More Competition -- from Napster
Mercury News reports that Napster will be resurrected by their new owners -- Roxio.
Roxio is planning on releasing Napster 2.0 by Christmas. The new music service will be legal and have the backing of the five major labels as well as independent labels. Their plan is to launch with 500,000 tracks -- with the bulk of the additional tracks being made up from the independent labels and artists. It is unclear, however, what usage rights will be provided with the songs.
The article notes that they are working on liberalizing usage rights for users -- but no final details are yet available. The new service does intend to provide some added flexibility -- with both subscription based as well as al la carte download services.
Napster was the first major MP3 trading application that popularized P2P (Peer to Peer) file-trading.
(More details are to be discussed at the Keynote address at Jupiter's Plug-In Conference today.)
With five months until Christmas, however, the digital music landscape could change dramatically. Apple's iTunes for Windows is also due to appear by year's end.
Popular Stories
Apple is expected to unveil iOS 27 during its WWDC 2026 keynote on June 8, and there are already many rumored features and changes for iPhones.
The first developer beta of iOS 27 will likely be available immediately following the keynote, and a public beta typically follows in July. Following beta testing, the software update should be released to all users with a compatible iPhone in...
Apple today released a new Pride Edition Sport Loop for the Apple Watch. The band features a rainbow design with 11 colors of woven nylon yarns.
The new Pride Edition Sport Loop is available to order now on Apple.com and in the Apple Store app in 40mm, 42mm, and 46mm sizes, and it will be available at Apple Store locations starting later this week. In the U.S., the band costs $49.
There...
iOS 26.5 is expected to be released next week, following more than a month of beta testing. The update is relatively minor, but there are a couple of new features and changes across the operating system that we have recapped below.
iOS 26.5 lays the groundwork for end-to-end encryption for RCS in the Messages app and ads in the Apple Maps app, and it will include a new Pride wallpaper and a...
