More Competition -- from Napster
Mercury News reports that Napster will be resurrected by their new owners -- Roxio.
Roxio is planning on releasing Napster 2.0 by Christmas. The new music service will be legal and have the backing of the five major labels as well as independent labels. Their plan is to launch with 500,000 tracks -- with the bulk of the additional tracks being made up from the independent labels and artists. It is unclear, however, what usage rights will be provided with the songs.
The article notes that they are working on liberalizing usage rights for users -- but no final details are yet available. The new service does intend to provide some added flexibility -- with both subscription based as well as al la carte download services.
Napster was the first major MP3 trading application that popularized P2P (Peer to Peer) file-trading.
(More details are to be discussed at the Keynote address at Jupiter's Plug-In Conference today.)
With five months until Christmas, however, the digital music landscape could change dramatically. Apple's iTunes for Windows is also due to appear by year's end.
Popular Stories
In addition to updating many of its existing products, Apple is expected to unveil five all-new products this year, including a smart home hub, a Face ID doorbell, a MacBook with an A18 Pro chip, a foldable iPhone, and augmented reality glasses.
Below, we have recapped rumored features for each product.
Smart Home Hub
Apple home hub (concept)
Apple's long-rumored smart home hub should...
Apple is planning to debut a high-end secondary version of AirPods Pro 3 this year, sitting in the lineup alongside the current model, reports suggest.
Back in September 2025, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to introduce a successor to the AirPods Pro 3 in 2026. This would be somewhat unusual since Apple normally waits around three years to make major...
Apple is working on a small, wearable AI pin equipped with multiple cameras, a speaker, and microphones, reports The Information. If it actually launches, the AI pin will likely run the new Siri chatbot that Apple plans to unveil in iOS 27.
The pin is said to be similar in size to an AirTag, with a thin, flat, circular disc shape. It has an aluminum and glass shell, and two cameras at the...
Over the last few months, rumors around the iPhone 18 Pro's front-panel design have been conflicted, with some supply-chain leaks pointing to under-display Face ID, reports suggesting a top-left hole-punch camera, and debate over whether the familiar Dynamic Island will shrink, shift, or disappear entirely.
Today, Weibo-based leaker Instant Digital shared new details that appear to clarify the ...
The Apple supplier subject to a major cyberattack last month was China's Luxshare, it has now emerged. More than 1TB of confidential Apple information was reportedly stolen.
It was reported in December that one of Apple's assemblers suffered a significant cyberattack that may have compromised sensitive production-line information and manufacturing data linked to Apple. The specific company...
