Napster changed the music industry

A legal version of the service, renamed Napster 2.0, will become available to customers in the US who will now have to pay for downloading music.

The original Napster had 60 million users but was forced to close when record companies began legal action over copyright infringements.

Napster 2.0 is offering single tracks for 99 cents and albums for $9.95. There are no plans to launch in Europe.

Online rivals Napster - 500,000 songs, 99 cents each iTunes - 400,000 songs, 99 cents each MusicMatch - 200,000 songs, 99 cents each

It will make available half-a-million songs which fans will be able to buy through a monthly subscription or one-off purchases.

Napster was one of the first companies of its kind on the web but is now among a number offering the same basic service in a rapidly evolving online music business.

Apple launched its iTunes Music Store in the US for Macintosh users, and later made it available to PC users. Within four days, a million PC users had downloaded the software, the New York Times reported.

Legal service

Another major player is Kazaa, an unlicensed service which has been accused of encouraging its users to download pirated music.

Wippit.com, a London-based file-sharing network, announced last week it had struck a deal to offer 100,000 tracks from the EMI catalogue.

HAVE YOUR SAY Napster does have a unique brand recognition which will give it a strong start. William Dowell, UK Send us your comments

Napster was bought last year by digital media company Roxio for $5m (�2.9m), with plans to launch a legal service but cashing in on the brand name.

Napster's founder Shawn Fanning was brought back by Roxio to work as a consultant.

Online music sales are expected to grow from 1% of the total music market to 12% in 2008, generating about $1.5 billion in sales, according to Jupiter Research.