Metallica members have at last realized that the choice they were faced with was either to obey to the increasing demand of music downloads or to risk losing large amounts of money. Fortunately for their fans, they opted for the first alternative.

Yesterday, a post appeared on the Metallica official website announcing their long awaited decision: 'From the "It's about f***ing time!" file, comes this... we will begin offering our music on the iTunes Music Store, a Cupertino, CA based upstart outfit, who we feel may very well have a bright future'.

A few legal music downloads site already had Metallica listed for purchase, but fans could only buy from them entire albums. Now, with Apple's iTunes, those interested will be able to get their hands on single tracks, if they already own the albums.

Unfortunately, the four albums put on sale, 'Kill 'Em All', 'Ride the Lightning', 'Master of Puppets' and '...And justice For All', are available only in the United States and Canada. An individual track can be acquired for 99 cents, while the price of an entire album starts from $10. Also included are live tracks that were never included on any of the mentioned music materials.

Matt Adell, vice president of Music Services at Napster (earlier involved in a legal battle with the rock band) salutes Metallica's coming to terms with the reality of today's modern demands from the public: 'We think it's great that Metallica has come around and decided to embrace the legal digital distribution platform, and that music fans using Napster can now enjoy this vast and important music catalog'.