Roxio said Monday that it will sell its consumer software division for $80 million and focus wholly on its Napster digital music business in the future.
The company plans to officially change its name to Napster, taking the brand of the onetime file-swapping revolutionary that it purchased nearly two years ago. For the last nine months it has operated Napster as a paid digital music download and subscription service, competing in part with Apple Computer"s iTunes.
The decision marks a dramatic and relatively rapid change in the company"s identity and strategy. Once a leading company aimed at helping consumers burn CDs, it has seen that business slowly decline as other software programs such as iTunes have added their own automatic disc-burning capacity. The digital music business is expected to grow substantially, however. Although far behind iTunes in terms of revenue, the Napster division is now making about $7.9 million a quarter, and is on track to reach $30 million to $40 million for its fiscal year.