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[Napster] 11 - End of the Road.mp3

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the wiping-a-single-tear-from-my-cheak dept.

psoriac writes "Looks like the long sad saga of Napster is drawing to a final close; after being shut down by the courts, losing its execs, filing for chapter 11, and having its sale to Bertelsmann AG blocked, the remaining physical assets of Napster are being sold at auction by Dovebid. The auction site is close to my house; I think I'll stop by and pick up some memorabilia."

5 of 137 comments (clear)

  1. Featured Items - nice! by eastbam · · Score: 4, Informative

    Cisco Systems Switches, Routers and Firewalls
    Sun Microsystems
    VA Linux Servers
    Network Appliance Servers
    EMC
    Dell Servers and More!!
    Desktop and Notebook Computers By Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Others!!
    Monitors
    Printers and Faxes By Hewlett-Packard, Canon, Brother and Others!
    Hundreds Of Napster Logo'd Shirts, Hats, Jackets and More!!

    1. Re:Featured Items - nice! by netsharc · · Score: 3, Informative

      The Equipment Catalog on the right side of that page details what they really have.. mmm yummy hardware.

      --
      What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
  2. Re:Dovebid by junkgoof · · Score: 5, Informative

    My experience with end-of-company auctions is that furniture is cheap, but anything with a power supply goes for more than it is worth. Resellers bid until the price is reasonable, and they take the lot if they get it. People who don't know what hardware is worth get carried away and bid more than they could buy the stuff for new. Doesn't apply to high-end hardware (Sun boxen go relatively cheap), but only high-end stuff goes cheap. Sun workstation, expensive, Sun tape robot, massive storage system, or massive server, cheap relative to real price (who has $20 000 to bid, other than resellers?).

    --
    You got me into this! You were the ideologue! I'm only a poor assassin! - Twenty evocations, Bruce Sterling
  3. More on Roxio by Kommet · · Score: 2, Informative
    I tried to submit this story to Slashdot twice (not complaining, just stating), once when I couldn't tell anyone that Roxio was buying Napster, just that "someone" was, and a second time when the press release hit the wire.

    Roxio is trying to buy "substantially all" of Napster's assets which is mainly the Napster name and the IP patents Napster has. Roxio passed on the physical assets (obviously) as it didn't need them, and on just buying the company outright as it didn't want to inherit Napster's debt load or pending lawsuits. The proposed sale is for $5 million in cash and 100,000 shares ($300-$400 thousand), and needs to be approved by the Delaware bankrupcy court handling Napster's bankrupcy.

    What they intend to do is "secret" until Napster is actually bought, but with a reasonable assumption or two you can figure it out. Roxio's business is computer software, and about 40% of their income used to come from OEM bundling of lite versions of the software with computers and CD-R/RW drives. When the PC market took a dive, the OEM agreements made less, but also slowed the rate at which new users were upgrading from the lite to the standard version of the software which further reduced revenue. If you look at the income they reported this last summer, it was well below expectations and at that point the stock dove from the $16-$18 range to the $3-$5 range.

    Roxio needs/wants a source of income that is not tied to how often people buy new computers or CD burners. A subscription music service may just be the ticket. Remember, Roxio has agreements and contacts with all the major recording labels and even with some movie houses.

    For the record, I don't work for Roxio, I just know about an eighth of the company.

  4. Re:Napster is alive by nutznboltz · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'd say so:

    http://www.napigator.com/servers/