Best Buy To Purchase Music Service Napster

Best Buy has announced plans to purchase digital music service Napster Inc. for $121 million in an attempt to compete with the leading digital music service, iTunes.

Napster Inc and best both currently offer digital music services but have been no threat to iTunes, which currently holds 70 percent of the digital market in the United States. By joining forces, both companies believe that they will have the ability to bridge the gap on iTunes dominance.

"This is a very natural and appropriate time for Napster to lever up our position in the industry with a strategic bear hug from such a powerful partner," states Napster’s Chief Executive Chris Gorog, to Reuters.

There is no word on the exact launch date of the service, but the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2008.