AOL Makes Music Noise

America Online takes over two kingpins in the digital music business, Nullsoft and Spinner.com. Following recent MP3 moves by RealNetworks, the upstart Internet music format takes another big step forward. By Chris Oakes.

In one of the strongest votes of confidence yet for Internet music, America Online has purchased two keystone online music companies.

The company announced Tuesday it has acquired Spinner Networks and Nullsoft. Nullsoft is the developer of the de facto standard MP3 player, Winamp, and Shoutcast streaming technology. Spinner.com is a music broadcasting service that features over 175,000 songs from 350 labels.


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