Important Napster News !

November 1, 2000

Ok some intresting things are going on in de Napster vs. music industry case.
The first press release:

Entertainment giant Bertelsmann AG and controversial song-swap company Napster Inc. said on Tuesday they had formed an alliance to develop a new secure file-sharing music service.
Under terms of the deal, Bertelsmann , parent of one of the five major music companies that is suing Napster for copyright infringement, agreed to withdraw its lawsuit once Napster successfully introduces the new membership-based service.

The companies said they would seek support from other music companies to establish Napster as a widely accepted membership-based service.

Bertelsmann, home to BMG Music , said its eCommerce Group would provide a loan to Napster and hold a warrant to acquire a portion of Napster's equity. The size of the loan was not disclosed.

Source: ZDNet

So BMG Music (Bertelsmann AG) will stop the lawsuit against napster, and form an alliance to create a new napster like service... no further details given....

The next press release:

Now that Bertelsmann AG has settled its part of a piracy lawsuit against Napster Inc., the recording company's president wants others to join in the new "alliance" Bertelsmann and Napster have created.

The two sides will make more details of the settlement public later Tuesday.
...
The new service will "preserve the Napster experience while at the same time providing payments to rightholders, including recording artists, songwriters, recording companies, and music publishers," according to a prepared statement released early Tuesday morning.
...
Once in place, Bertelsmann will drop out of a lawsuit filed against Napster, which is now being heard in the Court of Appeals. Four other recording companies aside from Bertelsmann AG are still plaintiffs in the suit.
Additional details of the settlement terms, including whether Napster will start charging people to download music, are expected to filter out later Tuesday.

Source: ZDNet

hmmm so napster has to be payed for??? ... no further details given....

Then a few hours later there is another press release...

'New Napster' won't be free

CEO Hank Barry says Napster is still 'about file sharing, file sharing, file sharing' -- but it will no longer be about free music.
Napster isn't going to be a free service for very much longer.
CEO Hank Barry said Tuesday that the 38 million Napster users will soon have to pay "monthly dues" of, perhaps, $4.95 to access each other's hard drives; it is the result of a deal Napster reached with one of five record companies suing it for copyright infringement.
...
Barry also indicated there will still be free downloads of MP3 files available through the Napster file-sharing tool, but they will be more for "promotional purposes."
...
Napster Inc. will also likely have its first commercial affiliation with a large record retailer, CDNow, which Bertelsmann AG bought last year. The Napster site may have a link to CDNow on it, Barry indicated.
...
The record company is the first of the five suing Napster to reach an accord, promising to settle its part of the lawsuit once Napster does its makeover.
Bertelsmann executives were inviting the remaining four companies to join the alliance.

Source: ZDNet

So the new napster will have to be payed for, and they wait for the other 4 (universal, Sony, EMI and Time Warner) to join the alliance...

And the final press release:

RIAA still going after Napster
The recording industry is still pushing ahead with its lawsuit against Napster, despite a deal struck Tuesday between Napster and one of the record companies involved in the lawsuit.

Source: ZDNet

Hmmm if you ask me this sucks! I don't like paying for napster and i'm sure you don't like it either... I'm not sure if the old napster continues but i don't think so... oh wait, you can download music for 'promotional purposes' .... you mean 5 seconds of a music number and then buy the full album? The problem is they can shut us down anytime they want