Napster is back, with an inescapable marketing campaign that’s put the familiar kitty-with-earphones logo everywhere, from Yahoo Mail boxes to stickers seen on the streets of San Francisco. Its features having been unveiled early this month, Napster’s introduction to the masses Wednesday contains little in the way of surprises. As announced earlier, the free software provides access to a huge …

The Recording Industry Association of America on Thursday said it filed 80 new lawsuits against alleged file swappers, a move that comes after a wave of letters it sent earlier this month that warned targets of their legal risk. The action marks a second round of suits against computer users who, record label investigators say, have made hundreds or even …

Sharman Networks, maker of peer-to-peer file-sharing software Kazaa, has announced the release of a new beta version of the popular program. Released Wednesday, the new version, 2.6, allows people to run multiple searches at the same time and is designed to let content providers sell their wares over the P2P network, enabling them to save on bandwidth costs. The upgrade, …