Your Technology

By Roy B. White Sunday, May 19, 2002
    • DROP TILL THEY SHOP Sony just cut the price of its popular PlayStation 2 game console from $299 to $199. Microsoft quickly followed suit, lest its struggling Xbox system get dusted by the industry leader. Nintendo, which released its GameCube at $199, says it's standing pat, at least for now.

    TRADING PLACES Bertelsmann wants to turn Napster into a for-pay service (having bought it for $8 million last week), but the free-music file-sharing revolution Napster launched is still going strong, thanks to a fleet of wannabes. Here, according to Jupiter Media Metrix, are the top five (by unique users):

    Morpheus -- 7.2 million
    KaZaA Media -- 5.8 million
    AudioGalaxy -- 3.5 million
    WinMX -- 2.1 million
    iMesh -- 1.1 million

    The largest industry-backed subscription service, MusicMatch, draws fewer than 3 million users.

    LOOK, MA, NO WIRES! Amazing Technology BlueGear networking kits ($129) offer one of the simplest ways to share files, peripherals and Internet access among several home PCs. Plug one into a PC's USB port, and it can wirelessly relay files to as many as eight Bluetooth-enabled devices. It's not the fastest wireless option, but it's the easiest on the wallet.