Los Angeles - Napster, the digital music service recently acquired by retail chain Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), announced on Thursday that it has extended its Napster Mobile service to AT&T's (NYSE: T) 13 million wireless subscribers. Napster Mobile, which offers over 6 million songs, is now available on more than 25 AT&T smartphones and handsets.

New York - While Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store continues to dominate the digital music market, Amazon's (NASD: AMZN) MP3 store and RealNetworks' (NASD: RNWK) Rhapsody made strides in terms of brand awareness and user preference over the past year, according to a report from market research firm Ipsos. Among users who were aware of more than one source for digital music purchases, 57% preferred iTunes -- an increase of 7% from a year ago. Meanwhile, 9% favored Amazon MP3, which has only been around a year, and 7% preferred Rhapsody, a 3% increase from a year ago.

Minneapolis - Consumer electronics and media retail store chain Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) announced on Monday that it has agreed to acquire digital music service Napster (NASD: NAPS) for $121 million, or $2.65 per share -- nearly double the company's closing price on Friday. "We believe Best Buy will be an ideal partner for Napster and are very excited by the benefits that this transaction delivers to our shareholders, partners and employees," said Napster chairman and CEO Chris Gorog. "We are looking forward to combining our digital media capabilities with Best Buy's resources and global network to extend our digital content platforms."

Los Angeles - Napster (NASD: NAPS) has hinted that the company is up for sale again, saying in its response to a dissident shareholder group that the company is once again exploring possible strategic alternatives, and has retained UBS Investment Bank to assist in the process. The company hired UBS two years ago to explore a possible sale, but no deal emerged. Napster informed shareholders of the move in a letter that also said the company believes that three proposed dissident board candidates are "unqualified."

Los Angeles - Digital music service Napster (NASD: NAPS) has reported first quarter sales of $30.3 million, down 6% from the same period a year ago, and a slightly wider loss of $4.4 million.

New York - Struggling digital music service Napster (NASD: NAPS), which has not posted a profit in four years and has seen its share price tumble 95% over the past six years, may be ripe for a takeover now that its nearly $70 million in cash and investments exceeds the $52.1 million its shares are valued at, Bloomberg reported.

Los Angeles - Napster (NASD: NAPS) on Tuesday announced the launch of its new, DRM-free MP3 store, which it claims is 50% larger than any similar store, at 6 million tracks, with the largest major label MP3 catalog and the largest library of independent music. "Music fans have spoken and it's clear they need the convenience, ease of use and broad interoperability of the DRM-free MP3 format, and they want to be able to find both major label artists and independent music all in one place. Napster is delighted to deliver all of this and more with the world's largest MP3 catalog," said Napster chairman and CEO Chris Gorog.

San Antonio, Texas - AT&T (NYSE: T) said on Thursday that it will launch its delayed mobile TV service with partner MediaFLO USA, a unit of Qualcomm (NASD: QCOM), in May. The service will initially support two handsets: the LG Vu and Samsung Access. Separately, AT&T launched two new mobile music applications, and said it will expand its Napster Mobile (NASD: NAPS) over-the-air downloads. The company now offers mSpot's Make-UR-Tones and Remix, which lets users create custom ringtones from their phones, and download songs from their PCs to their phones, respectively. AT&T also said its Napster Mobile service will be available to more than 12 million customers, beginning this summer.

New York - Managers of top recording artists are considering legal action against major record labels, saying that Universal, Warner Music (NYSE: WMG) and EMI are dragging their feet in distributing hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements from copyright infringement lawsuits against file-sharing firms like Napster and Kazaa, the New York Post reported. "Artist managers and lawyers have been wondering for months when their artists will see money from the copyright settlements and how it will be accounted for," attorney John Branca, who has represented Korn and The Rolling Stones, told the Post. "Some of them are even talking about filing lawsuits if they don't get paid soon."

Los Angeles - Napster (NASD: NAPS) and wireless partner Ericsson on Monday announced the launch of the Napster Mobile music service in Chile with wireless network operator Entel PCS, marking its first availability in Latin America. Entel PCS claims over 5.5 million subscribers.

Los Angeles - Napster (NASD: NAPS) and Ericsson on Monday announced the launch of the Napster Mobile music service with Telecom Italia, which claims over 35 million subscribers. The premium service offers a catalog of more than 5 million songs, thanks in part to a raft of new mobile licensing deals announced by Sony Ericsson today.

Los Angeles - Digital music service provider Napster (NASD: NAPS) announced on Monday that it will begin selling songs exclusively in the MP3 format beginning in the second quarter.