Napster has settled two of the first lawsuits brought against them, by musicians Metallica and Dr. Dre. Napster hopes that the agreement with two of their most high-profile detractors will help them get permission to go back online.
Under the terms of the settlement, Napster agreed to block all of the artists' unauthorized music, and in return, the artists will allow Napster to trade some of their songs from time to time.
"Our beef hasn’t been with the concept of sharing music," explained Metallica founder Lars Ulrich. "The problem we had with Napster was that they never asked us or other artists if we wanted to participate in their business."
