San Jose, Calif. ? Call it the kitty’s third life.

Roxio Inc. bought the Napster brand name and feline logo at a bankruptcy auction two years ago and with the acquisition of another music service, pressplay, relaunched the once-renegade file-swapping pioneer as a legal music service last October.

Now in its latest reincarnation, Roxio has shed its CD-burning software business and plans to concentrate solely on selling and delivering music over the Web. It will adopt Napster as its corporate name, trading under a new ticker symbol.

The pure-play move will mark Napster’s birth as the name of a public company, but more importantly, arm the company with resources to help survive the rough-and-tumble as other deep-pocketed, powerful rivals enter the crowded online music space.

In the past two weeks, Microsoft Corp. debuted its online music service, and Yahoo Inc. acquired online jukebox provider Musicmatch Inc. EMI Group’s Virgin is among those expected to soon join the fray, which already includes the pioneer of legitimate downloads and the current market leader, Apple Computer Inc.

Roxio’s sale of its software business to Sonic Solutions for $80 million in cash and stocks will give Napster a cash base of more than $100 million once the deal closes, expected by year’s end.

“One of the most important questions for our investors is, ‘Does Napster have the staying power to stay and thrive?’ Having the cash answers that question,” said Chris Gorog, chief executive and chairman of Roxio.

It will be more than enough to cover Napster until it becomes profitable, Gorog said, “and we’re on a clear path to do that.”

Roxio’s revenues grew 24 percent to $29.9 million in the April-June quarter compared with a year ago, though the company had a net loss of $2.6 million, or 8 cents per share, dragged in part by the Napster unit’s $8.1 million loss.

Chris Gorog, CEO of Napster, has shed the company's CD-burning software business and now plans to concentrate solely on selling and delivering music from the Web.

But Gorog said Napster’s sales were growing at a double-digit rate — it increased by more than tenfold to $7.9 million that quarter — and he projected online music revenues would reach $30 million to $40 million this fiscal year.

Analysts say Napster has its work cut out.

Napster’s key strategy is to ramp up its subscription service, which costs users $9.95 a month for unlimited access on their computers to more than 750,000 songs. With the debut of a “Napster To Go” premium service this fall — initially set to cost an additional $5 a month — subscribers soon will also be able to transfer the tunes to compatible portable music players.

Most music download services allow users to buy a song for about 99 cents, burn it to a CD an unlimited number of times and transfer it to some kind of portable device. You buy it; you own it.

With a subscription, songs are essentially leased. Once a customer stops paying, access to the music catalog disappears.

Napster offers both options, as does RealNetworks Inc.’s Rhapsody and America Online Inc.’s MusicNet@AOL. But Gorog and other subscription proponents say their model gives listeners more freedom to explore music and listen to thousands of tracks without having to invest a buck apiece.

“The simple download model is not that provocatively different than how people consume CDs today,” Gorog said, “whereas the subscription service is being able to be immersed in a world’s catalog of music. That’s a big ‘wow’ factor for consumers, something they haven’t experienced before.”