MP3.com is closing.

[sethmilk]

straight from ny inbox...

CNET Networks, Inc announced today that it has acquired certain assets of MP3.com, Inc.

Please be advised that on Tuesday, December 2, 2003 at 12:00 PM PST the MP3.com website will no longer be accessible in its current form.

Following a transition period, CNET Networks, Inc. plans to introduce new and enhanced artist services. If you would like to receive email updates on these new services and notification when they are available, as well as an invitation to their special artists-only preview, please sign up here.

Your personal information, music, images, related content or other information will not be transferred to CNET Networks, Inc. or any other third party.

MP3.com's content administration tools will remain available until the site is redirected on December 2, 2003. Please note, however, that promptly following the removal of the MP3.com website, all content will be deleted from our servers and all previously submitted tapes, CD-ROMs and other media in our possession will be destroyed. We recommend that you make alternative content hosting arrangements as soon as practicable.

Please remember to update or remove all links and references to the URL www.mp3.com. Additionally if you would like a historical record of your page, we recommend that you capture screen shots of the page as well as your artist statistics pages since they will no longer be available once the site goes offline.

MP3.com stopped collecting monthly fees for Gold and Platinum Artist Service subscriptions as of November 3, 2003. For any monthly Gold or Platinum Artist Service subscription fees MP3.com received during the period beginning October 13, 2003 and ending November 2, 2003, MP3.com will be issuing a refund that will be prorated to reflect a termination of the subscription as of November 2, 2003. For any previously paid annual Gold and Platinum subscription fees MP3.com has received during 2003, MP3.com will be issuing a refund that will be prorated to reflect a termination of the subscription as of November 2, 2003. Any artists who subscribed to the Platinum or Gold Artist Service after November 2, 2003 will receive a full refund of any fees paid.

If you subscribe to any other MP3.com services, you will receive separate email messages with specific information about refunds and service availability.

Participants in the truSONIC Business Music Service program will be receiving an email update about the process for their continued participation in that program.

All content uploads will cease immediately. Approvals of previously uploaded content will continue through Friday, November 14, 2003.

CDs will be available for purchase through Monday, November 17, 2003 at 12:00 PM PST.

MP3.com will perform a final artist accounting and check distribution on or around December 1, 2003. Any artist account with a balance of at least $25.00 will qualify to receive a payment in the final artist accounting (reduced from the usual requirement of $50.00). Payment of CD royalties will be included in the final artist accounting. If you anticipate a payment, please verify and update your artist account and contact information no later than November 20, 2003. Click here for help updating your contact information.

Please be sure to check the Sophie message board and System Service Report (SSR) for further updates.

On behalf of all of us at MP3.com we thank you for your patronage and continued support. It has been a privilege to host one of the largest and most diverse collections of music in the world. MP3.com wishes to express its sincere thanks to each of you for making our website an important part of your musical journey. We wish you continued success.

Sincerely,
MP3.com

P.S. Remember that in order to receive email updates on CNET's new artist services, you should sign up here today.

[brew]

silly dot-comers. when will they learn.

[wing]

wow, weird, i never thought it would really happen...

[YOUR KONG]

Wonder what the new site-formerly-known-as-mp3-com is going to look like...

[matttherat]

good riddance i say.

[lsn110]

It became intolerable once they started trying to make money off of it. Can't blame them for trying, but they never really made it worth anybody's while to pay. I'm actually surprised it lasted this long.

[ahmedgarcia]

I actually enjoyed the site to see what the "kids" were listening to. As a guitarist that does not listen to commercial radio, I would use the play list to play along with my guitar to learn what riffs were represeted in today's music. It was invaluable for me and my practice. I wanted to stay ahead of the curve kinda of mentallity. Oh well...

[stillafool]

Not much of a loss. Mp3.com was a real pain to browse -- lots of popups, no aesthetics whatever. Cnet is a pretty decent site -- great place for computer reviews, general info, and third-party downloads. Hopefully they'll make a decent mp3 site.

[wayne kerr]

It will be replaced by a service called www.mpv.com which is an online file sharing service that works like this: you send your request over the internet and in 72 hours, somebody shows up at your house with a vinyl LP. You and the representative then park yourselves on the persian rug in your living room in front of the stereo. You dim the lights while the representative pulls the LP from the sleeve, cleans the surface with a skillful swipe (and don't forget the stylus!) and drops needle to PVC. She then produces a perfectly-twisted seedless indica pinner and sparks it up as you enjoy your musical selection. You are amazed at the clarity, depth and immediacy of the sound as the music envelops you. It just sounds so... chocolatey. You are also amazed that you don't do this more often I recommend starting off slow - you don't want to overload yourself - maybe More Songs About Buildings and Food, Aladdin Sane, Loaded, Marquee Moon, This Year's Model, Discipline, The Art of Walking, etc.. But by all means AVOID Dark Side of the Moon, The Flowers of Romance, Public Flipper Limited or ANYTHING by Alice Donut - that will come, but in due time. 14 minutes later, one of you has to get up off your lazy fried ass and flip the record over. Careful not to step in the chip dip. Side 2 is always more intense than side 1. Just sit back and let nature take its course!

Tipping is always appreciated. At this point, I'd recommend a 12" from Quizno's... no onions, though cuz you might want to invite the representative back to the pad for some more *ahem* listening...

Rock on!

CCPP

[Kevin Kitchel]

Hippie.

[wayne kerr]

Hippie.

Yuppie.

[penelec]

Yeah, but the ghetto of IUMA will live on forever, even if I don't get two cent royalty checks anymore.

[wayne kerr]

Yeah, but the ghetto of IUMA will live on forever, even if I don't get two cent royalty checks anymore

.

And the studio will ALWAYS be the last to get paid!

CCPP

[DryCounty]

I don't know why the fuss. I loved MP3.com. I'm sorry to see it go, regardless of the rules. For those of us with limited knowledge of how to run our own webservers and host MP3's 24/7, they did a good job. And it was free to boot.

I've already posted this in another section but does anyone have any firsthand information regarding any of the replacement services (TruSonic etc.) that are quickly moving to take advantage of this? Benefits? Detriments? Gripes??