Skip Links

Network World

  • Social Web 
  • Email 
  • Close

(Comma separation for multiple addresses)
Your Message:

Napster reinvents itself ... again

By Pc World India Staff , PC World , 05/21/2008
  • Share/Email
  • Tweet This
  • Comment
  • Print

Napster is getting more involved in the battle for digital music supremacy, announcing it will launch an MP3 download store to compete with iTunes.

The new service will offer upwards of 6 million songs from all major music labels and many independent labels as well. One big plus for this new service is that many songs will lack copy protection or digital rights management, the technology that limits usage of the MP3 and what Apple's iTunes Music Store generally gets slammed about. Most individual songs will cost 99 cents with albums costing $9.95.

The service is completely Web-based, which is another perk compared to iTunes. Songs purchased from the Napster online store come in a DRM-free MP3 format, making the service much easier to use with a variety of different media programs.

Prior to this announcement Napster was a streaming music service launched by Roxio, the company that gobbled up the rights to Napster after the courts shut it down in its original, peer-to-peer file-swapping form.

Regardless of how successful this Napster re-re-re-launch is, competition is always good for the consumer. Roxio's Napster will never be Shawn Fanning's Napster, but seeing the company in the news does allow me to recollect the olden days of the father of digital media sharing.

  • Share/Email
  • Tweet This
  • Comment
  • Print

Partner Content

Gartner 2009 Magic Quadrant for Job Scheduling

Gartner has positioned BMC CONTROL-M in the Leaders Quadrant of their "2009 Magic Quadrant for Job Scheduling." The report assesses the ability to execute and completeness of vision of key vendors in the marketplace. Read a full copy today, courtesy of BMC Software.

Download whitepaper

Dell's SMART Approach to Workload Automation

Read a compelling case study by EMA, Inc. to learn how Dell uses BMC CONTROL-M to cut cost and increase productivity with workload automation.

Download whitepaper

Workload Automation Cost Savings 2 Minute Video

A major computer manufacturer uses BMC CONTROL-M and just four people to schedule and run over 85,000 jobs every month. By switching to BMC CONTROL-M, they more than quadrupled the workload without adding a single staff member.  See how in this 2-minute video overview.

Go to video

Comment
Login
Forgot your account info?
Add comment
Anonymous comments subject to approval. Register here for member benefits.
Have a NetworkWorld account? Log in here. Register now for a free account.

Videos

rssRss Feed