It’s taken ten years, and a last leg up by way of an acquisition of a competitor, but Rhapsody says that it has finally reached one million subscribers for its music services in the U.S.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek took the stage at Spotify’s first-ever press conference to expand the music streaming service’s Facebook integration to a wider world of social networks and devices, arguing that sharing is the only thing that can save the music industry and stop piracy.

Rhapsody yesterday announced the acquisition of long-term rival Napster from U.S. retailer Best Buy.  Rhapsody will retire the Napster brand and migrate the customer base over to its own service, with Best Buy gaining a minority stake in Rhapsody. It is a somewhat poignant end to one of digital music’s…

Former Napster President Brad Duea, who left the music-subscription service a year after Best Buy acquired the company for $121 million, has resurfaced at T-Mobile USA, a company spokesperson confirmed today.

TiVo (NSDQ: TIVO)—which has seen the ranks of its subscribers drop—and Best Buy—which is ramping up its digital initiatives—think they can help each other out. The two companies are forming a partnership to promote each other’s offerings. The basics, via the NYT and the San Jose Mercury News: Best Buy…

If the stories of other file-sharing firms that sold out are any indication, Pirate Bay’s move to sell itself and go legit might not play out so well. Here’s what happened to some of its peer-to-peer predecessors that were put up for sale: Company: Scour Buyer: CenterSpan Sale Price: $9…

We ran an interview last week with Jeff Lindsay, the Bernstein analyst who believes strongly that internet companies too often buy the wrong startups, and later pay the price. Yesterday’s news that eBay (NSDQ: EBAY) sold StumbleUpon back to its original founders seemed to be evidence of what he’s talking…

*Sony* boasts that its PlayStation Network has more than 20 million registered users, beating Microsoft’s Xbox Live with 17 million, despite being about four years younger. But thanks to its Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) deal, Xbox Live’s content library has more than 30,000 movies and TV shows—and since PlayStation Network users…

Earlier this month we reported that Napster (NSDQ: NAPS) warned customers it was changing its privacy policy and would be merging its data with that of new owner Best Buy, leaving questions about what would be done with the merged info. I even mentioned my plans to cancel by the…

Napster (NSDQ: NAPS) subscribers using the service after Feb. 17 will be giving the gift of data to Best Buy. In an “important announcement” sent to subscribers this morning, Napster warns that its October 2008 acquisition by the retailer means “any personal or other data that you share, or have…

Back in May, a site called Mygazines was launched, offering a peer-to-peer model for readers to share their magazine subs with each other. The basic idea: subscribers could upload digitized versions of their magazines for others to peruse. No shock: The magazine publishers were in no mood to see their…

How did the BestBuy-Napster (NSDQ: NAPS) deal come about? Well, after UBS contacted about 80 players over the years (it became a running joke about who was looking at Napster any given week) and had given up, talks started with Best Buy early this year, according to a detailed SEC…

Napster (NSDQ: NAPS) has fallen into the arms of a surprise buyer: Best Buy. The big-box electronics giant will pay $121 million or $2.65 per share. Shares of Napster closed at $1.36 on Friday, so this is nearly double for those die-hards that have held on for the long ride…

Napster (NSDQ: NAPS), the online music service under pressure from some of its shareholders for a management change or a sale got a small breather when two independent proxy advisors—Proxy Governance and Glass Lewis & Co—concluded that three dissident investors seeking seats on the company’s board are unqualified to be…

Troubled online music retailer Napster (NSDQ: NAPS) has hired UBS (again) to explore strategic alternatives, including a possible sale. The news was made in a letter to shareholders, urging them not to vote for three outside activists, looking to get representation on the board. In the letter, the company notes…

Memo to self: When Napster’s (NSDQ: NAPS) Q308 subscription numbers are released, remember the mid-August sale promotion offering 6 months for $70 instead of the usual $127—a discount of more than 45 percent—complete with 50 downloads of MP3s that can be kept. It’s the kind of offer that can raise…

Struggling online music player Napster (NSDQ: NAPS) has reported Q2 revenue of $30.3 million, a decline of 5.9 percent from $32.2 million a year ago. Net loss was fairly flat at $4.3 million ($.10 per share) compare to a loss of $4.2 million ($.10 per share) a year ago. The…

A bit of disturbance in the ad network force ... Sugar Inc. is taking its ad sales back in house after a year in a rev-share agreement that gave NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) roughly half of the take from the blog network in exchange for handling the ad sales. The…

The speculation about Napster’s (NSDQ: NAPS) fate has been going on ever since it relaunched under the new management, and once again, some new fuel to it: Bloomberg did a piece earlier today, noting that company could become takeover bait for hedge funds as its cash on hand exceeds company’s…