Napster Mum On Acquisition Report

Napster had no immediate comment late today on a report that
it has been in acquisition talks with two major Internet service providers
(ISPs).

For months the unnamed ISPs have reportedly been engaged in separate
talks to acquire Napster, which is embroiled in a legal battle that could
end
in its demise. The two companies are a "Western telecommunications giant
and a brand-name ''pure'' Internet service provider," according to
Inside.com, which posted the story on its Web site today.

Napster spokeswoman Karen DeMarco told Newsbytes this
afternoon that the company was preparing a response to the
report.

An ISP would be attracted to the millions of Napster users as a way
to sign up new members, assuming use of the service would be limited
to subscribers. In any case, it would be a lot of new members.
Napster traffic averaged 945,000 users per day during the week
ending Sept. 24, up 23 percent from 773,000 the previous week,
Media Metrix measurements found.

Napster is waiting for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to rule on
whether to grant an injunction that could shut down the site pending a
trial
over a lawsuit brought by the music industry. The companies claim Napster
contributes to copyright infringement by helping millions of users
share digitally duplicated music through its peer-to-peer network.