From MP3 libraries
to AI agents

Napster's October 1999 homepage has an unusually technical pitch for a music service: search every library online, choose connection settings and find somebody who has the song. Its feature list names an internal audio player, genre-based chat, playlists, a feedback form and the HotList, all tools for a program you download from this page.

The HotList watches libraries, not just songs. It tells you when a favorite collection is online and accessible. In the original service, Napster's central index pointed you to another user's computer, and that computer supplied the MP3.^[1] The other person had to be there.

Search settings include ping times and bitrates. You could care about the connection before you heard the chorus. At the bottom, the 1999 page even supplies an email address for feedback; by February 2000, the yellow download panel also makes room for copyright policy and terms of use, beneath its invitation to artists.

Napster's June 2001 homepage is a narrow column on a blue-gray background. News and featured music run down the page, with an artist-discovery section below; a notice at the top warns of problems with searches and file sharing. The June capture still looks like a place to find things to hear; the May 2002 page gives its main column to a letter headed Beta and Beyond.

Metallica's complaint arrived on paper. CBS reported in May 2000 that Lars Ulrich helped deliver 60,000 pages naming about 335,000 people the band accused of music piracy.^[2] Those are reported allegations and names submitted, separate from any final block count. The scale of the dispute sits awkwardly beside the little download panel on the preceding page.

The 2002 letter begins Thanks for your interest in Napster. It says the beta program has ended and ties a return to obtaining major-label content. The surrounding navigation and merchandise promotion remain, but the largest block now explains why people must wait. A website built to distribute a program has become a place to read about its future.

Napster's December 2003 homepage is light gray, centered and busy. A free trial sits above the product description; a download chart runs down the right-hand side, and a Samsung portable player gets its own promotion. Our January 2004 capture keeps the free-install button and player promotion, but the December free-trial graphic is absent. The cat is still wearing headphones.

The familiar name belonged to a different business. Roxio bought assets from the former Napster in November 2002, then built its licensed service on Pressplay and launched it on October 29, 2003. Its SEC filing explicitly distinguishes the old company from the buyer.^[3] Seeing the same cat does not establish an unbroken company or the return of the original peer-to-peer network.

The new page has more to explain than where to click Download. The install button, product information, compatible hardware and download chart share a compact column; the product copy spells out $9.95 a month, 99¢ for an individual track and $9.95 for an album, with offers continuing below the main pitch. Getting music now starts with choosing a commercial service.

Napster's June 2005 homepage turns turquoise. A multicolored row of faces tops a promotion for access to more than a million songs; the January 2006 version raises that visible claim to more than 1.5 million. An MP3 player sits in the neighboring offer. The product name is Napster To Go.

The downloads came with a continuing bill. To Go launched in February 2005 at $14.95 a month, and subscription downloads remained playable only while the customer kept the subscription.^[3] A portable player could hold the tracks. That did not make the subscription tracks permanent purchases.

By January 2007, Napster's homepage puts a listening bar above new releases, playlists, staff picks and a daily free-download section. The page provides things to choose before asking the visitor to leave for an application. Some artwork is missing from this replay.

The free listening had a border. Napster's May 2006 launch offered US listeners five free plays of nearly every catalog song, supported by advertising; our January 2007 page specifies three plays per song, while the 2006 filing says listeners outside the US received 30-second samples.^[4] A browser player made the page useful on its own, with country and playback limits behind the invitation.

Napster's June 2010 page puts a teal listening pitch inside a dark frame, followed by product demonstrations and a long white explanation panel. The address has moved to music.napster.com. The page spends much of its height explaining what the listener can do after joining.

In the June 2011 capture, artist portraits stretch across the top. Below them, short sections separate full-length listening, devices, subscription plans and the ability to add a track or playlist. Small illustrations of computers and portable screens do some of the explaining that the 1999 page left to text.

The archived browser title for both years is simply Napster Page. Look down the 2011 full-page capture and the subscription discussion keeps going. Hardware and plans have become part of the homepage itself, instead of a single player advertisement alongside a download. Both captures ask visitors to picture a collection they can reach on different screens. The old instruction to find an available computer has disappeared from the pitch.

Napster's 2012 homepage announces Napster has joined Rhapsody! in yellow on blue. The 2013 and 2014 captures repeat the message, the trial button and a lower section about building a music profile. The 2014 address is rhapsody.com/napster. Following the name now takes the visitor to the buyer's website.

Rhapsody announced an agreement in October 2011 to acquire Napster's subscribers and certain other assets.^[5] The page explains the move through an invitation to try the combined service, then uses a sample profile and device pictures to show what listeners can do there.

The buyer later took the acquired brand's name. Rhapsody became Napster in 2016, as RealNetworks' later company history confirms.^[6] The June 2016 capture catches the handover: a large white headphone cat on black, a coming-soon message and a blue trial button. A strip below offers more information, leading into a FAQ.

The 2015 page between these two designs keeps a Rhapsody button over album tiles. Then the cat gets almost the whole first screen. Across these captures, the migration message outlasts several layouts before the Napster name becomes the destination again.

Napster's June 2017 homepage puts PEOPLE-POWERED MUSIC over a wall of portraits. A phone and playlist panels continue the sales pitch below. By the 2021 capture, a purple background, a large phone and a yellow trial button carry a shorter instruction: PLAY MORE.

The three captures between them split the screen down the middle. Personal listening is on the blue side; music for a brand is on the turquoise side. A headphone-wearing figure crosses the dividing line, joining two offers that have separate buttons. Footer links and social icons sit beneath the photograph.

The 2020 page adds a white notice above that layout. It addresses staying home and links to coronavirus information, a small dated interruption to an otherwise repeated design. The 2021 page removes the split-screen pitch from the hero and moves back to a single listening offer. Its lower page still contains business-service links. The audience expanded, while the trial button kept its place.

Napster's June 2022 homepage puts music tiles on a diagonal behind Music From Every Angle. The 2023 capture keeps the headline and makes the offer beneath it a compact line. By June 2024, the same kind of artwork wall sits behind The Music Service for Music Fans. A blue trial button stays near the center.

The cat has changed too. Compared with the earlier filled face, the 2022 header uses an open outline beside an upright wordmark. That design remains in the 2023 and 2024 captures, a small fixed point above a shifting selection of artwork.

The lower page in 2024 has more room for explanation: a white music panel, device imagery and a rewards section farther down. The first screen sells the catalog with recognizable cover art; the rest tries to make a continuing subscription useful. Nothing on that hero yet asks the visitor to talk to an AI agent.

Napster's October 2025 homepage asks visitors for early access. Blue waves sit behind a short announcement, with more promises farther down about AI-powered experiences and interactive playlists. Infinite Reality had announced a deal to buy Napster in March; an October announcement introduced Napster 26 and the View device.^[7] The capture shows a waiting page, not those products in use.

On October 18, 2026, Napster's live homepage leads with AI agents and a pink sign-up button. Its navigation includes developer and enterprise destinations, while the lower page shows a case study and an AI specialist pitch. The support FAQ confirms a permanent departure from the traditional music-streaming catalog.^[8]

The monthly price could stay while the product changed. Napster's FAQ says existing accounts move to Pro with up to 20 hours of AI conversation or 120 song generations a month.^[9] Those limits describe the new subscription, not listening time in the old music catalog.

In 1999 the HotList waited for someone else's music library to come online. In 2026 the saved library can leave Napster as a spreadsheet.