Tech sector is mixed for the quarter NEW YORK – With most major IT vendors having reported their quarterly earnings, investors in tech companies this week had other things on their minds: the rebirth of Napster in the form of a revenue-generating company; nagging doubts about the chip sector; and, of course, the ongoing telecommunications takeover saga revolving around MCI.In the macroeconomic view, rising oil prices and a guarded report from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who spoke midweek before Congress, served to keep a damper on the Nasdaq Composite Index, which has failed to ignite this year. Thursday, after several brokerages expressed concern about the chip sector, the Nasdaq dropped 9.10 points to close at 2058.40. That doesn’t sound bad against the 52-week range of the index — 1750.82 to 2191.60 — but certainly disappointing to observers who had hoped that the latest round of earnings reports would spark higher share prices and investor confidence.One bright spot, albeit minor, shone on Thursday when Napster raised its revenue forecast for the quarter ending March 31 to $15 million, $1 million higher than previous guidance. The change was caused by “robust growth in our subscription service,” said Chris Gorog, Napster’s chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement. That’s good news for digital music distribution in general, which has been dominated by Apple Computer. Napster (ticker symbol: NAPS) rose $0.47 to $7.27 on the news Thursday, while Apple (AAPL) shares declined by $2.33 to $41.79 The chip sector was under the scrutiny of analysts this week as Intel hosted industry insiders and observers at its Developer Forum in San Francisco, which ended Thursday. Though Intel was upbeat about its product plans, analysts came away wary about the chip market as a whole, with several brokerages, such as Merrill Lynch & Co. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., issuing cautious analyses of the sector. A report from Hynix Semiconductor Inc. on Thursday that forecast a 30 percent decline in processor prices and lower profit margins this year did not help. On Thursday, Intel (INTC) slipped $0.02 to $24.50; Texas Instruments. (TXN) declined by $0.39 to $26.58; and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) dropped by $0.13 to $17.52.Elsewhere in the sector, shares in memory-chip maker Rambus. (RMBS) declined by $1.71 Wednesday to $15.45 and continued downward, closing at $15.19 Thursday, after the dismissal of its patent case against Infineon Technologies.Meanwhile, the telecom arena held traders’ attention due to the ongoing takeover fight for MCI. Verizon Communications and MCI announced on Feb. 14 an acquisition deal worth about $6.7 billion. Spurned suitor Qwest Communications International Inc. then countered with a new bid worth about $8 billion. On Wednesday, Verizon said MCI could consider the Qwest bid until March 18. The telecom companies are looking to merge in order to provide a full range of services in the wake of the January announcement that SBC Communications plans to acquire AT&T. The news has pushed MCI shares up to new highs. On Thursday MCI shares (MCIP) closed at 23.55, up 19.66 percent for the month; Verizon (VZ) closed at $36.37, up 1.36 percent for the month; and Qwest (Q) closed at $3.96, down 5.71 percent for the month. Technology Industry