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Napster Acquires Gigabeat, Engineers

Napster adds cutting-edge music search and song file identification technologies to its arsenal to improve compliance and overall service.

Even as Napster again appears in court to defend the efficacy of its file-filtering efforts, the company has announced that it has completed a transaction to acquire Gigabeat, a firm with cutting edge technology and a skilled engineering team. The technologies developed by Gigabeat will be incorporated in Napster’s ongoing compliance and development efforts. In addition to developing cutting-edge music search and song file identification technologies, Gigabeat has been a leader in music personalization, creating a unique personalization architecture that combines collaborative filtering, media processing, and data mining technologies.

According to today’s announcement, Gigabeat’s co-founders, Dr. Wilburt Labio and Dr. Narayanan Shivakumar, as well as Gigabeat’s engineering team, have joined Napster. The transaction was structured as an asset acquisition, but financial details have not been disclosed.

“Gigabeat has developed some very interesting and innovative technologies,” said Napster CEO Hank Barry. “We look forward to working with their technology and highly qualified engineers.”

Gigabeat President Louise Vel ·zquez stated, “The relationship between Gigabeat and Napster is a great fit. We are working with Napster’s technical team to incorporate Gigabeat’s technology into the Napster system.”

 
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