NAPSTER STYMIES STATE DEPT., BUT NOT AZZOLI

In a Businessweek interview, Atlantic co-chairman and co-CEO val azzoli',390,400);">val azzoli',390,400);">Val Azzoli steps out a bit from the party line on everybody's (okay 20 million people's) MP3 file-swapping service. Azzoli discusses the inevitability of digital distribution and admits that there were early negotiations between record companies and Napster. He also allows that he would "even pay Napster to be a distributor. My beef is not getting paid. And, dude, it's all about getting paid."

The State Department's beef with Napster isn't economic, it's the usual complaint—people using the service are hogging bandwidth. A memo circulated to all employees directed them not to download MP3 files. "The number of music files found on department networks with the extension MP3 has been dramatically increasing recently. Downloading these large files is causing a bottleneck at department firewalls and subsequently having an adverse effect on our networks as these files enter the e-mail system. The last time this happened, we accidentally bombed an embassy."

Closer to home, a similar memo was circulated today at hitsdailydouble.com world headquarters. "Excessive internal network traffic has caused all of our data programs to slow down… there should be no people on Napster downloading songs. We are already reading all of your e-mails, going through your desks at night and following you home, so you know we won't hesitate chop off your clicking finger if you use Napster."