Best Buy buys Napster

Hey guys, remember when Napster was relevant? You know, when it was the first peer-to-peer program and it changed the internet and music industry forever? Then, later, remember when it was turned into a pay service hoping to piggyback on the popularity of the brand? And everyone just moved on to Kazaa or Limewire or whatever? Well, apparently the Napster name still means something to some people, as Best Buy is purchasing it for a whopping $121 million.

That insane price includes about $67 million of cash and investments, making the deal actually worth about $54 million, but that's still a lot of money. You've got to wonder what sorts of plans Best Buy has for the beleaguered music store, what with other online options such as iTunes and Amazon doing so much better. But I guess they're trying to make up for the steep drop-off in CD purchases in their stores over the last few years, which has got to have hurt their bottom line. Will they make serious changes to Napster to try to make it relevant again? We'll see. [Reuters]

via gizmodo