01/25/2006, 2:05pm, EST

Wednesday, January 25th

Napster begins layoffs

Napster has reduced its workforce by ten percent, mostly in the programming and marketing departments. According to Digital Music News, Napster employees "were told to exit immediately, and were not given prior warning." This reducation comes amid speculations that the pioneer download service may not be able to recover from government regulations and stiff competition that has been forced upon it. Although Napster's subscriber total has doubled to 500,000 in the past year, it still trails far behind the industry-leading iTunes.

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Eriamjh

Ha Haw!

01/25, 8:06pm, EST

Beleaguered Napster is doomed!!

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Foe Hammer

Paging Chris Gowrong

01/25, 11:25pm, EST

Chris Gowrong ... Chris Gowrong ... please return to the dining room. Your plate of hot crow is getting cold.

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Chris Gorog

01/25, 11:26pm, EST

... please return to the dining room. Your plate of hot crow has arrived.

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davedawgnyc

good riddance!

01/26, 1:07am, EST

now if you'll excuse me, i'm gonna go listen to my ipod.

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pnorman

Apple Could Buy It

01/26, 11:01am, EST

As a way of introducing their own subscription service (in parallel with their existing download service, of course!), Apple could buy Napster and claim that they already have 500,000 subscribers! There'd be a manic scramble to put the upgraded-to-subscription-capability version of iTunes into all the current Napster subscribers hands, but thats why Al Gore "invented the internet" - its only a download away! It would give Apple some good karma too, for dominating Napster to death in the first place.

I'll put the bottle down now and return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

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