It was back in January that Samsung and Napster teamed up to tell us about offering Napster through internet connected TVs, at CES. Now it has got around to delivering it, only in the US for now.
Virtually all new Samsung TVs in the US above 40 inches have Internet@tv connections as Samsung calls them, and these plus select Blu-ray players which also have the Samsung TV Apps platform, can get a 14 day free trial or sign up for a paid Napster subscription in their living room, no PC needed. Napster says this gives access to around 10 million tracks.
When it came out in January there was no discussion of a Samsung TV Apps store, but this is now being seen as one of the first Widget based apps for a HDTV store.
While the announcement talks about a ‘lean-back’ listening experience, we can see the TV remote and the HD screen as a good way to select music for a party. The system comes with its own playlist system, numerous radio stations and it can generate automatic mixes of your favorite artists, with a facility called Automix. The service will also show charts from US magazine Billboard which date back to 1955 and you can play any of the tracks on these charts.
Napster subscriptions start at $5 a month, allowing a different number of permanent downloads depending on what you pay, and full streaming rights to 10 million tracks.