WebProNews

AT&T announced today that it would allow its subscribers to download music from Napster's catalog of over five million songs directly to their cell phones. The service will launch early next month.

The Napster Mobile service will further AT&T's entry into music. In July, it launched a service called eMusic, which focused on independent music. The partnership with Napster will also make AT&T more competitive with Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel.

"To the extent that there are music aficionados who haven't engaged in our services, this gives us a great opportunity to drive the business," Mark Collins, who heads up consumer data services for AT&T told the Dow Jones wire service. "It's one part of our multipart strategy."

The price of a single song is $1.99, or $7.49 for five songs per month. Subscribers who download songs to their cell phones will receive an email message that allows them to put a second copy on their computers. Users who have existing songs through Napster can transfer them to their phones.

The partnership with AT&T provides Napster with access to a larger customer base in the U.S. Napster has smaller arrangements in both the U.S. and overseas. Napster hopes that working with AT&T will help the company to better compete with Apple's iTunes. The service will not be compatible with the iPhone.