Best Buy has announced that they will be acquiring online music retailer Napster Incorporated for $121 million, in an attemp to shift into high gear the growth in the digital entertainment industry.

The deal, which includes Napster’s 700,000 subscribers, their customer platform and their technological capabilities also, is scheduled to be clinched during the fourth calendar quarter.

President and Chief Operating Officer of Best Buy Brian Dunn stated that the purchase is aimed at reaching new customers and also building recurring relationships with them, as their needs to have access to digital content at any given time or place are expected to soar.

Nevertheless, there is presently fierce competition on the digital-music market, which Best Buy will have to face. Currently, Apple’s iTunes is the leading music retailer in the United States, followed by Wal-Mart. The former company’s service is a digital media application that enables users to play and organize video and music files, as well as purchase and download various content via the Internet. Amazon’s MP3 store poses a real threat also, since it offers customers two million digital rights management-free tracks, which can be played on any portable media player.

Best Buy is the largest consumer electronics retailer in both the U.S. and Canada, with a strong grip on 21% of the market.

Napster currently has fourty employees and has registered, for the fiscal year that ended this March, revenue of $127.5 million.