Napster traffic slows in U.S.

Web traffic for Napster in the United States fell in March, according to a report released Friday by Internet researcher Jupiter Media Metrix. The file-swapping music site had 15.7 million visitors last month as opposed to 16.9 million in February, which caused Napster to slip from number 13 to 14 on Jupiter's ranking of the top 50 Internet properties. While usage of Napster's site decreased in the United States, the site dominated globally. Unique visits to the Web site--one person counted only once per month for the visit--rose to 8.2 million in March from 5.9 million in February. The survey also found that though the average number of days per month people used the Net in the last two years grew only 5.6 percent, the average number of hours per month surfers spent online increased nearly 58 percent--from 12.8 hours to 20.2 over the same period.