June 9 - 8:35am EDT   Napster is likely to be hiring for possible iPhone and Mac OS X apps based on a job listing at Craigslist. The Los Angeles software engineer position would require both experience with OS X iPhone elements, such as Cocoa Touch, as well as Mac OS X-specific features. What projects the recruit would work on are unclear, but Napster says part of its goal would be to have its products "work more effectively and natively" in Mac OS X. [full story]

May 18 - 8:10am EDT   Napster this morning tried an alternative to its struggling unlimited and per-track download services by offering an especially low-cost plan. The new plan limits unlimited access to streaming through the web but gives users five MP3 songs to keep each month; in return, subscribers pay just $5 per month. Napster continues to give access to radio stations and playlists and sees the new plan as a way of letting users explore music in a platform-independent way for those who prefer singles instead of whole albums. [full story]

May 14 - 3:45pm EDT   Apple and AT&T are two of several companies being targeted in a new patent infringement lawsuit, court documents show. The case was initiated by Tune Hunter, a company which owns a patent titled Music identification system, granted in September of 2005. The patent describes "a method for marking the time and the name of the radio station in portable device such as a key holder, watch, cellular phone, beeper or the like which will allow the user to learn via internet [sic] or regular telephone the name of the song, artist and/or music company by matching the stored data with broadcast archive." [full story]

May 11 - 4:15pm EDT   Denon's American branch this afternoon bowed its core lineup for 2009 and headlined it with both Blu-ray players as well as network-aware iPod docks. The DBP-2010CI and DBP-1610CI both bring Blu-ray Profile 2.0 support for Internet-based special features and will play both AVC (H.264) and DivX video in HD. The higher-end 2010CI touts a higher-grade Anchor Bay digital imaging processor and a serial port for home automation. Both ship in July with the 1610CI costing $499 and the 2010CI asking a premium at $699. [full story]

May 8 - 4:05pm EDT   UK-based music download site Spotify has denied it will offer unlimited downloads in an attempt to lure listeners away from established names that include iTunes and Napster, Pocket-lint reported on Friday. The rumor had Spotify planning to launch an "unlimited music download service" that cost £9.99 ($15) per month, but a Spotify spokesperson said these rumblings are "100% untrue." [full story]

April 17 - 9:15am EDT   If accurate, a rumor floated today will see Best Buy leap into its own online movie store. Entertainment magazine Variety claims to have heard from movie studio executives that the retailer is talking to CinemaNow and "other online movie services" to establish a link between itself and one of these services. While what's involved is uncertain, Best Buy is likely to arrange for a cut of the revenues for each movie viewed and may promote hardware with that movie service's features built-in. [full story]

February 17 - 4:05pm EST   Logitech on Tuesday announced its Squeezebox network music players will now offer the Napster subscription music service. Via their wired or wireless home networks, users will have access to Napster's roughly 7 million-song online library as long as they have active memberships. The service is available both for models with Internet radio support as well as simple network music playback. [full story]

November 11 - 2:55pm EST   A part of a recent leak, the Samsung a777 has surfaced on AT&T's website without a formal announcement. The quad-band slider phone includes 3G over the carrier's network as well as a 1.3-megapixel camera with 3X digital zoom and support for Bluetooth with stereo audio. An MP3 player app and microSD storage handle media playback. [full story]

November 11 - 8:20am EST   After repeated leaks, AT&T today finally but quietly launched the HTC Fuze. The carrier's adaptation of the Touch Pro brings a customized version of HTC's TouchFLO interface with an AT&T icon as well as support for several of AT&T's services over its tri-band HSPA Internet access, including HBO Mobile video as well as Napster Mobile and XM Radio for music purchases and Internet radio streams. [full story]

October 15 - 10:55am EDT   Pioneer today officially took the wraps from the XMp3, the company's first portable satellite radio since the long out-of-sale Inno. The new handheld is unique in its ability to record five separate XM stations at once, guaranteeing that listeners can preserve more than one show at the same time. It also takes a cue from Slacker in an automatic buffering mode that holds as much as 30 hours of programming at any given time to keep radio going when a subway tunnel or other interference cuts out the satellite signal. [full story]

September 25 - 9:20am EDT   Apple has signed a deal which should see over 1.5 million new songs added to the iTunes Store, reports say. The company has forged an agreement with Pure Play Music, a site which specializes in hosting artists that are otherwise unsigned. The site currently lists a roster of over 6,000 artists from around the world, who operate under a set of non-exclusive rights agreements. [full story]

September 15 - 8:50am EDT   Napster this morning made the surprise announcement that it has entered into an agreement that will see the online store acquired by Best Buy, putting an end to the company's independence. The terms of the deal are largely unavailable apart from a $121 million price but has seen Napster indefinitely delay its annual shareholder's meeting from its originally scheduled September 18th timeframe. [full story]

September 5 - 4:25pm EDT   Desktop and notebook PC maker Lenovo and Napster announced an agreement on Friday that will have Napster provide buyers of Lenovo PCs with a free 14-day trial to Napster's Napster To Go digital music service. The offer is valid for most of the models Lenovo sells in North America, and will give the customers access to more than 6 million songs and audio tracks in the Napster MP3 store introduced earlier this year. [full story]

September 4 - 11:05am EDT   Regular shoppers at the iTunes Store should not expect any announcements on the content side of the equation in the near future, rumors indicate. CNET cites anonymous sources, who say that people should not expect Apple to announce any new music content at its special iPod event on September 9th. More specifically, the sources claim they are certain Apple will not introduce a long-rumored subscription option for iTunes. [full story]

August 5 - 10:30am EDT   Apple's iTunes Store continues to control the US music market, a new batch of surveys suggests. Following several polls of Americans 13 and older, conducted between January and June of this year, the NPD Group says that iTunes maintained an existing lead, despite competition from major, firmly established corporations. The results are are also notable in that they reflect all forms of music sales, including not just iTunes' digital specialty but online and retail CD sales. Excluded are non-permanent options like the subscription services offered by Rhapsody and Napster. [full story]