The proverbial clause "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" would be the best way to describe Metallica's decision to finally bow down to the ever-growing number of Metallica fans using online sites to get their music.

After years of resisting online merchandizing, alongside Beatles, Radiohead, and Led Zeppelin, Metallica has finally come to their senses that the traditional tape-trading has caved-in to the advent of technology and there's no other way to fast sell but through the Internet.

Metallica had long defied this change since the 2000 controversial dispute between the band and the pioneer peer-to-peer file-sharing network Napster.

In 2000, the band discovered that a demo of their song i disappear metallica, which was supposed to be released with the Mission: Impossible II soundtrack, was being distributed via the Napster P2P file-sharing network.

Aside from the i disappear metallica demo, the group soon found out that their entire catalogue was likewise freely available.

Metallica then decided to take legal action against Napster and demanded that over 300,000 Napster users trading Metallica songs be blocked from the network.

The universities of Yale, Southern California, and Indiana also had their share of the lawsuit for not blocking Napster from their campuses.

In 2001, Metallica and Napster agreed to an out-of-court settlement which led to many Napster user accounts being locked out.

Although the original Napster was shut down by court order, it paved the way for decentralized P2P file-sharing programs such as Kazaa, Limewire, and BearShare, which are now used for many the same reasons and can download music, pictures, and other files.

These file sharing programs remain unfazed by lawsuit threats and continued to share free metallica master of puppets mp3 download, metallica one audio, metallica one video, free metallica tablature book downloads, and other online merchandize such as metallica wallpaper and free downloads of metallica full songs and videos.

Free downloads of Metallica full songs, free metallica master of puppets mp3 download videos, metallica one audio, and free metallica tablature book downloads are also available in social networking sites such as Multiply and Master of puppets by metallica song for myspace.

Napster's brand and logo have been acquired by Roxio and now continues to be used by a pay service.

Throughout the controversy, many websites hosted cartoon parodies of band members, portraying them as selfish rock stars who were out of touch with their fans. The most popular of these was a cartoon parody entitled Napster Bad!, by Camp Chaos, which set off an entire series.

However, mid-year of 2006, Metallica ended their long holdout and made their catalog available on iTunes.

The group posted on their website that they have seen the influx of Metallica fans using online sites to get their music, so they are now offering their albums for sale online as well as making their live concerts available for downloads through the livemetallica.com site including metallica lenny nirvana video as well as metallica tabs of metallica one video.

The iTunes store now has Metallica's entire back catalog of 10 albums for sale, from their 1983 debut, Kill 'Em All, to 2004's Some Kind of Monster EP. Previously unreleased live tracks have been added to the first four albums as iTunes bonuses as well as metallica tabs to metallica full songs.

Kill 'Em All features live versions of "The Four Horsemen" and "Whiplash" while 1984's Ride the Lightning adds versions of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "Creeping Death."

Master of Puppets comes with live takes of "Battery" and "The Thing That Should Not Be," while 1988's ... And Justice for All has versions of metallica one audio and the album's title track.

Metallica entersandman from The Black Album is also available. Metallica entersandman shows off the new albums slowed-down style of music compared to Metallica's previous work.

Clean versions of 2003's St. Anger, the Monster EP and 1998's Garage, Inc. compilation are also available.

Metallica refused to let their songs and metallica one video be offered for individual download when the iTunes store launched in 2003, explaining through their management that they would rather not "contribute to the demise of the album format."

Individual Metallica songs and metallica tabs are currently available on other downloading sites, including Yahoo! Music, and mp3.com.