New Napster CEO Konrad Hilbers promised Tuesday that the embattled file-swapping service would start offering subscriptions later this year.
Hilbers told a summit of tech leaders that Napster would be back online as soon as it fully complies with a court ruling to remove all copyrighted material from its site and can effectively police itself to make sure none is being traded.
He said Napster could still be a place where people swap music free of charge, so long as it isn't copyrighted.
"I'm very much a believer in what Napster stands for, which is the sharing of music among friends and private consumers when it comes to making available things like my children's Christmas carol singing or a garage band," Hilbers said.
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Baltimore cuts more jobs: Baltimore Technologies security firm will cut at least 600 jobs, on top of 250 cuts it announced last May, as it struggles to conserve dwindling cash reserves by slimming to just 470 workers, from 1,400 last year.
Baltimore (BALT) had a market capitalization of 5.5 billion sterling ($8.02 billion) at its peak last year, but is now worth just over $114 million.
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Teaming up: Sanyo Electric and NEC will team up on medical care information systems to boost market share.
The two companies will complement each other -- Sanyo (SANYY) will supply medical information systems for use in medical clinics to NEC (NIPNY), while NEC will provide Sanyo with systems for use in mid- and large-scale hospitals, they said.
The two firms will also jointly develop system maintenance services using the Internet.
An NEC spokesman said there was increasing demand to use the Internet to download revisions in laws such as medicine price-lists and medical care payment schedules.
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ExciteAtHome replaces auditors: ExciteAtHome dismissed the auditing firm that raised doubts about the Internet content and service provider's ability to continue as a going concern, even though it had no disagreements over the auditor's principles or practices.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, ExciteAtHome said it got rid of Ernst & Young and hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to be its new independent auditors.
An Ernst & Young report on the company's financial statements for 2000 "contained an explanatory paragraph describing conditions that raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern," ExciteAtHome said.
AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
