by Peter Bowes in Los Angeles

There are no plans to launch in Europe

Napster is up and running again - and it is legal. The headphone-wearing cat logo remains and is inviting users to discover and buy music in a new way.

The word "buy" will still cause many an enthusiast to grit their teeth in frustration.

Napster 2.0 is a far cry from the old swapping service that bit the dust two years ago.

The service is available only to consumers in the US and is compatible with Windows XP and Windows 2000.

Anyone with older Windows platforms, 95 and NT, and Mac OS users will be disappointed by the lack of compatibility.

The rival service, Apple's iTunes Music Store, is open for business for Mac and, as of last week, PC users.

Napster 2.0 claims to have a catalogue of more than 500,000 songs, each available for $0.99 or $9.95 per album.

Veteran users of the original service are likely to scoff at the relatively small library - but the heady days of having millions of tunes available, for free, are long since over - at least, officially.

Napster has signed a deal to be included on its next media package

Rivals iTunes and MusicMatch offer fewer songs, which probably gives Napster an edge in the legitimate arena of downloading.

A premium subscription service allows unlimited downloading, access to over 40 commercial-free, specialist radio stations and message boards.

In line with iTunes, each song can be previewed for 30 seconds before purchase. Napster promises that its revolutionary user-friendly interface allows people to quickly search for music, discover new artists, burn CDs and transfer music to an array of portable devises.

Like MusicMatch, Napster imposes restrictions on what users can do with their downloads.

According to the long list of terms and conditions, you may not authorise, encourage or allow any tracks or materials used or obtained by you to be reproduced, modified, displayed, performed, transferred, distributed or otherwise used by anyone else.

While downloading to a portable device is encouraged, wholesale copying is not.

Once you have transferred a purchased track to a compatible portable device, you agree not to copy, distribute, or transfer it from that device to any other media or device.

Napster offers an impressive search engine facility. Digging out those favourite songs is relatively easy - providing the artist is not signed to one of the smaller, more obscure labels. However, this is a problem with all the services.

iTunes is also well organised, although MusicMatch fares badly in this area. iPod users will not want to abandon their chosen portable for a Napster compatible player, such as the new devise from Samsung. The interface between iTunes and iPod is second to none.

Napster has a sentimental edge for many users, but practicality, catalogue size, cost and compatibility will ultimately determine its fate.

Napster is available online now.

So what do you think?

Is it as good as the original Napster? How does it compare to the other services available?

BBC News Online users sent in their views.

Why would anyone use it? You can download from Kazaa for free. Until they stop the swapping sites on the Net Napster is dead in the water.
Jamie, England

The only good thing about old Napster is that it was free. Take that away and you are only left with the hassle of searching, downloading, burning etc. Might as well order the CD online, much easier.
Elias, UK

Only available to users in the US? Not fair! We want it too! I don't think too highly about this Napster2.0 now!
Christopher, Thailand

I think Napster is terrific! You can burn songs so easy now, it's great. Also, for $9.95 I can download anything super fast and clean! I love it! Glad it's back.
Shane Preston, USA

I am a mac user and have developed a standard for all pay per download sites. Before I opt to switch platforms (Windows) or allow another software application on my computer (X), these standards must be met to assure that it is worth my time.

As a music "connoisseur" I have set a standard which will determine whether or not I will use a service. I feel if there is a service to offer music, it should offer what I want.

I want the following single selections: 1. Narada Michael Walden- Alone Without You 2. Jack McDuff- Primavera 3. T-Connection- Slippin' Away 4. George Perkins- Crying In The Streets 5. Bohannon- Gentle Breeze 6. Philip Bailey- We're Living In Our Own Time 7. Chocolate Milk- Help Me Find The Road 8. Full Force 12" Single- Kiss Those Lips Albums; 1. Chocolate Milk- We're All In This Together 2. Billy paul- Wide Open

If I can't achieve these goals through a pay service, I am left to assume that this is another corporate collaboration to provide the minimum for the maximum.
Ray Ken, USA

If you actually look at the issues that most people care about (i.e. can I rip my existing CDs into my digital collection, what restrictions are imposed on the songs I buy etc.) then you will see that iTunes has more than "an edge" over Napster. What happens when I upgrade my PC and can no longer burn CDs from the songs Napster sold me etc? These are all real issues and you are doing your readers a genuine disservice by overlooking them. I expected more from the BBC.
Alan Ward, USA

I recently registered with Napster. Overall it has recieved a lukewarm reception from me. A few complaints I have are that they come as a WMA (Windows Media Player) format only. Not the popular MP3 format. So the quality isn't (always) as good. You might have a hard time playing it in other players besides Windows Media Player, it's very "choosy" what you play it in.

The next complaint is the price. While $0.99 per song is a paltry sum to pay, it adds up if you buy a full CD. If you want a 13 track CD that'll be around 13 dollars. If you can afford 13 dollars, you might as well pitch in a few more dollars and buy the real thing, CD jacket and all. It is however, great for buying album singles - you can avoid the full price of the CD and get the song you want.

