Rob Black submits: Napster Inc. (NAPS) took the wraps off a new version of its Napster.com music site that’s likely to open another front in the battle for online downloads. Napster.com will let users access its catalog of more than 2 million music tracks and listen to them five times without charge. The idea behind making its service free up to a point is that it simplifies and streamlines purchasing individual tracks and albums as well as subscribing to premium Napster services.

Barron’s reports Imax Corporation’s (IMAX) impressive cash-flow levels should support a buyout price that’s at least equal to the company’s current market valuation of about $500 million, plus $160 million in debt.

CBS Corp (CBS) and Clear Channel Communications (CCU) have cut deals to get some of their biggest sports stations onto mobile phones. For example, the stations will be available to Sprint subscribers with who pay an additional $5.95 per month for the sports package. While Americans say they are spending less time each week listening to radio, they are spending more time with gadgets like iPods and mobile phones.

Yahoo (YHOO) plans to launch a Web site designed to help consumers research, purchase and learn to use technology products, marking the Internet portal’s first new content site in five years. Yahoo Tech will provide information on gadgetry in 18 categories, including cellphones, laptops and digital-music players. It will also republish articles and product reviews from several magazines and accept comments contributed by users. There will be traditional display advertising on most of the site’s pages. Verizon (VZ) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) are among the initial advertisers.

Loudeye (LOUD) sold its U.S.-based digital-music operations to Muze Technologies for $11 million. The deal also includes Loudeye’s “encoding” services, which convert music into formats that can be sold over the Internet.