Best Buy’s new Napster: Five bucks, five downloads per month, won’t stream to iPhone
Here we go again. Napster, the peer-to-peer song sharing system that flooded the Internet with ripped MP3 tunes in 2000, is long gone. But the brand name is back for yet another relaunch as a music service approved and blessed by the major labels. I’ve lost count of the number of Napster relaunches, which says something about the lack of impact by any of them.
Later today, around 5 pm Pacific time, Best Buy will throw… Continue Reading
Best Buy buys Napster in part for its “excellent” mobile capabilities?
Consumer electronics retail giant Best Buy purchased Napster, the digital music distribution company, for $121 million in cash today. (Though the deal will actually only cost $54 million net when you take out Napster’s cash and investments.) The obvious reaction is: Why?
The $54 million price tag for a service that is perhaps still best remembered as the one-time largest hot zone for music piracy seems a bit high. The problem is that while Napster may… Continue Reading
Amazon surges to #3 music store – and four online music stores could be roadkill
Amazon’s music store has only been in business for a month, and rumors are flying that it’s already the #3 online music seller.
It’s still far behind Apple iTunes, but that might change. One rumor even pegs Amazon passing the second largest download site, eMusic, in revenue by the end of this year.
That leaves companies that don’t have a large online presence in a difficult position. Napster, Wal-Mart, Rhapsody and eMusic are all looking vulnerable and… Continue Reading
College music site Ruckus raises $10M
Ruckus, which provides college students free unlimited PC and laptop download access to more than two million songs, has raised $10 million in a second round of financing.
The service is apparently making headway on competitor Napster, which offers a similar service. Earlier this month, Penn State dropped a partnership with Napster, in favor of Ruckus — because Ruckus did not charge it for the contract.
However, there’s no sign the company is making headway on revenue…. Continue Reading
Founders Fund hires Sean Parker as partner, to launch second fund
The Founders Fund, the venture firm led by former PayPal chief executive Peter Thiel, has hired Sean Parker, the controversial entrepreneur, who has just turned 27, as a managing partner.
Parker somehow attracts attention wherever he goes. He has already launched three well-known companies. At 19, he co-founded Napster, and his cheekiness drew anger from the recording labels, which eventually shut down Napster with lawsuits. Parker told VentureBeat last week, in an interview, that his… Continue Reading
Yahoo partners with papers — but what does it leave the papers?
Yahoo announced a partnership with a consortium of more than 150 newspapers, in an effort to let the struggling newspaper industry find greater distribution for things like their job ads.
Yahoo struck the deal several major newspaper companies, each of which own scores of newspapers, including MediaNews (publisher of Silicon Valley’s Mercury News), Hearst (publisher of the SF Chronicle), and Cox Newspapers.
The Mercury News summary of the deal is here. Note that CareerBuilder, the site the… Continue Reading