Napster has launched a digital music store with over 6 million digital songs in its library, including music from all major music labels and thousands of independents, reports MediaBuyerPlanner.

Pricing is 99 cents per song or $9.95 per album, comparable to rates on iTunes. Songs purchased on Napster will automatically sync to users' iTunes music library, writes Reuters.

Napster's catalog is available without copy protection or digital rights management (DRM), which the company believes will better equip it to compete against iTunes.

DRM-free songs are playable on any MP3 player and can be burnt to CDs and played on other devices. Most iTunes songs come with Fairplay DRM, meaning they cannot be played on digital players apart from the iPod.

Until late last year, iTunes charged a surcharge for DRM-free music. It remains the leading digital music retailer in the US.

"It’s great that we have finally gotten here," said Napster's Chris Gorog. "It is really the beginning of a level playing field, which I think is essential for Napster, but also for the health of the digital music business in general."

Napster's DRM-free music store cements the music industry’s shift away from support for digital locks on tracks, the BBC claims.

But DRM's dominance has suffered erosion over time. Amazon launched a competitively-priced DRM-free music store in September last year. It is now the second-largest digital music retailer. DRM took another blow when Microsoft announced it would stop providing license keys for music purchased on MSN Music, inconveniencing past customers.

Napster will continue to support its unlimited music subscription model, honoring the belief that that is the direction consumers will ultimately be moving.