Shawn Fanning

The latest technological threat to the music industry is a program called "Napster," which is also the schoolyard nickname of the 19-year-old who created it. The song-swapping software has spread among college students at such an astounding rate that the transfer of music files has clogged campus computer networks, prompting dozens of universities to ban Napster.

For a brief moment, as Napster founder Shawn Fanning shook hands and embraced Bertelsmann Chairman Thomas Middelhoff, the drawn-out war between the record industry and its high-tech foes seemed to reach a cease-fire. Wondrous things were sure to spring from the alliance of a music industry giant and the Internet challenger. A legal, all-you-can-eat way of grabbing near-CD quality tunes off the Net appeared to be on the horizon. But in the days following the Oct.

Fast-growing Imeem Inc. said Monday that it had bought Snocap, a struggling online music service co-founded by Napster creator Shawn Fanning. By buying Snocap, Imeem, which owns a social-networking site that lets users listen to free music and watch videos, signaled its intention to offer new ways to search, discover and sample digital media. Analysts said it also might mean the firm will start selling music and other content. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Two of Napster's founders have rejoined forces to launch another start-up, this time a live social video network. The new service by Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning is intended to bring users together through their social networks and shared interests. To use Airtime, which was launched at an event Tuesday in New York City, users need only a Facebook account and a webcam. Once inside Airtime's website, users can choose to video chat or simply instant message with people from their Facebook friends list.

AUSTIN, Texas -- More than a decade ago, Alex Winter saw a revolution brewing. Winter is perhaps best known as Bill, the blond-haired high school slacker from the 1989 comedy “Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.” But he's also a tech head, a music fan and a director. On Sunday, Winter's new Napster documentary, “Downloaded,” will have its world premiere at the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival. Made with the participation of Napster co-founders Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker, “Downloaded” charts the rise and fall of the music file-sharing service, which had 25 million users before shutting down in 2001, and presaged the explosion of Internet communities and the widespread piracy of media on the Web. “To me, Napster wasn't about music,” Winter said.

Warner Music Group Corp. agreed to use technology from Napster founder Shawn Fanning to sell song downloads on websites including MySpace.com. Warner is the first major recording company to sign such an agreement with Snocap Inc., Fanning's San Francisco-based digital-rights technology firm, the companies said in a statement.

Roxio Inc., the software firm that bought Napster's technology and Web site in bankruptcy proceedings last fall, said it had acquired one more Napster asset -- company founder Shawn Fanning. Roxio said Fanning, 22, would serve as a consultant as the Santa Clara, Calif., firm retools the Internet song-swapping service that shut down in July 2001 during a court fight over copyrights. Chief Executive Chris Gorog said Napster will reopen as a fee-based service with licensed content this year.

Despite signs of increasing drug use among technology's newly rich, high-tech companies are adopting policies that require screenings for blue-collar and out-of-town staff, but protect programmers and executives in tight labor markets such as Silicon Valley. The little-known practice, which labor experts call legal but blatantly biased, is being used by industry leaders such as online retailer Amazon.com Inc., software maker Intuit Corp., Internet delivery service Kozmo.

Napster Inc., the Internet music-swapping service shut down in a dispute with record companies, may seek bankruptcy protection in Delaware as early as today as part of a proposed $8-million buyout, people familiar with the matter said. A Chapter 11 filing would allow Napster to be bought by Bertelsmann, Germany's biggest media company, and reorganize under current management, the people said.

A mediator appointed by the judge in the Napster Inc. case has been negotiating a deal to allow the popular online music-swapping service to survive without violating copyright laws, according to a published report. An appeals court last Monday upheld a July ruling by U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel, who found Napster guilty of copyright infringement. Patel appointed former federal judge Eugene Lynch as a mediator between Napster and major record companies, the article in the Feb.