iLounge

Long-time digital music holdouts Metallica are now selling their entire back catalog on the iTunes Music Store. Apple is currently offering 10 albums, from the band’s debut “Kill ‘Em All” to 2004’s “Some Kind of Monster” EP. Previously unreleased live tracks have also been added to each of the first four albums as iTunes bonuses.

“Over the last year or so, we have seen an ever-growing number of Metallica fans using online sites like iTunes to get their music,” the band says on their official website. “So, in continuing with the tradition of offering our albums for sale online (which we’ve been doing for a few years through various sites), as well as making our live concerts available for download in their entirety (through the livemetallica.com site), we are now offering fans the opportunity to obtain our songs individually.”

Metallica was involved in a high-profile legal battle with the original Napster and several universities over its music being shared using the Napster network. In addition, the band was not on board for the launch of the iTunes Music Store in 2003, refusing to sell their songs individually. A spokesman for Metallica’s management company said at the time that the band “would rather not contribute to the demise of the album format.”