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67 Comments
- Tanktunker, on 09/15/2008, -1/+30"$121 million in cash"
They just showed up with a briefcase full of money? - ScrewedThePooch, on 09/15/2008, -1/+25What the hell is with that blurry thumbnail guy with a drink?
- Scott2, on 09/15/2008, -1/+25Here comes Napster attempt at profitability #5,847,893.
- BelatedHero, on 09/16/2008, -2/+20I didn't even know Napster still existed.
- inactive, on 09/15/2008, -1/+17Very strange. Unless they somehow integrate downloading music and movies into their business plan, which I could actually see them doing. Who knows.
- ohnoerino, on 09/15/2008, -0/+15I can just picture the Geek Squad pulling up in their VW. "It's all here, now hand over Napster".
- SaneLemming, on 09/17/2008, -0/+13The real question in my mind:
Did Best Buy get the extended service plan with their purchase? I'm just saying...it's important to protect such a large investment, and it would only be $30 more. - inactive, on 09/17/2008, -0/+8Napster is SO Y2K
- supermanred, on 09/16/2008, -2/+10I guess they saw all the itunes cards sales they were making and some old fart in the boardroom decided "Lets buy one of this hip web site things the kids like nowadays" or something like that.
Whoever decided napster was worth more than 100 bucks should be fired. - seansmyth, on 09/15/2008, -0/+7At some point, you should see a Best Buy knock-off for the iPod. Could be in a few years, however, as the iPod + iTunes combo is just too popular.
- chrissku, on 09/17/2008, -2/+9This has fail written all over it.
- shutaro, on 09/17/2008, -0/+7That's Napster... They actually acquired a guy named Napster. Joe Napster.
- bigsteve, on 09/17/2008, -0/+6No. This just means that Best Buy didn't trade any other resources for Napster, like Best Buy stock. Them paying cash didn't mean that they actually showed up with bags full of greenbacks, just that they used money in general.
- UltraMegaFilms, on 09/16/2008, -1/+7more like ass party and fist relief.
- ErrorLoading, on 09/17/2008, -0/+5I understand what you are saying there, but I don't want to have to hack every music file I download.
And even if you pay a monthly subscription, if you are messing with the DRM it is still as illegal as just downloading it for free to begin with. - shutaro, on 09/17/2008, -1/+6Somehow, this disappoints me. Bags of cash would be much cooler.
- RevAradia, on 09/17/2008, -0/+4How exacty does Napster work now, anyway?
- Topher06, on 09/16/2008, -1/+5Not so strange. Futureshop in Canada had its own music download service, and Best Buy owns Futureshop, so perhaps they are starting up the service based on Napster. Of course, I don't actually think Futureshop still offers music downloads.
Anyways, I wish Napster would die. Its a pale imitation of a pipedream of a hope for an idealistic way to distribute music, and its probably the biggest joke in business. Shawn Fanning should be turning over in his grave today (yeah, I know he ain't dead, but his 15 minutes of fame is). - lejake, on 09/15/2008, -2/+5Best Buy has over $40 Billion in sales each year. I think they can afford a small little company like Napster.
- bjkrautk, on 09/16/2008, -0/+3Best Buy wants a piece of the digital download puzzle. How much have they been losing on their own digital music store (which doesn't even appear to be a store, so much as they've licensed Rhapsody)? BB apparently believes it will lose less money by acquiring it's own music service (with a well-known name and existing audience) than it's getting out of the Rhapsody deal.
- inactive, on 09/17/2008, -1/+4"By the time anyone makes an ipod as good as the touch/iphone"
there already out there. It's just companies lack the hipster cool marketing that apple uses to appeal to patrons such as yourself. - krahzee, on 09/15/2008, -2/+5Interesting Purchase.
I wonder how this will effect them carrying Apple products since the ipod will not work with other music services. Do they try to market the other players more visibly and downplay them carrying the ipod?
Then there is the Circuit City/ Napster arrangement. Aside from prepaid itunes and satellite radio gift cards, they push the Napster Service. I have to believe this will end that deal. The question is, who do they partner with for all of the people who do not buy ipods? Rhapsody? Amazon?.
Rhapsody would probably be it due to Amazon selling quite a few of the same product as CC. This could be a big marketing boost for them.
Should be interesting to see the answers in the next few years. - krahzee, on 09/16/2008, -0/+3It does not work with subscription based models since keeping those tracks authorized when plugging in the ipod would not happen, because of its inability to work with other manufacturers software.
That is the whole Napster appeal is to sell the subscriptions in hopes of getting people to permanently purchase the full albums later on. It is one thing it does to set itself aside from itunes.
