NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — Napster Inc., the music download pioneer, posted a wider fourth-quarter loss after selling assets in 2006 and said sales will miss analysts' estimates this period.The net loss expanded to $8.5 million, or 20 cents a share, from $4.4 million, or 10 cents, a year earlier, the Los Angeles-based company said yesterday in a statement. Sales rose 8.8 percent to $29.1 million in the period ended March 31.

Napster said last month fourth-quarter sales totalled $28 million, topping an earlier forecast, after the company took over AOL's music service and added paid subscribers. Total customers increased 37 percent to 830,000. The company predicted first-quarter sales of $31 million, short of the $34.5 million average of 11 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

"The revenue guidance was a bit modest," Fred Moran, an analyst with Stanford Group in Boca Raton, Florida, said in an interview. "It's probably because AOL is yielding less revenue per customer than existing Napster customers." He has a "hold" rating on the shares and doesn't own them.

Shares of Napster fell 27 cents, or 6.6 percent, to $3.80 in extended Nasdaq trading after the announcement. They rose 9 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $4.07 at 4 p.m. New York time and have advanced 12 percent this year.