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For £14.95 a month you get access to the 1 million-strong catalogue under Napster To Go, a service the company claims is 'the world's first portable subscription music service'.

There are currently five mp3 players that support the new service, with at least 14 more expected within the next quarter. Communications manager at Napster Adam Howarth said that Napster had 'excellent relationships' with hardware vendors and that they were queuing up to update the firmware for their players that would make them compatible.

Howarth likened Napster To Go with Sky, offering access to a vast array of content, without having to buy it all individually.

However, the Windows Media Digital Rights Management technologies embedded into Napster's content means that if you decide to try out the service for six months and subsequently decide to discontinue, you won't be able to play any of the music you've spent £90 on up to that point.

And while Sky won't let you record its premium Box Office content, you can record its normal channels.

Furthermore, there's a huge difference between the way people listen to music and watch video content. Most of us have a core library of tracks we are emotionally attached to and like to listen to over

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and over again, whereas once you have watched a film a couple of times you don't need to see it again. No-one ever decides not to listen to music because they know how it ends.

What's more, it's convenient to listen to music - you can go about your daily life while listening to music - but with a film, you need to sit down and watch, and stop doing anything else.

Apple's Steve Jobs gave much the same comments as the reason why he didn't expect there to be a video iPod for the foreseeable future in an interview more than a year ago. He added there's no video equivalent of headphones: you don't get the same, almost-complete experience that you get with music. Films are also already available in so many different ways - at cinemas, to rent, pay-per-view or on TV for example - while music has only ever been available to buy from a shop.

'Napster To Go will change the music industry forever,' said Chris Gorog, Napster chairman and CEO. It will certainly be interesting if it does. The music industry's first response to illegal file-sharing - largely through Napster - were the provision of subscription services such as PressPlay and MusicNet. Yet it was Apple's a la carte iTunes service that broke the mold and made a success out of online music that was otherwise failing.

Napster's Howarth insists Napster To Go is a step forward, even if you only look at value for money. Where a standard per-PC subscription to Napster will set you back £9.95 a month, Napster To Go works out at less than £5 a month for three people using one account.

And for those that would prefer to own their music, Napster will sell you a tune for the same price as iTunes: 79p. The Napster Light version also offers albums at £7.95.

More information is available at Napster.