Roxio, the company who bought the rights to the Napster name, have now acquired the online music service Pressplay which was jointly owned by Universal and Sony. Word is they plan to rebrand the legit download site as - you guessed it - Napster. According to the deal Universal and Sony will still have a share in the new company and will stand to make lots of cash if the rebranded service is successful.All three parent companies will be hoping Napster's history will make their online service stand out from the competition - in particular Apple's iTunes service which is still limited to Mac users in the US. A spokesman for Universal's new media division told reporters: "If you put Napster up on a billboard, people are going to know what you're talking about. If you put Pressplay up on a billboard, you're going to have to explain what Pressplay is. It's just much easier marketing."
May 21, 2005
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1 min read
New Napster owners forge alliance with majors
Roxio has bought Pressplay, jointly owned by Universal and Sony, and plans to rebrand the legal download service as Napster, with both majors keeping a stake.