• by February 17, 2005

Napster's new online music subscription service is under fire. Complaints that Napster To Go's copy-protection standards leave the music rental service vulnerable to unauthorized copying have been circulating the Web. Now, Napster is on the defensive. The company issued a statement on the Web this week saying the digital music tracks on its Napster To Go service are no more susceptible to illegal copying than any other online music service.

Napster To Go launched a few weeks ago. The service charges $15 a month and allows consumers to play as many music tracks as they want on their computers or selected portable players for the month. It's an all-you-can-eat rental buffet, versus other music download plans like Apple's iTunes Music Store, which enables consumers to purchase tracks to own. Napster's statement refuting the Web claims described Napster To Go's process as similar to copying music from the radio onto cassette tapes.

Critics of the service say all one has to do to make unauthorized copies of music and bypass the copy protection system is to download a free audio player that records audio directly from a PC's sound card.

It remains to be seen how the copy protection chaos will affect the marketing and adoption of Napster To Go. We'll wait and see.