Kazaa Returns, Legally

When free-for-all P2P software Napster stopped its services in 2000, Shawn Fanning's fallen flock quelled its music fiending with the quick arrival of Kazaa, which offered a similar experience: A buffet of music and movies, all-you-can-download, at the universally compatible price of free.

Well, almost universally. Kazaa too shut down three years ago after a $150 million lawsuit from the music industry. But feel free to call it a comeback: Kazaa is being resurrected, albeit in legal form.

Kazaa will be introduced officially on Tuesday as a service that still permits unlimited downloads but now at the price of $20 a month. Led by Kevin Bermeister, who was in on the original Kazaa, the software already has the support of four major labels and many independent labels, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

The morph from lawsuit-ridden to law-abiding is becoming something of a trend: Long after Napster left the dark side, The Pirate Bay announced its own future turn as a pirate-free hub.

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