Your Technology May 27, 2002

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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.

--By Roy B. White