The most significant problem I've found is that if you/someone accidentally deletes a song/s, or you need to reinstall Windows or wipe your hard drive clean with Fdisk your songs will be gone forever and you spent all that money for nothing. So having a CD burner and/or a portable audio player like the iPod is almost essential.
Brandon, USA

I am with iTunes on this one. I used Napster in the original days and now iTunes is reliable as I have a US and a UK address. iTunes has the backing of Apple and I find it to be more professional than Napster.
Sammy McLoughlin, United Kingdom

The service is very good so far but they do have some bugs in it at start up. People that pre-registered got 5 free tracks to download, as of right - now the free tracks are not available when you log in, Napster knows about this and is working on the problem but said be patience so I have no idea when I will get them. Otherwise the service is good and you can find a lot of songs that are not available in other players.
Rebecca Miller, US

It's too expensive. At $9.99, when quite often a CD costs the same amount. I'd rather buy the CD (ordered online of course) and copy it to MP3 on my Hard Drive. I'll still have the original CD with its artwork and packaging as a back up. It might be illegal, but I don't think it's immoral.
Mark Flawler, United Kingdom

iTunes is still by far the best. It offers the best interface, the best music store (don't forget that whilst Napster has more songs, a huge chunk of them are junk produced by independent labels - quality, not quantity, is what matters) and lots of bells and whistles that the competition can only dream of: audio books, gift vouchers, child controls, perfect synching with you iPod (I love the way when I play an audio book on my iBook or my PC it picks up where i left off on my iPod!), on-the-fly playlists, celebrity playlists, the most liberal personal rights, sharing of your library with others users on the network, far more exclusive content than all the other providers.

The bottom line is that the Apple suite offers a tightly integrated, mature package that is so simple to use that my mum uses it!
Simon, UK

While the new Napster does a good job of offering a wide range of music legally at a great price it still doesn't have the organisation or ease of use that I've enjoyed with iTunes on my Mac and PC. My iPod seamlessly operates with it and it's that made for each other simplicity which I think will make iTunes and iPod the one to beat. All they have to do now is let us buy the stuff.
Iain Farrell, Scotland

why be stuck with WMA (Windows Media Player)? it's inferior compared to the other formats and merely serves to extend/expand Microsoft's hegemony. I will not use it simply for that reason alone. rdw
Dr. Richard Welser,United States

Let's face it, iTunes is the best thing available out there. Sure you will have the others jumping on Apple's coattail and screaming me too, but the proof is in the pudding, iTunes is awesome, well organized, easy to use, and growing. However, Ken, I feel you with the selection because I too am looking for Narada Michael Walden, Chocolate Milk, and others.
Jamal Warner,USA

Just too limited for me. I would have gladly paid what they are asking now if the original file swapping service was available. It just doesn't offer me enough variety to abandon Kazaa at this point. I don't mind paying, but I want a true unlimited variety of music; from the large record labels to small independents.
Tim B.,USA

Forget Napster, forget MusicMatch, DEFINITELY forget anything to do with Microsoft. Remember, all they want to do is separate you from your $$$ and not even let you 'own' what you're paying for. Go iTunes all the way.
Nikolai Langlois,USA

From what I have read so far, most of the people that have apple computers are heavily biased towards iTunes. From a non-biased approach and having utilized both. I am enjoying napster a little more than iTunes. I can use the WMA format in my MP3 CD player. While the AAC format has good sound reproduction qualities, there isn't much support for it. Most media players support Windows Media without to need for patches. As far as the price, you can't find CD singles in stores for $.99 anywhere. Also, "one-hit-wonders" are exactly what their name implies. Buying songs individually is a great pro. Someone made a comment on a 13 song CD costing $13 if you buy all the songs. That's only if you buy them individually. The entire CD can be had for $9.95. For CD's with very few songs, it may be cheaper to buy songs individually. For larger CD's with many tracks, the $9.95 is a good deal. Other songs can be imported into the program. It is easier with iTunes, but Napster just came out. Just give it some time.
Eric,USA

The size of the music library provided by a given service is important, but I expect that within a few months, all of the major players will have similar libraries of available songs. Then the choice of which service to use will be based solely on the user experience. I have an iPod and use iTunes and am very pleased with the level of integration Apple has acheived. It lets me just enjoy my music how and when I want without any hassles. Until a competing service provides the whole experience on par with what Apple has acheived, I couldn't care less if they have 100,000 more songs. It doesn't matter to me because I can just buy a CD if the Apple online store doesn't have the songs.
Brian , US

I've tried both services now, iTMS and Napster 2.0. I was a long time user of the original Napster user and many tears were lost when it closed. Upon trying out the new Napster, I think it should have best stayed closed. I think Apple has got it right here, iTMS has a better interface to the application, has leaner rights when it comes to copying to portable devices. iTMS has more established albums on the store, whilst Napster is just using marketing hype to win the "who's got more tunes" available race. In the end it's all about quality, Apple has innovated it's way into the lead and not simply lifted someone elses work and run with it. My vote overall goes to Apple on this one.
Kristof Kowalski,Australia

iTunes wins, hands down. iTunes has the best overall package: great juke-box player, built in radio stations (you can also hear more by going to shoutcast), easy to use music store with lots of selection, streaming music on a local network, integration with the iPod, screen effects, etc, etc. Napster is just OK, and many things suck. For example the juke box player, and the fact that the music is in Windows Media format is a minus not a plus (no matter what the companies would have you believe). The best thing about the old Napster was it was free. The new software doesn't even remotely resemble the old. In my view, go with iTunes.
Terrin Bell,USA

33 cents a day and I can explore decades worth of billboards, listen and download tracks without hassles and discover new artists in the process. How is this bad? I love it and I am hooked. As I write this from my hammock facing the beach on my wireless laptop I am enjoying this cool song I discovered (Hear me now by hooligan) Sorry folks this is cyber heroin for me. I like it.
Hugo Drax,USA

The title of this article is "Napster still has the edge", yet all I see are items in which Napster is either equal to iTunes (few mentioned) or significantly inferior (e.g., "... long list of terms and conditions...." The title and contend don't match.
DK,USA