station on the fly simply on the basis of selecting three songs. Napster’s rich community features allow subscribers to browse each others’ play lists and even share songs among other Napster users. Subscribers can also listen to and save full-length songs taken from the past 40 years of Official Charts Company UK charts, and can purchase and burn tracks for as little as £0.88 per song when they buy multiple tracks. If UK music fans elect not to become a subscriber, by downloading Napster for free at www.napster.co.uk, they can still purchase tracks any time they want for £0.99 and albums for £9.95 after listening to free 30-second samples of the Napster UK library. At no cost, Napster LightTM users can organise their entire music collection in Napster by using the ripping software in the Napster jukebox to take tracks from CDs they already own to play on Napster, import MP3s into their Napster Library, or transfer tracks they’ve bought to a wide range of portable devices. Napster Light also offers consumers free access to their own Napster Inbox; and the chance to sample the OCC UK charts. About TM Retail TM Retail was formed in 1998 when Forbuoys acquired MRG (Martin Retail Group); the earliest of these stores dating back to 1901, a RS McColl in Glasgow. Totalling over 1,300 stores - trading through out England, Scotland and Wales, TM Retail operate under fascias including McColl’s, Martin’s, Forbuoys, RS McColl, More and Dillons, making them the UK’s number one neighbourhood retailer. 1999 saw the launch of TM Retail's new convenience concept McColl’s. McColl’s has subsequently been rolled out into Neighbourhood, Metro, High Street, Travel and Hospital locations. TM has over 950 lottery terminals, is the largest independent operator of post offices at 400. It is the largest home news delivery business with over 300,000 customers and a small army of newspaper boys and girls, and in 2003 launched ‘Mags@Home’, the first magazine ‘in-store’ catalogue, offering over 3,000 titles for selection and delivery to a customers home. 2003 also saw TM Retail open seven stores in a partnership trial with Somerfields, called ‘ Somerfield Martin’s ‘, the first opening in Cheadle Hulme in March, and the latest addition opening in Redditch at the end of the year, bringing together two of the country’s leading high street retailers. 2004 TM Retail acquired Dillon stores and consolidated their market position as the country's number one retailer in their sector. About Napster Napster, the world’s biggest brand in digital music, is a subscription service that enables fans to access the world’s largest and most diverse online collection of music and experience the largest number of features. Napster subscribers have more ways to discover, share and acquire new music and old favorites with community features like the ability to email tracks to friends and browse other members’ collections. Subscribers to Napster can listen to full-length songs from every major record label and hundreds of independents on demand and transfer songs to their favourite Napster To Go™ compatible MP3 player for a low monthly fee. Napster also offers Napster Light, a "lighter" version of the service for those who just want to purchase songs and albums a la carte. Napster is a division of Roxio, Inc., (Nasdaq: ROXI), the Digital Media Company®, provider of the best-selling digital media software in the world. Napster is headquartered in Los Angeles. Napster contact: Adam Howorth Communications Director Tel: +44 (0) 207 1017281 adam.howorth@napster.co.uk
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