Napster Receives Top Honor From World's Largest Internet Safety Organization for Consumer-Friendly Digital Music Service

Napster Receives Top Honor From World's Largest Internet Safety Organization for Consumer-Friendly Digital Music Service

Wired Kids Internet Visionary Award Bestowed to New Napster to Go Portable Subscription Service

LOS ANGELES and WASHINGTON, May 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wired Kids and The Wired Safety Group announced today that the recipient of the 2005 Internet Visionary Award is Napster(R), the biggest brand in digital music. Napster (NASDAQ:NAPS) was re-launched in October 2003 as a legitimate digital music service and the award recognizes the technology trailblazer for revolutionizing the way children can access digital music in a legal environment. The honor is based on the February 2005 introduction of Napster To Go, the world's first portable digital music subscription service which allows consumers to fill and refill compatible MP3 players for a fixed monthly fee.

Parry Aftab, cyberlawyer and Executive Director of Wired Kids and The Wired Safety Group (WiredSafety.org), the world's largest online safety and help group, said, "Our children are breaking the law everyday when they pirate music online and even young music fans interested in legally filling their high-capacity MP3 players with their favorite songs are faced with the cost prohibitive nature of a la carte stores. Napster has solved this problem by allowing their subscribers to download as much music from their catalogue of over one million songs as they want to their PCs and portable music players, all for one low monthly fee."

Wired Safety has been very vocal in the piracy debate. While actively opposing infringements of Internet users' privacy, it has always supported the rights of copyright holders. Its Peers2peers.org program teaches children to respect the rights of copyright holders, especially software and motion pictures, by getting the kids involved in developing their own public service announcements.

"Napster believes music fans of all ages must be provided with a cool, cost effective alternative to access the songs they love and to take that music with them wherever they go," said Brad Duea, Napster's president. "We are dedicated to offering consumers the best digital music service possible by creating an environment that encourages music discovery while compensating artists and respecting copyright holders."

One of the major challenges of teaching children to respect the copyrights of the music industry in the digital environment is the enormous storage capacity of most MP3 players. Even at $.99 per song, very few could afford to fill the devices legally. The subscription-based Napster To Go service, along with the growing availability of compatible MP3 players, changes the equation. Young people (and their older siblings, parents and grandparents) can now select portable devices with the features they desire, fill them to capacity, and then turn around and refill the players as often as they want (or as often as they change their minds) for just $14.95 per month. The songs will continue to play as long as the subscription is maintained and the device is synced once a month. If the subscription isn't continued, the digitally embedded licenses expire and the tracks will no longer play.

In addition, Napster provides adults with the help they need in supervising their children's music use. Kids age 13 - 18 are required to have parental permission before sign up is permitted and parents are offered the option to limit the content minors can access, by setting up password protected controls to bar access to tracks with explicit content.

The Internet Visionary Award is given once a year to the entity or person who has single-handedly changed the face of the Internet for children. Napster is receiving this award for providing an important step in the anti-piracy solution. By giving kids an affordable alternative to stealing music, especially given the number of spyware applications and viruses and unreliable quality of some of the P2P options, Napster will help take a big bite out of music piracy. As we try and raise children who are good cybercitizens, providing them with affordable innovative alternatives to cyberabuse and illegal behavior is essential. Napster does that and more.

WiredSafety.org is honored to recognize Napster, as its Internet Visionary of 2005.

Past recipients of the award include: AOL, for originating parental controls; Yahooligans!, for safe search engines; Disney, for putting its creative ability and brand behind online safety in SurfSwellIsland.com; and The Children's Partnership for founding the field of Internet safety.

The Internet Visionary Award will be presented as part of the Fifth Annual Wired Kids Summit, "The Good, the Bad and the Internet ... ," on May 25, 2005, in Room 325 of the Russell Senate Building on Capitol Hill. The summit is given entirely by WiredSafety's Teenangels and Tweenangels, FBI-trained teens and preteens who are experts in Internet safety and responsible use. Teenangels and Tweenangels promote good cybercitizenship and safe interactive technology use and advise law enforcement and the technology and entertainment industries. The teen and preteen run panels will cover cyberbullying, new technologies and Internet safety, downloading copyrighted media, Internet sexual predators and what kids enjoy doing online. It is geared toward policymakers, law enforcement and Internet and entertainment industry representatives.

About Napster

Napster, the biggest brand in digital music, is a subscription service that enables fans to freely sample the world's largest and most diverse online collection of music and move an unlimited amount of songs to compatible MP3 players. Napster (www.napster.com) members have access to songs from all major labels and hundreds of independents and 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. 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 currently available in the United States, Canada and the U.K. and is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in London, New York, San Diego and San Jose.

About WiredSafety.org

WiredSafety.org and its related sites and programs (The WiredSafety Group) address all aspects of safe, private and responsible technology use. Its thousands of volunteers assist victims of cybercrime and abuse of all ages, and has special programs teaching young people how to control interactive technology instead of being controlled by it. Founded and run by Internet privacy and security lawyer, Parry Aftab, the organization focuses on cyberpolicy and good cybercitizenship, as well as cybercrime prevention and awareness. WiredSafety.org operates globally through thousands of volunteers in 76 countries around the world and works closely with law enforcement and regulatory agencies globally. Recently Marvel Enterprises donated an exclusive license for its thousands of characters, including Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk, to WiredSafety.org and Parry Aftab for their educational and awareness messaging. The Internet Super Heroes campaign will include special custom comics created by Marvel, live character appearances and websites to teach good cybercitizenship, cyberbullying prevention and respect for intellectual property online. For more information about Wired Safety and its programs, visit WiredSafety.org, WiredKids.com and InternetSuperHeroes.org.

Copyright (c) 2005 Napster, LLC. All rights reserved. Napster, Napster To Go and Napster Light are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Napster, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries.

Napster Contacts: WiredSafety.org Contacts:
Becky Farina Parry Aftab, Esq.
Napster WiredSafety.org
310-281-5005 (201) 463-8663
becky.farina@napster.comparry@aftab.commedia@wiredsafety.org

Nancy Sullivan, John Conroy
Rogers & Cowan
310-854-8199 or 854-8178
nsullivan@rogersandcowan.comjconroy@rogersandcowan.com

Source: Napster; The Wired Safety Group

CONTACT: Becky Farina of Napster, +1-310-281-5005,
becky.farina@napster.com; or Parry Aftab, Esq. of WiredSafety.org,
+1-201-463-8663, parry@aftab.com, or media@wiredsafety.org; or Nancy Sullivan,
+1-310-854-8199, nsullivan@rogersandcowan.com, or John Conroy,
+1-310-854-8178, jconroy@rogersandcowan.com, both of Rogers & Cowan, for
Napster

Web site: http://www.napster.com/
http://www.wiredkids.com/
http://www.wiredsafety.org/

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