Mark Fleischmann

The days when Napster was the world's largest free music library are long gone. Soon, though, it may become the world's cheapest legitimate music subscription service, with a new plan that asks consumers for a mere $5/month for five free tracks and a whole lot of streaming. That's hardly even lunch money!

Tomorrow the Federal Communications Commission and local broadcasters will run a "soft test" of the DTV transition. Analog TV broadcasts will be interrupted three times on May 21, 2009 with a message heralding the end of analog broadcasting, coming on June 12. They message will advise consumers who depend on antennas to feed analog TVs to devise a Plan B in a hurry.

Who's the king of the hill in flat-panel TV, according to the NPD Group, for the first quarter of 2009? In overall sales, Samsung. In LCD, Vizio. And in plasma, Panasonic.

RealNetworks is putting pedal to the metal in its attempt to save its DVD-copying application. Even as the RealDVD trial prepares to conclude next week, RealNetworks has launched a legal counterattack, suing six motion picture studios for antitrust violation.