If the CFO of a highly successful company were to quit for “personal reasons,” an eyebrow or two might need to be raised.  But Nand Gangwani, the CFO of Napster, is stepping down, and, well, there you have it.

AT&T announced today that it would allow its subscribers to download music from Napster’s catalog of over five million songs directly to their cell phones. The service will launch early next month.

Today Napster launched a new Web-based platform that allows users to listen to their music on their computer without downloading software.

Shawn Fanning’s post-Napster endeavor has fared poorly, with layoffs and "For Sale" signs the order of the day.

The announcement derby in the music space shifts to Florida this week and mobile conference CITA Wireless. Even prior to today’s opening the press releases are flying.

Ipsos Tempo Digital Music Brandscape study released today indicates that Apple’s iTunes continues to cement its position as the primary fee-based digital music destination, while a number of other services are trying to grow their consumer base and establish points of differentiation.

For many brands awareness was consistent in 2006. For American downloaders aged 12 and older, iTunes saw an increase in both unaided and aided awareness over 2005, rising from 57 percent to 66 percent for total awareness.

AOL and Napster announced Friday that Napster will become the exclusive music subscription provider for AOL Music. The two companies will partner to migrate approximately 350,000 paid subscribers of the Music Now service to Napster’s digital music subscription service.

When it comes to litigation, I remember the lessons of one Steve Dallas – only sue those who have deep pockets. Apparently, video-on-demand (VOD) specialist Intertainer received the same lesson and has decided to act on it.