Napster UK has upped the number of songs available from its online music service from 500,000 to 700,000.

The company said as much at its launch last month (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/20/napster_uk_live/), but today's announcement puts its track catalogue well ahead of competing UK-based music services.

Napster UK has all the major labels in its bag, along with many of the UK's leading independent labels, courtesy of its tie-in (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/12/uk_music_deals/) with indie trade body the Association of Independent Music (AIM).

Napster's UK site went online on 20 May, followed a week later by its Canadian service. The company won't say specifically how successful it's been at signing up British music fans, either for one-off downloads or for its £9.95 ($18.32) subscription package. However, UK communications director Adam Howorth told The Register that the company was "very pleased" with the figures to date.

Napster faces two key challenges this month: the launch of Sony's Connect service and - more importantly - the arrival of Apple's iTunes Music Store, which is believed to debut in just over a week's time, on 15 June. ®

Related stories

Napster UK goes live (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/20/napster_uk_live/)
Napster opens Canadian outpost (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/27/napster_canada/)
UK indies sign to Napster... (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/12/uk_music_deals/)
UK legal downloads hit half a million (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/03/download_legal/)
Apple Euro music licence win signals mid-June launch? (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/27/apple_itunes_europe/)
Oxfam enters music download biz (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/26/oxfam_music_store/)
Italy approves 'jail for P2P users' law (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/20/italy_p2p_law/)