Will Napster Have Success Launching in the UK? Synergy Client Solutions Dives into its Past.

Napster has announced that they will be re-launching in the UK to grab a share of the market that Spotify dominates. Synergy Client Solutions charts the rise and fall of the music sharing company.

Napster, illegal file-sharing giant of the early 2000s, will me making a come-back in the UK in the form of a legal file-sharing site hoping to take on the likes of Spotify. Bristol based Synergy Client Solutions is excited to find out whether Napster can stay on the right side of the law this time round and whether its business model and famous name will be enough to propel it to success.

Towards the end of 2011 Napster was bought by Rhapsody, a subscription music service, in the USA. However after Napster’s long running legal battles it was decided that Rhapsody would cease to trade under the famous name. Synergy Client Solutions is now aware that the UK and German arms of Napster were not bought at that time. Until now. In a turnaround for the books it appears that Napster will be revived in the UK under its original name.

The president of Rhapsody, Jon Irwin, is delighted by the move and said “The acquisition of Napster and its subscriber base in the UK and Germany gives us an ideal entry into the European market.” He went on to say, “Through the benefit of scale, the strength of our editorial programming, and strategic partnerships, we can now bring the Napster service to even more consumers on a variety of platforms.”

Napster’s rise to the top was part of the dotcom boom of the 1990s. In 1999 19 year-old Shawn Fanning designed software that allowed users to share music files over the internet for free. He teamed with Sean Parker, who was also involved in the start-up of Facebook, to make the service. The manager of Synergy Client Solutions notes, “Many people know about the Sean Parker side of the story because of the film The Social Network but many people haven’t heard of Shawn Fanning.”

Musicians and music executives launched a huge legal battle against Napster when they saw their shop sales dive and the company was shut down in 2001. It has tried to go straight once before in 2003 as a legal downloading site but couldn’t compete with the mighty iTunes.

Bristol has a huge music scene and you often hear people talking about Spotify, a digital streaming service which is entirely legal, has gained huge popularity in the last few years. Synergy Client Solutions believes that Napster will be keen to capitalize on that success whilst using a name that everyone knows and recognizes. 

Synergy Client Solutions Watch The Doomsday Clock Hands Move Again.

Synergy Client Solutions, a client acquisitions company based in Bristol, has learnt that The Doomsday Clock has been moved one minute closer to midnight because of “inadequate progress” on nuclear and climate issues. The time on the clock is decided by The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) which, created the clock in 1947.

The BAS believe that whilst Russian-US nuclear relations have seen considerable improvement, many other countries have failed to keep their end of nuclear treaties. US, China, Iran, India, Pakistan, Egypt and Israel are accused of failing to act on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The BAS singled out North Korea as the worst offender for failing to cut off production of nuclear weapons material despite a treaty. The clock saw its last movement back in 2010 when the time was moved back one minute.

The Doomsday Clock is something that has interested Synergy Client Solutions in recent years. According to The BAS website The Doomsday Clock ‘conveys how close humanity is to catastrophic destruction – the figurative midnight – and monitors the means humankind could use to obliterate itself.’

Synergy Client Solutions has done some research into the history of the clock. The Doomsday Clock was created after the American atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Within two decades Britain, the Soviet Union, China and France had nuclear weapon programmes. Since then Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea have been added to that number. Substantial quantities of highly enriched uranium, one of the materials necessary for a bomb, exist in more than 40 non-weapon states. Though most of the nuclear concerns in recent years have focussed on Iran, the International Atomic Energy Agency estimates than between 20 and 30 countries possess the capabilities, if not the intent, to pursue the bomb.

“Interestingly” remarks the director of Synergy Client Solutions “The Doomsday Clock also focuses on climate change and biological weapons. Huge advances in genetics and biology has, unfortunately, meant that biological warfare, the release of dangerous pathogens to cause illness or death, has become a very real concern.”

Looking at The Doomsday Clock timeline shows that the threat was at its worst in 1953, 2 minutes to midnight. The United States decided to pursue the hydrogen bomb, a weapon far more powerful than any atomic bomb. In October 1952 the USA tested its first thermonuclear device, destroying a Pacific Ocean islet in the process. 1984 saw the clock move to 3 minutes to midnight but the mid-1990s were a period of relative improvements with the clock at 14 minutes to midnight.

“At Synergy Client Solutions we find the concept of The Doomsday Clock a fascinating one. From an environmental point of view there is a great deal that we can do to help. Bristol is home to the Bristol Environmental Risk Research Centre, which is at the forefront of its field in the UK. From a nuclear and biological standpoint, we rest our confidence in the world’s governments. We wonder how long it will be before the hands move again.”

Synergy Client Solutions Looks at the Eco-Friendly Inventions You Probably Didn’t Know About.

Everyone is trying to do their bit for the environment and Synergy Client Solutions is no different. So they’ve hunted down a few of the best eco-friendly inventions to leave you feeling a little smug by the end of your work-day.

Bristol is famous for its hills so it may come as a surprise that cycling is a popular pastime and mode of transport in the city where Synergy Client Solutions is based. Many of their associates make their way around by bike but are often met with the frustrating problem of flat phone batteries. Now if you’re in a car, quickly plug it into the cigarette lighter and hey presto! But when you’re trying to be healthy and green it becomes a little harder. Or so you thought…there is now an iPhone 4 bicycle charger kit which works by a dynamo power generator taking its energy from the rotations of the bikes wheels. You can plug the cable into your phone and chuck it into your bag. By the time you get to work the battery bar will be full.

For those of you live a little too far away to cycle fear not, very soon you can still do your bit whilst driving your car. Ford has started developing mushroom-based compostable car parts, which can be used to replace bumpers, dashboards, side doors and other components without compromising safety. Once buried, the product decomposes within about a month. An associate of Synergy Client Solutions jokes “It brings a new meaning to Toadstool driving in Mario Kart!”

Right, Synergy Client Solutions has done their bit for getting to and from work but what about when you’re at home? The final invention is even weirder than mushroom cars! The smog-eating roof tile. The tile is designed to reduce harmful emissions. According to the company that makes the tiles, within one year, 2000 square feet of the tile can destroy the amount of NOx gases produced from a car driving 10, 400 miles. That could cancel out your travel to work as well.

Synergy Client Solutions’ mind is suitably blown! Make 2012 your year for making a difference. You can keep up to date with more innovative ideas by following our blog. http://synergyclientsolutions.blogspot.com.