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Rhapsody Rebrands Itself As Napster (thenextweb.com)

An anonymous reader writes: After completing its purchase of Napster in December 2011, Rhapsody has decided to rebrand itself as Napster. Rhapsody made the announcement on their blog, which states: "No changes to your playlists, favorites, albums, and artists. Same music. Same service. Same price. 100% the music you love. Stay tuned!" That's it. The company didn't elaborate as to why they decided to change their name now. Napster has made a name for itself as being a brand synonymous with illegal music downloads. It'll be interesting to what kind of effect, if any, this has on Rhapsody.

25 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. Watch Out For Lars by zenlessyank · · Score: 2

    He ain't rich enough

    1. Re:Watch Out For Lars by wardrich86 · · Score: 4, Funny

      BEER GOOD! NAPSTER BAD!

  2. Good lord, why? by jimbob6 · · Score: 1

    Is Rhapsody that hungry for bankruptcy.
    They can't possible believe that taking the name of a defunct 18 year old filesharing service will lend them any street cred, can they?
    That's like Verizon renaming themselves AOL.

    1. Re:Good lord, why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Napster wasn't a "filesharing service", it was a copyright violation service with ZERO usage for legal distribution.

      The company bragged about how they were ripping CD's by the hundreds of thousands.

    2. Re:Good lord, why? by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      SBC renaming itself ATT ?

    3. Re:Good lord, why? by allo · · Score: 1

      It was file sharing, which is commonly used for breaking the copyright of musicians.

  3. understatment or ignorance? by sittingnut · · Score: 1

    "Napster has made a name for itself as being a brand synonymous with illegal music downloads."
    is that an intentional understatement or just plain ignorance?

    in contrast,
    "rhapsody" !?
    what's that? seriously!

    1. Re:understatment or ignorance? by freeze128 · · Score: 1

      Rhapsody has made a name for itself as being a brand synonymous with DRM encumbered music. Of course they would want to make it look like "free illegal music".

    2. Re:understatment or ignorance? by mrclevesque · · Score: 1

      "You don't know what the word rhapsody means?"

      Do you think that he doesn't?

      "Are you 10 years old or have you just been living in a cave your entire life?"

      And you?

  4. To cash in on Tower Records movie notoriety? by bazmail · · Score: 1

    Cashing in on movie notoriety as Napster is the bad guy in that overly nostalgic movie about a piss stained shithole of a music store."All Things Must Pass". RIAA anti-internet freedom propaganda. http://www.towerrecordsmovie.c...

  5. so they can crash by swschrad · · Score: 1

    they just want the nappy cat logo out front. this time, add whiskers.

    --
    if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
    1. Re:so they can crash by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 1

      yeah, well, it still can't whip the llama's ass...

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    2. Re:so they can crash by invictusvoyd · · Score: 1

      17 January - Radionomy formalizes the acquisition of Winamp and SHOUTcast from AOL.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radionomy#2016

      There is no Ilama , there is no ass ..

  6. Rhapsody only exists in the U.S. by CrashNBrn · · Score: 1

    It'll be interesting to what kind of effect, if any, this has on Rhapsody.

    No it wont. Rhapsody is already branded as Napster in all the other countries it operates in except for the United States.

    I didn't even know it existed as a Music Streaming service, and according to this, is possibly even better than Pandora.

  7. Re:Who cares? by zenlessyank · · Score: 1

    Media has its own agenda. It needs cash. Facts have nothing to do with anything. Only cash flow. Are you helping with that flow? Media doesn't like your attitude. Media doesn't like this kind of questioning. You need to get in line. Pay up.

  8. New slogan too! by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

    Napster: pay for music that you still won't own!

    seriously, these music streaming services are retarded.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  9. I don't get it by dejitaru · · Score: 2

    And I don't think they get it either. Napster was revolutionary because the ability to search and trade songs with people over the internet. Yes it was piracy, but it became essentially became an icon of "anti-music industry" and Anti-RIAA. And it seems people are still trying to profit by it, which I don't get how they think it will work.

    I mean I get it, there's some nostalgia to the name, but the name was related to a service that has long been dead. What customers are they trying to get? People in their 30s who remember the name and for some reason will flock to it because it reminds them of their teen/college years? Hardly i'd think. /rant

  10. What's with the 90s nostalgia lately by spiritplumber · · Score: 1

    It's 2016, so 20 years ago would've been 1996.... Damn I'm old.

    --
    Liberty - Security - Laziness - Pick any two.
  11. Wrong term by CanEHdian · · Score: 3, Funny

    Napster has made a name for itself as being a brand synonymous with illegal music downloads.

    Keep up with the times, Slashdot. We prefer the expression "undocumented music downloads" nowadays.

    --
    When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
  12. Cancelling with Rhapsody was a PITA... by mlts · · Score: 1

    I got "dumped" into Rhapsody after the URGE store closed down (which arguably was excellently curated because at the time, MTV actually did some decent background write-ups about bands.)

    Trying to cancel with them is insane. You can't cancel online, but you have to call, be passed between people until you start demanding a supervisor, then "Can you cancel my subscription, if not, hand me to someone with that capability". It was an extremely unpleasant experience with multiple call attempts until it was done. Any of the other mainstream services can be stopped pretty easily, but because it was so difficult to cancel with them, I'd never ever go back, no matter how good they were.

  13. Should have picked "Naply" by Photonmaker · · Score: 1

    Adding "ly" to something seems to at least get the VCs wound up. I did a quick survey in the house - the 17 year old said he has heard of Napster, the 15 year old said "what's Napster?", the 13 year old said "whatster?" Not that Rhapsody is used by anyone in the house either - nor did it have any name recognition with anyone. Sounds DOA(ly).

    1. Re:Should have picked "Naply" by Overzeetop · · Score: 1

      Add and extra p and make it Napply and they can do some stylish word play on app to make it seem very new-computing hip.

      --
      Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
  14. Re:Who cares? by omnichad · · Score: 1

    You want more dupes?

  15. Napster Napster watcha gonna do ... by future+assassin · · Score: 1
    --
    by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
  16. Re:Who cares? by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    Seriously, why is this on the front page and items like Hilary's use of a private server to order assassinations in another nation is no where to be found?

    Because no one wants critically important breaking news about another fucking music streaming site to be overshadowed by some little story about a presidential candidate being involved in killing people across international borders.

    Hillary has been declared the Anointed One by the media and the Powers That Be, and all of us little people should just suck it up and put on our Happy Face(tm).

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...