Let the trumpets sound, for the king of online music downloads has returned. Napster has finally returned, after many years in purgatory, to reclaim its rightful throne. The king is back, baby.

At least, that’s what we’d all like to think. Like it or not, the face of digital music has changed dramatically in the years since Napster was pulled offline. New legislation has pretty much made free distribution of music illegal, and in the areas where there are no laws as such, the RIAA is quite lawsuit happy.

So, if Napster is back, what kind of service is it?

So what, is Napster really jumping into the same arena of already established (and criminal record free) players? Well, that looks like it’s the case and, trust me, it’s only going be good for consumers. Napster has re-launched with competitive pricing (think $10 per month), and an impressive list of features that should be making the big boys rethink their business models.

The service is very similar to how I remember it, and it’s just as simple as it ever was. Heck, finding what you want out of Napsters 2.5 million (yea, million) songs is simply a matter of typing in the artists name and hitting search. Or, if you don’t know what the heck you’re looking for, you can browse some of Napsters pre-made play lists or top 40 charts.

I got so preoccupied checking out the various top 10 charts that I nearly forgot to start downloading. Once I realized the error of my ways, I started downloading music and boy was it ever fast. I don’t know what servers Napster has all of this stuff hosted on, but I was downloading at speeds that I had never experienced before on my ADSL connection. We’re talking less than 10 seconds a song, and that was with 5 or 10 songs going at a time.

You can take the music that you’ve downloaded and put them on to two other computers. Though not quite as lenient as other services, this is still very good and you’re unlikely to ever even notice. Unless you personally own more than three computers, you’ll never have a problem.

Conclusion

Napsters integrated “Napster To Go” makes transferring files to your MP3 player painless, and it does not cost you on a per song basis. Napster has quite obviously taken their service to the max, all the while screaming “suck it, iTunes”.

There’s no filler, no fluff, and no problems with Napsters new service. For me, that’s a great thing. However, there are a few restrictions on the music that you downloaded, but that’s pretty standard. As always, the music disappears once you cancel your subscription.

However, at a mere $10 per month for all the music that you want, who would need to cancel?