Do not underestimate the ease for a novice in using this service with the Creative Zen, for example, just as one can not underestimate the ease of using itunes to purchase music for an ipod. With both, the music can be bought and loaded into the portable device directly without the need for workarounds, massive importation, etc... One piece of software does everything they need.
That is huge when novices decide on which which digital retailer to use. - perfectsquare, on 09/17/2008, -1/+3Napster is cool to the kids.
$121 million in a good marketing ploy. Wasted? - PPoff, on 09/17/2008, -0/+2This makes no sense at all. The same technology could have been bought for $2M, so the remainder is for branding purposes. Not clear on why Best Buy wants the brand Napster associated with it, and certainly not at that price.
- inactive, on 09/17/2008, -0/+2No when talking about a business buyout it means they didn't finance their acquisition with debt or equity.
- mboudro, on 09/17/2008, -0/+2You buy music from thepiratebay? That sucks for you!
- ErrorLoading, on 09/17/2008, -0/+2The puzzling and stupid part about it is that Napster is no longer relevant. If I see the name Napster on something then I immediately think of the crappy service it turned into after all the lawsuits. I have no interest in it. They could have built a completely new service for much cheaper without the stigma around it's name.
If they are going to roll out a new Napster, they could have just rolled out a new service altogether. - diggdeep, on 09/17/2008, -0/+2Their Insignia private label brand is a downmarket alternative to the iPod...it's been around for at least 3 years
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid ... - stanton, on 09/17/2008, -0/+2don't you know anything? thats The Hodge!
- Technopundit, on 09/18/2008, -0/+1Who's the fat fuzzy drunk in the picture, and why does he want to sell me DRM?
- Technopundit, on 09/18/2008, -0/+1I've been to Best Buy.
They're stupid. - Technopundit, on 09/18/2008, -0/+1When I think "Napster", I think that drooling idiot in Metallica.
- aaronfleishman, on 11/07/2009, -0/+1Create your own CDs?
How do I get my iPod to play them?! - vocalyouth, on 09/17/2008, -0/+1They want to be the #1 music store. Apple has passed them and walmart up. This is their chance to level the playing field, maybe?
- carterx, on 09/17/2008, -0/+1So what happens now if something at Napster breaks? Do they wait for BestBuy to say it will be fixed ASAP and really take weeks?
- inactive, on 09/17/2008, -2/+3WTF?
- bigsteve, on 09/17/2008, -1/+2What's so puzzling? Why is this strange? Sounds like they're trying to compete with Walmart, who has their own online music distribution outlet, and iTunes Store, which has been #1 in music sale overall (or so said Jobs at the last "Let's Rock" event.)
Reconfigure to compete with your direct brick-and-mortar competition as well as your online competition? Makes sense to me. - superharmonic, on 09/18/2008, -0/+1well, seeing how billions are thrown out the window by some companies these days, $121 million doesn't seem much...
- viper001, on 09/17/2008, -0/+1A complete waste of money. They're obviously after the napster "brand", though to anyone with half a brain it'd be worthless. A better way to spend it would've been to pour some of that cash into R&D and pay a few brilliant programmers to come up with something new. I still don't know why Napster is even afloat right now; Itunes should've blown it out of the water years ago.
- dariusperkins, on 09/18/2008, -0/+1http://www.thehodge.co.uk/
- PrometheusBorn, on 09/17/2008, -0/+1@healthyapples
It's already out there? As good as the Touch/iPhone? What device would you be referring to?
Or has the advertising brain washed me when in fact, the touchscreen/app store combo is inferior to... the square zune pad? A Blackberry for music/video? - JSolo, on 09/17/2008, -0/+1They might be off the brand, but they are really off the product, the R&D, the engineering staff and the contracts that are already in place with record companies.
- gbarger, on 09/17/2008, -0/+1I like napster. Tons of songs can be downloaded and converted for far less than paying $0.99 a song. If itunes had a subscription service I'd use it...but they don't at this point. I keep all of the billboard 100 music downloaded from the beginning to current (thousands of songs), and it's certainly a lot cheaper than buying them on itunes.
- AROERS, on 09/17/2008, -0/+1all about the monthly cash flow, but who really uses this anyway?
- diggdatt, on 09/17/2008, -0/+1They bought it for the name only I guess. It's kind of like Atari, its not worth *****, but the name is still well known.
- leerayIG88, on 09/18/2008, -0/+1yeah...with a big dollar sign on the side
- PopcornDave, on 09/18/2008, -0/+1Imagine them pushing the three year replacement warranty on that purchase.
- leerayIG88, on 09/18/2008, -0/+1I Googled Joe Napster, i couldn't find him.
- dbbrock1, on 09/18/2008, -0/+1For some reason I thought napster had more customers than that. I am one, and its really not a bad service at all...I like it a lot because they let you download all the songs you want for a flat monthly fee
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