Los Angeles ? Nearly a year after the Napster brand was rescued from the ashes of the ruined file-swapping service, a revamped online music store bearing the familiar name debuted Thursday in limited release.

A test version of Napster 2.0 launched with more than a half-million songs from all the major music labels and with individual song and album downloads as well as a subscription service.

It will be available to the general public Oct. 29, officials said.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Roxio Inc., which owns the Napster name, shelved its former online music service, pressplay, and starting moving subscribers to Napster.

Pressplay, which went off-line Tuesday, offered access to songs only for a monthly fee.

Napster 2.0 users will see prices in line with what other services charge, which is about $1 per song and about $10 for full albums or monthly subscription.

Rapper Ludacris surveys his songs on the Napster 2.0 site. Napster 2.0 users will have access to more than a half-million songs from all the major music labels. Napster launched the site Thursday in limited release. The site will be available nationwide Oct. 29.

The service allows users to copy, or “burn,” single songs onto CDs an unlimited number of times, but, like other services, users can’t burn more than five CDs with the same playlist.

“Our company’s passion for what we’re doing will really be felt by consumers, and I think it’s also very consistent with the original vision for Napster,” said Chris Gorog, Roxio’s chairman and chief executive.

The music industry has seen CD sales plummet during the past three years as illegal music file-sharing exploded, beginning with the original Napster, which established a peer-to-peer network for users to swap music without paying copyright holders. That service was forced to shut down in 2001 after a protracted legal battle with recording companies.

Roxio is betting the Napster brand will help set its new service apart from a bevy of other digital music retailers that have launched since April, when Apple Computer Inc. introduced its iTunes Music Store.

Also vying for a piece of the market are Buy.com’s BuyMusic.com, RealNetworks’ Rhapsody, MusicNow and MusicNet.