Dr.
Dre
has reached a settlement with the now shutdown file swapping service, Napster. According to the terms
of the settlement, Napster agrees to identify and block
access to files that Dr, Dre does not want to allow users
to share. On his part, Dr. Dre has agreed to make certain
of his material available from time to time once an acceptable
model is in place that ensures payment to artists and publishers
for the uses of their works. "I work hard making music
— that’s how I earn a living," Dre said. "Now
that Napster’s agreed to respect that, I don’t have any
beef with them."
A judge ordered
Napster to halt all trading and remain shut down until they
could implement the technology they have to identify songs.
Napsters CEO Hank Barry said "The Judge issued an order
prohibiting Napster from enabling file transfers unless
Napster reaches 100% success. The Court delegated to the
technical expert further examination and testing of the
Napster system."
While Napster fights to stay alive, other file trading services
such as Audiogalaxy and Gnutella continue to thrive and
offer users an alternative to Napster.
