No Rock And Roll Fun

METALLICA EMBRACE MP3: After all that, Metallica are now offering their fans MP3s of all their live shows - from now on. They say this is a logical extension of the process where they let fans bring tape recorders in to make their own bootlegs, only this time, they don't need to spend the gig with their hands in the air holding up a microphone. Now, we welcome this - we were wishing last night while we watched Placebo at Brixton Academy that we'd be able to pop a couple of quid into a web form and have an official bootleg - but we're spluttering at the ten bucks Metallica are thinking of charging. In effect, they're not actually treating the MP3 downloads (or FLAC format, also available) as replacements for sanctioned bootlegs, but as fully-fledged Live Albums, only without the usual post-gig work that you'd expect of a 'proper' live album. Oddly, after you've paid for a show, and started downloading, you're working against a time limit to complete the download.

Almost as a hsitorical jest, they're not using any Digital Rights Management on the file - the website says:

"As you can all see, we have chosen not to encrypt or shackle these files in any way. There is a certain level of trust associated with LiveMetallica.com's operation.
You will have 48 hours from the time you start downloading to completely download each show you purchase. We'd be fooling ourselves to think that these files won't be shared by some friends, and there's nothing we can do to STOP you from doing so.
All we can do is to ask you straight up: Do the right thing. Please be cool and don't share your files."

I mean: could you imagine what shits Metallica would look like if they started to sue their own fans for sharing a few poxy music tracks?