Napster Deal Fails, Employees Fired

nbc3 ^

[chance33_98]

Napster Deal Fails, Employees Fired
Judge Ends Hopes For Revival

POSTED: 6:26 p.m. PDT September 3, 2002

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- All of Napster's employees were handed pink slips Tuesday evening, following a judge's decision to block the sale of the company.

According to a Napster spokeswoman, just before 5 p.m. Tuesday, 42 employees -- including founder Shawn Fanning -- were laid off.

Tuesday morning a Delaware bankruptcy judge ruled Bertelsmann A-G could not purchase the remains of the defunct music-swapping network.

The decision was the death of a deal that could have revived Redwood City-based Napster as a legitimate service. The decision will likely force the company into Chapter 7 liquidation.

Bertelsmann was Napster's chief financial investor. It had already sunk $85 million into the network. The German company wanted to purchase the rest of Napster for an additional $8 million.

Napster has been off line for more than a year.

Suits by major record labels destroyed Napster. Those companies also filed motions in the bankruptcy case objecting to the Bertelsmann sale.

[SirAngus]

www.imesh.com and www.limewire.com are alternatives as well, I've been told.

[Huck]

I used Napster. Now I use Grokster. I like Grokster. It works pretty well and has enough users to provide a wide enough variety of tunes. I am a pub musician, and I am able to download all the songs, all the lyrics, and all the sheet music I need. It's really incredible. In the old days, you had to tape stuff from friends or off the radio, copy lyrics from books, etc. Bottom line for me is that I simply can't buy CDs when I can get them for free. I still buy concert tix, but not CDs. I am strung out on MP3s. I get all my music that way. I tape DVDs from the video store too. I have low ethical standards.

[chnsmok]

It's KaZaA without the spyware.

[LowOiL]

I like Grokster.

Grokster was awesome, when I had the cd_clint filed replaced with a harmless one that did not spy on me. It even blocked their durn advertisments that was a drain on my system resources (56k connection here). I used to leave it on all night so people could get my music (very rare new wave stuff from the 80's). But it stopped working with my durn cheat that cut the spy stuff out. Grrr...

[LowOiL]

I got my MP3 player for my truck last week. Truely awesome carrying around 3 cds that will play for a week without changes. I got around 150 songs per cd on each. I love it.

[Iconoclast2]

Look at the Constitution, for starters: Article I, Clause 8: "[Congress shall have power:] To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries"

Now, why, may I ask, would Free Republic members worry about whether people copy Eminem "songs"? Note that there is not even any obligation on Congress to exercise this power.

[efaust93]

Solaris is slow? What are you trying to do with it? We use Solaris 8 as an enterprise-wide firewall and it flies. You are probably just so surprised that you haven't had to reboot that Solaris box for over a year. I am sure Win2k looks a lot faster when you are rebooting it each month.

[Bolivar]

Kazaa.... loaded with spyware.

So is Limewire. I've tried Morphus with good luck for music, poor luck for software.
I haven't tried Kazaalite (It says no spyware) yet.
Blubster and Morphus have no spyware when I run Ads-Aware

[Bolivar]

www.imesh.com and www.limewire.com are alternatives as well, I've been told.

THEY ARE LOADED WITH SPYWARE...caution

[A CA Guy]

85 million loss. Typical for those not in at the start of the pyramid scheme known as internet companies.

[Huck]

I have 56K also. It's slow, but if I know what I want, with minimal supervision I can get it quick enough.

[LO_IQ]

the Constitution:"[Congress shall have power:] To promote the Progress of ...useful Arts..."

...would Free Republic members worry about whether people copy Eminem "songs"?

You're so right.

I just downloaded two songs by Eminem, and I don't feel the least guilty :-)

My little brother has been a follower of Eminem, but I have always hated Eminem.

Until today; I finally listened to the guy, and he's OK.

[SBeck]

Concerts, TV and marketing deals just like professional sports.

[Bella_Bru]

I think you really mean, "How will the middle man make money". The RIAA has wedged itself between the musicians and their buyers.

[Bella_Bru]

Try WinMX. No spyware. And I have found a ton of music I had on vinyl that was either never put onto CD or is no longer available.

[Dr.Deth]

I'd almost rather have communism than listen to Eminem (plain or peanut)

[Bolivar]

Using KazaaLite as we speak.
No spyware
Looks good
I just "ripped" my first program :)!

[Jeff Chandler]

"Lord of the Rings-The Two Towers"!

Where can I find this?

You can't- it's still being edited (see post # 59 )

[Jeff Chandler]

Note to anyone who downloads media or programs: it is a common practice among hackers to offer pirated files which they have infected with trojans. Steal at your own risk.