Napster, BMG alliance draws mixed reviews from users

LOS ANGELES: News that entertainment giant Bertelsmann AG forged an alliance with song-swap service company Napster drew mixed reviews on Tuesday from users of the phenomenally popular free service.

Bertelsmann, parent of music company BMG, said it would drop its suit against the song-swap company once it implements a membership-based service that pays royalties.

"It's over - Napster sold out" said one user called Metalgear on a Web-based forum.

The Bertelsmann deal comes as Napster awaits an appeals court decision on whether or not to shut down the wildly popular online song-swap service pending a final decision in a landmark copyright lawsuit brought by the recording industry.

Napster's service, developed by 19-year-old college dropout Shawn Fanning, lets fans swap songs for free by trading MP3 files, a compression format that turns music on compact discs into small computer files. It has attracted 38 million users.

"Exactly who did not see this coming miles and months away?



duh...this whole thing was a media game, get all the people you


can into this thing because we say it is wrong...and get them


hooked, and then say oh well...since we (the recording


industry) now own Napster it is ok," wrote a user called Daveld.

Others seemed to take a more philosophical approach. "You cannot be a sellout if the intent from the beginning was to form a company and make a profit. They are part of the system, a new part, but a part all the same," wrote one other user named Malk-a-mite.

Napster officials have said two services may emerge, one that would charge a membership fee and another which would be a free promotional service.

Industry experts say, however, that any deal approved by the recording companies would not provide all-you-can-hear music for free, as Napster currently does.

(C) Reuters Limited 2000.