OFF: Napster update

[DASLUD at AOL.COM]

this seems pretty screwy to me; maybe later on today i'll punch in, oh i
dunno, "stairway to heaven" and see what happens...oy...

"<>"



Napster Says It Will Block Copyrighted Songs
Company Waits for Judge's Ruling

By Michael Kahn
Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO (March 1) - Napster Inc., facing a corporate death sentence at
the hands of a federal judge, bought itself a brief reprieve on Friday by
promising to block users from accessing some one million music files covered
by recording industry copyrights.

Some industry analysts said, however, that the online music song-swap service
may still be singing its swan song.

Napster's last-ditch effort to conform with copyright law came as U.S.
District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel held a hearing on how to formulate an
injunction which fans fear could put the it out of business.

Patel ended the hearing with a promise to draft an injunction order "that is
workable and makes sense" -- but gave no indication when she might issue it.
Legal observers do not expect a lengthy wait.

Meanwhile, Napster's vow to filter out copyrighted music files starting this
weekend sparked cries of protest from users, who have made the service wildly
popular around the world by trading everything from Chinese pop songs to
Beethoven symphonies compressed into handy MP3 computer files.

"Oh my God. I'd better finish downloading," said one Napster devotee
scrambling to grab as much music as possible before the screening system
takes effect.

Napster's lead attorney, David Boies, said the new copyright protection
system should allow the company to stay in business -- although many industry
analysts questioned whether Napster would still have the same appeal if it no
longer offers the world's top pop hits for free.

"I think Napster will still be the best music service out there, (but) it
will not be the same," Boies said.

Napster's offer came amid some two hours of argument from its lawyers and
representatives of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA),
which has sued the Internet upstart on charges of facilitating widespread
music piracy.

Industry analysts said while Napster's move may have won it more time to
negotiate with the recording industry, it did not mark a sure path to
survival for the company.

MORE MEDIATION SCHEDULED

Although the two sides have scheduled more mediation next week, Napster's
decision to play by recording industry rules could weaken its overall
negotiating position while driving once-loyal users to other services, they
said.

"I'm sure that Napster usage will be very high this weekend and it will be
interesting to see the cat-and-mouse games as users try to get around the
blocking schemes," said Malcolm Maclachlan, analyst with technology tracking
firm International Data Corp. "The main effect will be to grow usage on other
peer-to-peer networks like Aimster and Gnutella."

Ric Dube, an analyst with Webnoize, said the recording industry would likely
continue to press for a quick injunction to make sure Napster agrees to all
of its terms.

"Once the injunction is in place, these two sides could come together for a
negotiation," said Dube.  "Napster hasn't said uncle yet and the record
companies need to hear before entering any discussions."

The court battle over Napster's future -- involving everyone from the
company's youthful founder to major rock stars and one of the most famous
lawyers in the country -- is a defining case for copyrights in cyberspace and
could affect the way books, movies and all entertainment will be distributed
online for years to come.

NAPSTER OFFERS TO POLICE ITSELF

At Friday's hearing, Napster's lawyers said the company was racing to perfect
new software to filter out copyrighted material and hoped to reach agreement
soon with the recording industry on how to identify such material.

"We have come considerably closer together on the issue of an injunction,"
said Boies, who represented the Justice Department in its antitrust suit
against Microsoft.

Boies said Napster would begin policing itself by blocking access to some one
million files of copyrighted music over the weekend, with more to come.

Most of activity on Napster involves the unauthorized trade of copyrighted
material. But Napster says it is unable to identify which files are
copyrighted and which are not, putting the onus on the RIAA to provide lists
of material it believes represent copyright infringement.

Lawyers for the recording industry, joined in court Friday by lawyers
representing artists Metallica and Dr. Dre, said they had already submitted a
list of some 5,600 song titles -- each of which could account for a vast
number of separate files on the Napster system -- to be blocked.

While the RIAA's legal team pointed out that serious questions remained about
how the new screening process would work, RIAA President Hilary Rosen had
some rare words of praise for the online company, saying it was the first
time Napster had sought to obey existing copyright laws.

"We made a lot of progress in court today," Rosen said. "It is important for
me to give some credit to Napster today."

Napster's service has attracted about 60 million users who swap songs for
free by trading MP3 files, a compression format that turns music on compact
discs into small digital files.

The major recording companies, represented by the RIAA, first sued Napster in
December 1999, claiming it aids copyright piracy and costs them billions of
dollars in lost sales. Patel issued an injunction on July, but a federal
appeals court two days later stayed her ruling pending review.

MAJOR BLOW

The embattled service was dealt a blow Feb. 12 when a three-judge panel from
the appeals court ruled that Napster could be held liable for copyright
infringement and that an injunction, which could essentially shut down
Napster, was not only warranted but required.

In its ruling, the panel ordered Patel to require the record labels to
identify which of their copyrights were infringed on Napster. Friday's
hearing was called to hammer out the details of how such an order would be
implemented.

In an effort to draw up a workable long-term business plan, Napster has
embarked on a project with major investor Bertelsmann AG to develop a new,
subscription version of its service, expected to be rolled out this summer.

The company has also offered the recording industry a five-year $1 billion
deal to enable it to swap their music on a new secure service, but this has
drawn poor reviews from its main opponents, which include Vivendi Universal's
Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music and EMI Group Plc.

Rtr 20:15 03-02-01