napster

Sean Parker: Spotify to finish what Napster started

SAN FRANCISCO--Sean Parker's interests in revolutionizing the music industry, so to speak, are well known from his early days as a co-founder of Napster. His current efforts on this horizon are focused on Spotify.

"These historical limitations that defined the dynamics of the record business no longer any sense," said Parker, speaking at the Web 2.0 Summit.

Parker described Spotify as an "attempt to finish" what he started with Napster, being that it is a "dream of frictionless-free, tiered service that enables music sharing."

"We're all trying to figure out … Read more

Rhapsody to acquire Napster (scoop)

Rhapsody, one of the oldest Web subscription music services, has made it official. The company has acquired Napster subscribers and other assets from Best Buy, while the electronics retailer will obtain a minority stake in Rhapsody, the companies said today.

In a deal first reported by CNET, the acquisition is expected to close on November 30, the companies said in a press release. Best Buy appears to be unloading a music service that struggled prior to being acquired by the merchant and seemed only to have disappear after.

The financial terms of the deal were not fully disclosed. Nonetheless, it … Read more

Did Steve Jobs help or hurt music?

Perhaps the question should be, "Did Steve Jobs help or hurt the sound of music?" He did not invent digital music or MP3 players, but that didn't stop him from redefining the way people buy and listen to music.

Then again, Napster was around before iPods and iTunes, and it allowed people to amass gigantic music collections at zero cost, which I don't see as something to be proud of. Having 10,000+ songs on an iPod is one thing, but do people ever really listen to all of that music? Record labels could not compete … Read more

This Day in Tech: Obama appoints Twitter CEO, plus Google foes

Too busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET for Friday, May 27.

Obama appointing Twitter CEO to advisory group Twitter chief Dick Costolo will join the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. Microsoft's Scott Charney and McAfee's David DeWalt will be appointed too. More

Microsoft to showcase new tablet OS next week? Software giant reportedly plans to take the wraps off a new operating system next week, perhaps running on hardware using Nvidia's ARM-based Tegra processor. More

Zuckerberg: Privacy anxiety is fleeting New features may initially give … Read more

Was Napster or iTunes more influential?

As Amazon, Google, and Apple appear to be leading digital music in the direction of the cloud, it seems a good time to look back at some of the most influential online music services of the past.

Some people might argue that the modern digital music era started with the launch of iTunes. Others will say the birth of Napster kicked it off. The truth is two years before Napster launched in 2000, there were plenty of companies jockeying for dominance in online CD sales as well as downloads.

They were competing in nascent Internet radio or trying to create … Read more

Napster for Android gets caching

Shortly after announcing its gorgeous--but poor-sounding--app for iOS, Napster has released an update for its Android mobile software. Now, Android users who subscribe to the service for $9.99 per month can save playlists and albums for offline playback. With this new feature, the Android app is directly in line with the iOS app in terms of both functionality and interface. Here's hoping the former offers better audio quality, though.

The 404 686: Where Caroline McCarthy debuts Apple Mac OS X Keyboard Cat (podcast)

The big news this morning is Apple's invitation to a Mac OS X event next week that came with an accompanying image of a lion peeking out of the Apple logo to tease the next iteration of the Mac OS X operating system.

We're letting the CNET experts handle the predictions for what the event will unveil, so instead we're taking bets on the feline-inspired nomenclature for the update: Mac OS X: Tiger Woods; Mac OS X: Pussy Cat; and Mac OS X: Liger are being thrown around, but we're guessing Apple might just go with Mac OS X: Lion.

CNET's social-networking reporter Caroline McCarthy comes on the show today to tell us why she literally ran away from our meetup. Caroline will be running the New York Marathon on November 7 to benefit Camp Interactive, a year-round program that introduces inner-city youth to technology through the inspiration of the outdoors. There are only a few weeks left to donate to her team, so head over to the Crowdrise Web site and help out if you can!

Speaking of protecting children, Apple just filed a patent application for "systems, devices, and methods" that will allow parents to block adult content from text messaging. In other words, no more sexting. The application will take into account the child's age or grade level to determine what words or content should be censored from messages, and the system will even notify the user and administrator when the dirtiness pops up onscreen.

So now that the Facebook movie "The Social Network" has been out in theaters for a few weeks, we can finally talk to Caroline about the validity of its content in relation to screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and Ben Mezrich, author of "The Accidental Billionaires." If you haven't seen the movie yet, this is your warning that this segment features serious spoilers!

Tune in to find out if Mark Zuckerberg is really as much of a jerk as his onscreen counterpart, if Napster co-founder Sean Parker really got busted for cocaine at a Stanford party, and if there's any truth to that scene with the flaming bed. Big thanks to Caroline for joining us on the show, and don't forget to donate what you can to help Camp Interactive!

Episode 686 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Napster for iPhone looks pretty, but sounds ugly

In terms of music apps, Napster lagged behind the competition until its caching-capable mobile program hit the iTunes music store. Luckily, what finally did arrive is a pleasure to behold. Clearly a lot of effort went into designing the look and feel of the Napster for iOS app. The interface is quite simply one of the best we've seen from a mobile music program, with options laid out in a handy grid of large buttons and a slick, graphically appealing theme. Sadly, sound quality falls very short of the offerings from Rhapsody and Slacker.

Read the full review at … Read more

More than 10 million songs for your iPhone

Bottom line: Napster for the iOS is a nicely designed app with an excellent user interface, plentiful features, and speedy navigation. Unfortunately, the sound quality isn't quite up to snuff.

Review: In terms of music apps, Napster lagged behind the competition before its caching-capable mobile program hit the iTunes music store. Luckily, what finally did arrive is a pleasure to behold. Clearly, a lot of effort went into designing the look and feel of the Napster for iOS app. The interface is quite simply one of the best we've seen from a mobile music program, with options laid … Read more