When Napster shut down in July 2001, remember how loudly the recording industry cheered? After working long and hard to defeat Enemy No. 1, the music moguls celebrated their victory over the renegade download Web site. Funny how the wheel turns. Three years later, the music industry is looking to digital downloading to help it …

Apple Computer has become the latest in a line of companies licensing patents from the relatively obscure E-Data, a company that claims to hold property rights on the process of selling music online. E-Data said Wednesday that it had reached a European agreement with Apple that gave the company worldwide rights for its iTunes Music Store. It has now launched …

Just hours after eBay announced its new music download site, a handful of songs popped up for sale–a sure sign of intense interest in the company’s plans to take on iTunes and others. It was the wrong sign. The files had been posted by people who were not authorized to sell music in the six-month test and were quickly removed. …

The bandwagon keeps on right on rolling when it comes to digital music, but there are potholes: Retailers are still looking for ways to make money, while Apple and RealNetworks are feuding over the iPod. eBay’s music foray lacks volume Auction site’s tentative entrance into music download business speaks volumes; can retailers make money off this? August 3, 2004 Start-up …

MusicMatch, a music software company, announced on Tuesday a new version of its Jukebox with on-demand streaming. Jukebox 9.0 features a search engine for browsing tracks and lets people rank searches by popularity, the company said. The feature is designed to let customers buy and manage music that’s downloaded, recorded from CD or streamed on demand in one place. MusicMatch …

Apple Computer and Motorola announced a deal Monday that will let customers of the iTunes music store transfer songs onto the next generation of MP3-enabled phones from the handset maker. Under the agreement, Apple will create a new version of its iTunes software for cell phones. The software will be the default jukebox on Motorola’s new line of products, slated …

A federal judge has handed a preliminary victory to the recording industry by granting its request to unmask anonymous file swappers accused of copyright infringement. U.S. District Judge Denny Chin ruled Monday that Cablevision, which provides broadband Internet access in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, can be required to divulge the identities of its subscribers sued over copyright violations. …

Lawyers were asked on Tuesday to reveal the identity of the owner of Sharman Networks, parent company of file-sharing service Kazaa, as the company faced copyright infringement allegations in Sydney, Australia. Lawyers for Universal Music Australia called on Sharman in Australian federal court to reveal the anonymous figure controlling the corporation in its request for evidential discovery. Justice Murray Wilcox …

RealNetworks announced Monday that it has unlocked some of Apple Computer’s most tightly held technology secrets, giving its music a way onto the popular iPod digital music player. The announcement is part of a broader release of RealNetworks software, which will let songs sold from the company’s online store play on a variety of portable devices, including the iPod and …

Music downloads could be on an upswing this year. Sales of digital tunes in 2004 in the United States will reach $270 million, more than double the takings from the previous year, according to a report released by JupiterResearch on Monday. That revenue will rise to $1.7 billion, or 12 percent of total consumer spending on music, by 2009, the …

The chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary said Thursday that a ban on file-trading networks is urgently required but agreed to work with tech companies concerned that devices like Apple Computer’s iPod would be imperiled. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he intended to move ahead with the highly controversial Induce Act despite objections from dozens of Internet …

In a move that’s alarming technology firms, the U.S. Copyright Office is about to endorse new legislation that would outlaw peer-to-peer networks and possibly some consumer electronics devices that could be used for copyright piracy. Marybeth Peters, the U.S. Register of Copyrights, is planning to announce her support for the measure at a Senate hearing on Thursday. The Induce Act, …

Apple Computer said Wednesday that it had signed deals with three of the United Kingdom’s largest independent labels, partly ending a licensing spat that had kept many popular bands out of the company’s European iTunes service. The deal, with the Beggars Group, Sanctuary Records Group and V2, means that artists such as the Pixies, the White Stripes and Morrissey will …

The Recording Industry Association of America said Tuesday that it had settled its lawsuit against Israeli file-swapping company iMesh, for damages of $4.1 million. The organization had sued iMesh last September, charging–as it has in a half-dozen lawsuits against rival peer-to-peer software developers–that the company was contributing to copyright infringement on a massive scale. As a part of the deal, …

Tired of the confusing mess of copy protection tools that keep some songs and videos from playing on your iPod or Napster player? So is Leonardo Chiariglione. The Italian engineer, who founded the Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG), is moving ahead with his new Digital Media Project (DMP), hoping to bridge the gaps between resolutely incompatible copy-proofing technologies from companies …