Closed systems leave song buyers out in the cold
The top consumer complaint at online music service
Napster: Songs purchased at Napster won’t play on Apple’s iPod.
It’s not Napster’s fault. Apple’s (AAPL) hugely successful iPod business is built on a closed system. You shop at iTunes Music Store for digital songs and use iTunes software to transfer them effortlessly to the iPod.
The system works great [...]
Skype founder: Kazaa, Napster help music
Kazaa,Napster Inc and other creators of file-sharing applications have been good for the music industry, Niklas Zennstrom, founder of the now-defunct Kazaa and CEO of Skype, said Monday.
“Kazaa came five years too early, but without that and Napster we would never have seen the transformation we’re seeing in the music industry,” said Zennstrom at a [...]
Napster Goes Japanese
Napster launched a new music download service in Japan today as it tries to play catch up with the 800lb iTunes gorilla.
Japan is the second largest music market in the world and offers Napster a chance to expand into additional markets with which to compete with iTunes. iTunes, available in Japan since last year, [...]
Napster says it is for sale or for joint venture
Online music company Napster Inc is for sale. The company said Monday it is considering options of either selling itself or forging alliances in order to set up possible joint ventures.
The company has hired UBS Investment Bank to help it assess possibilities and identify a suitable option.
Napster’s chief executive Chris Gorog said he had received [...]
Napster giving MP3 players to subscribers in Britain
Napster is aiming to take some customers away from Apple iTunes by launching a new scheme under which they would be giving away an MP3 player worth about £30 to all new subscribers to their digital music service in Britain.
The company is offering a 512MB version of a SanDisk music player to customers who take [...]
Bertelsmann settles Napster case with Vivendi
German media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG said on Wednesday it had settled litigation related to file-sharing service Napster.
As part of the deal, Vivendi’s Universal Music will receive $60 million to help cover legal fees and expenses. Bertelsmann said it admits no liability.
LimeWire and the Napster Curse
Shawn Fanning’s 1999 release of Napster forever associated peer-to-peer technology with music piracy, and we all bear the burden of that curse today. Why do I call it a curse? Because p2p can and will be used in far more powerful ways that for distributing copyrighted works, and its inclusion in the incredibly [...]
Napster Boosts Revenues, Issues Surround Profits, Subscribers
Napster recently issued its fiscal first quarter earnings scorecard, which featured record revenues, lowered cash burn, and continued profit and subscriber concerns. Revenues topped $28.1 million, a 34 percent increase over the prior year quarter, and a 5 percent jump sequentially. The figure includes a one-time revenue amount of $1.9 million from “prepaid card breakage,” [...]
Stoic Napster troubled by Grecian formula
Last autumn, Napster launched a striking advertising campaign. It drew inspiration from, of all places, the stoic philosophers.
The most memorable slogan was “Have Everything, Own Nothing”, and we asked the company about it at the time.
Did Napster mean what it said?
Yes, insisted Alan Cohen, Napster’s chief marketing officer.
“In today’s world, everything is becoming digital, and [...]
Napster Upgrades Digital Music Service, Adds 1G MP3 Player
Los Angeles-based Napster has upgraded its digital music service, announcing this morning that its latest version adds the ability to synchronize its subscription music content with MP3 players.
The new feature automatically synchronizes subscribers MP3 players with Napster’s music library when the MP3 player is docked to a computer.
The company also has rolled out [...]
