Napster blames woes on Microsoft
p2p news / p2pnet: The original Napster was killed by the corporate music industry Mafia whose ignorant and inept capos thought that was all they needed to do to simultaneously kill p2p and file sharing.
They were wrong and they’ve been wrong about everything else ever since, including believing that suing a few thousand of the hundreds of millions of p2p file sharers would be enough to turn errant customers back into good little mindless consumers.
And when Roxio did a Frankenstein on Napster, digging up the corpse, it thought the name would be enough to have significant numbers of eager punters lining up, willing to pay $1 and more for the low-fidelity, lossy, tracks being touted by the Big Four record labels.
It didn’t happen and it’ll never happen, and now the sorely troubled Napster, nee Roxio, is trying to blame Microsoft and music player makers for its woes.
The Big Four claim more than 300 ‘legal’ music sites are selling all kinds of downloads. This is, however, sheer, unadulterated equine excreta.
There are no successful corporate sites. Not one. And the “booming” online music market so far exists only in the imaginations of the PR hacks who dream up the puff pieces released by EMI, Vivendi, Sony BMG and Warner as ‘news’ and which are faithfully regurgitated by the mainstream media, which are in turn owned by the entertainment cartels.
Apple’s iTunes is the only site which can be said to figure. However, it’s loaded with DRM which, given that its function is wholly and solely to support iPod, is hardly surprising.
But the popular misconception, shared by Napster, is that iTunes is a genuine corporate download site and Napster boss Chris Gorog, “has blamed technical glitches from Microsoft and music player makers for hampering his company’s ability to compete with Apple’s iTunes music service,” says Reuters.
Napster, “which shares a brand but little else with the free service that originally shook up the music industry in the late 1990s, has struggled to make its case with investors and consumers,” the story has Gorog saying and admitting, “We have not been as successful as we might in articulating the real value of this business.”
That’s a considerable understatement.
Napster’s market capitalisation is about $US160 million (US$215 million), says Reuters, “but it has cash assets of about $US112 million, leaving it with a relatively small enterprise value.
“The company’s third-quarter net loss widened to $US17 million for the three months to December 31, from a loss of $US12.8 million a year earlier. Revenue rose to $US23.5 million from $US12.1 million.”
How long will it be before Napster’s investors read the indelible writing on the wall and accept the reality that their money is going down the toilet?
Also See:
Reuters – Napster plays blame game, March 1, 2006
going down the toilet – More $ problems for Napster, February 9, 2006
March 3rd, 2006 at 10:10 pm
Just caught one of the RIAA’s puff pieces on our local news a couple of days ago when some local people became part of the latest round of lawsuits. Listening to it was just like reading one of the RIAA’s press releases. “Filesharing is illegal”, “Be safe and go to Music United dot org’s website where there is a list of “legal” places to get your music”, “blah, blah, blah”, “etc, etc, etc”. It pissed me off enough after seeing the completely biased segment that I took the time to write and send this email to the reporter:
Subj: Regarding Tuesdays RIAA segment…
To: kwainscott@TheMilwaukeeChannel.com
Hi, Kent.
Just had to comment on this. While it’s good to see some mainstream news coverage of this situation, it would be even better if you did some research on the situation instead of just pushing the RIAA’s latest PR puff piece.
Could you pleae explain to me what “illegal” music is or what an “illegal” download is?? Let me rephrase that… Do you understand the difference between criminal and civil matters?? Copyriight infringement is a civil matter between the infringer and the copyright holder. These are not criminal cases before a criminal court, therefore the word “illegal” does not apply no matter how much the RIAA wants it to. Copyright infringement does not equal theft, as the industry would like everyone to believe. The Supreme court made this clear in it’s decision 21 years ago when ruling on the Dowling vs. United States case.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=11662
Here’s some links to provide more insight as to what’s REALLY happening in the world outside of RIAA dreamland…
http://www.p2pnet.net/index.php
http://www.slyck.com/
Add these to your favorites and check them daily and you will see what a travesty and a crock all this really is. The industry feels it must destroy everything it cannot control, but this time it’s too late. They missed the boat as they tried to hang on to an outdated business model and they will suffer to their grave. If they invested even half of the money they’re wasting on DRM and the extortion campaign into better product and artists, and treated their customers with respect instead of labeling them all “criminals”, they wouldn’t have so many problems as they do now. I, personally, don’t want anything they have to offer, even for free. The independent labels have much more to offer… better music and better artists, AND they embrace technology rather than try to fight it and destroy it. The RIAA dinosaurs are dying, and deservedly so, because of their inabilty to adapt. The porn industry is thriving like never before despite free downloading. Why is this? Because they know how to adapt and capitalize on every piece of new technology that comes along.
I hope to see this topic again without such a biased view, but then I’ve come to expect it. After all, they are the one’s who sign YOUR check every week too, aren’t they? Not the RIAA, but the MPAA/Disney who ultimately owns your station, and who are engaged in the same despicable behavior. I’ll bet Walt is turning in his grave as he sees all these children being sued by the industry he loved so much and invested his life into.
OK, my rant is over,
XXX
As expected, there was no response.
Should anyone want to copy this and use it themselves, feel free:)
March 4th, 2006 at 9:14 am
Shock Horror! PlaysForSure doesn’t play for sure.
In other news, Fairplay doesn’t play fair.
Just Say No TO DRM, m’kay?
March 4th, 2006 at 10:29 pm
Sssssssshhhhh…. there are bloodthirsty Apple fanboi’s around here that think Fairplay is their god and Apple can never do any wrong.