Goodbye, Napster

Now Part Of Rhapsody

In OCTOBER (NET NEWS 10/3), ALL ACCESS reported RHAPSODY had signed an agreement with BEST BUY-owned NAPSTER, wherein RHAPSODY will acquire NAPSTER subscribers and certain other assets, and BEST BUY will receive a minority stake in RHAPSODY. CNET now reports that deal is official. "The service, which in a former iteration frustrated the music industry via peer-to-peer file sharing, was absorbed today in a takeover by a rival music service."

NAPSTER was created in 1999 by SHAWN FANNING, and gave users the ability to swap MP3 files with each across the Internet for free -- but illegally. "That activity cut into the profits of the recording industry and artists, which filed lawsuits that eventually toppled NAPSTER," notes CNET.

NAPSTER's Web is now sporting a message saying the service has joined RHAPSODY and inviting visitors to give it a try.

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