Shares in Napster Inc. shot up nearly 18 percent early Thursday after the company reported that preliminary fourth-quarter sales numbers met the higher end of its forecast.

Sales for the Los Angeles music download service were about $31 million, ahead of its previous forecast of $29 million and ahead of the $30.4 million analysts polled by Thomson Financial were expecting.

Based on its fourth-quarter revenue estimate, the company now expects 2008 sales to be about $127 million, up from $111 million in 2007 and in line with Wall Street’s prediction.

Napster also said its subscriber base rose to about 760,000 as of the end of March as it continues to expand the availability of its download service to incorporate nearly all portable music players and music-enabled cell phones.

“We are beginning to see the long anticipated increases in available compatible devices that we expect to fuel our fiscal 2009 growth,” Napster Chief Executive Chris Gorog said in a statement.

Shares in Napster were up nearly 18 percent to $1.89 in early trading Thursday.