SAN FRANCISCO (Bloomberg News Service) — Napster Inc.'s Internet traffic rose 92 percent last week as a federal judge threatened to shut down the music-sharing Web site for copyright violations.
The number of people visiting Napster.com from their home rose to 849,196 on Friday, according to Nielsen//NetRatings, an online audience-measuring service, when a federal appeals court postponed the shutdown order. On Tuesday, the day before the shutdown order, Napster had 443,070 visitors.
Napster, based in San Mateo, Calif., makes software that enables users to swap digital music files. Time Warner Inc., Sony Corp., Bertelsmann AG and more than a dozen other record companies sued the Internet startup in December for copyright infringement.
The percentage of visitors to Napster who downloaded the music-sharing software at home rose from 13.5 percent the day of the original court order to 22.2 percent the day it was put on hold, Nielsen//Net Ratings said.