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Internet music retailer CDNow has enlisted music-swapping site Napster to help it sell compact discs. In the latest version of Napster’s software, a CDNow button that links to the e-tailer’s web site appears in the window’s top right-hand corner. Once users reach CDNow, they can browse the e-tailer’s inventory of 500,000 albums. The move is not especially surprising, given that Napster has teamed up with Bertelsmann to develop a fee-based music downloading service--and Bertelsmann owns CDNow. CDNow will track the shopping habits of shoppers who arrive at its site via Napster, which could resolve once and for all the debate about whether people who use Napster are more or less likely to pay for their music. If nothing else, the partnership does make it more likely that Napster users who buy CDs will click on the CDNow button.
FBI: Hackers plotted to
crash net on New Year's Eve
The FBI says that an international cabal
of teen-age and 20-something hackers planned to disable the internet on
New Year’s Eve. If all had gone as schemed, the young hackers might have
inserted malicious code into web servers, which could have shut down chat
rooms and other portions of the internet. In late December, the FBI seized
potentially hacking-related materials including CD-ROMs, floppy disks and
computers. Four young Israelis suspected of being involved in the plot
have been apprehended in their country. Additionally, a 16-year-old in
Washington State is under investigation, since he bragged about such a
plan on his web site. Several youths living in Michigan and California who
talked about cyber terrorism in chat rooms are also being probed. While it’s
possible the plot was hot air, the FBI says it’s hard to tell how
serious the threat was, since the attack was prevented.
Pop culture site
launches amid dot.com turmoil
Automatic Media, the company formed by
the merger of Suck.com, Feed Magazine and Alt.Culture, has launched a
community site meant to be the "Slashdot of pop culture." The
site, called Plastic.com, went live Monday. The move may seem suicidal in
light of the numerous dot.com deaths over recent months, but Automatic
Media thinks the venture could survive, since people won’t be paid to
create fresh content. Rather, a community of users, much like Slashdot,
will be counted upon to discuss movies, sex, music, humor and TV amongst
themselves, for the entertainment of all. This is more or less what
Slashdot has been doing for technology news and culture since September
1997. Plastic has in fact licensed the technology required to run this
sort of discussion-driven site from Slashdot. The site will link to content from Feed, Suck,
and Alt.Culture. Plastic’s partners include Modern Humorist, Wired News,
Spin, Inside.com, Nerve, The New Republic, Movieline, Gamers.com,
NetSlaves and TeeVee.org.
DoubleClick
breaks even in fourth quarter
While internet ad-serving company DoubleClick didn't turn a profit in the
fourth quarter of 2000, it also didn't post a loss, according to
just-announced corporate results. In breaking even, DoubleClick stands
out, given that the majority of dot.coms, including Yahoo, have been
losing money on top of slow online ad sales. These fourth-quarter results
are better than expected, since analysts had projected a loss of two cents
a share. Nonetheless, slow sales of internet ads spurred the company to
lower its expectations for 2001. DoubleClick says its ad revenue will be
down up to 30 percent in 2001. That will push DoubleClick back into the
red; it predicts a loss of up to 9 cents for the first quarter of 2001.
The company brought in $216,000 on net income for the quarter on revenue
from media of $60.4 million. In early December, DoubleClick laid off
between 123 and 210 workers, a cost-cutting move that probably helped it
post the strong results for the fourth quarter.
EMusic cans 66
employees, a third of its staff
EMusic, a company that claims to be the web's leading seller of
downloadable music, has fired 36
percent of its staff, or 66 people. Additionally, three high-ranking
executives have departed, specifically its executive vice president/CFO,
its executive vice president for business development, and its interim
COO/general counsel. The latest job cuts are supposed to save EMusic $16
million. These layoffs follow a 20 percent staff reduction that took place
in June. The layoffs, not surprisingly, are a sign of deeper problems at EMusic,
which runs a series of music sites which includes Rollingstone.com. Not
only is the company a victim of the poor
business climate for all internet companies, but sales of downloadable
music continue to be slower than anticipated, in part because many music files are available for
free elsewhere. And even the company's big-name site, Rollingstone.com,
isn't generating much revenue.
EYada axes third of
staff--30 workers
Talk-radio webcaster eYada.com has fired 30 of its 90 employees. The job
cuts follow the company’s cancellation last week of 17 of its online
talk shows. Thirteen shows remain in the site’s three channels: gossip
and entertainment; sports and fitness; and sex and comedy. The cancelled
shows drew less than 1 percent of eYada’s visitors. In contrast, the
remaining shows account for up to 88 percent of site traffic. EYada, which
launched in August 1999, plans to replace the canceled shows with new
ones. EYada talk show hosts include punk-rock pioneer Johnny Rotten and
writers from the New York Post, New York Daily News and Sports
Illustrated. EYada’s layoffs and cancellations underscore the
difficulties of broadcasting original material over the internet: Over the
past year, several big-name entertainment sites, including Pseudo.com, DEN
Networks and Pop.com, have shut down.
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