Napster to Live On in the UK and Germany

News
By Jane McEntegart
published

It may have been acquired by Rhapsody but the Napster name is a hard one to shake.

Back in the beginning of October, Rhapsody announced that it was acquiring Napster. Purchased by Best Buy in September of 2008, Rhapsody said that the agreement would see it acquire Napster subscribers and certain other assets, while Best Buy would receive a minority stake in Rhapsody. The transaction closed last week and Rhapsody announced that Napster was now fully merged with its on-demand music service. However, despite what you may think, we haven't seen the last of the Napster brand.

The Register reports that, while the name Napster might soon become a distant memory in the United States, it will live on in the United Kingdom and Germany. The Reg reports that Napster UK wasn't included in the acquisition deal and still belongs to Best Buy. As such, a spokesperson said that the service will live on in both the UK and Germany.

"There is no intention to close Napster in either Germany or the UK," the spokesperson said. 

Jane McEntegart
8 Comments Comment from the forums
  • rawful
    Cool story.
    Reply
  • Trialsking
    Thank you Napster, I "acquired" all the songs I ever wanted back in 2000.
    Reply
  • mikenygmail
    Regarding: "Sony Ericsson Dropping Ericsson Name in 2012 "

    Good move, as the Sony name ranks among the highest in brand recognition. This decision will prove to be the right one, as average consumers like "Sony" better than "Sony Ericsson."

    With that being said, I still don't like Sony.

    NOTE: Perhaps one of our smarter readers can figure out why I posted this here?
    (The real reason, not some silly joke) :)
    Reply
  • mikenygmail
    Congrats Napster!
    Reply
  • sunflier
    trialskingThank you Napster, I "acquired" all the songs I ever wanted back in 2000.Yeah, same here! Ah, the good old days...
    Reply
  • stratplaya
    I miss my legit Napster (yes, I'm a sucker who pays for the service). Rhapsody is not cutting it for me. Napster was so much better at organizing genres plus you had access to billboards top 100 tracks for the past 40 years or so. That made looking for old but forgotton favs easy.
    Reply
  • I wonder how long it will be available in the UK and Germany? The original notice said, "International Napster Members are unaffected by this change and continue to enjoy Napster in Canada, Germany and United Kingdom," but they shut down Canada:

    "As you probably know by now, Napster transitioned their business to Rhapsody in the US but decided to shut down their Canadian operations. Rhapsody has aspirations of eventually entering the Canadian market but no plans have been announced at this point.

    Navin, Rhapsody Customer Relations"
    Reply
  • Marco925
    The Napster name is like kicking a dead horse
    Reply