Napster has been offered a deal from BMG, one of the companies which have taken Napster to court. As soon as Napster becomes a membership only service, they will forget about the whole ugly deal.
Bertelsmann's newly formed eCommerce Group, BeCG, and Napster have developed a membership-based service that will provide file sharing capabilities that "preserves the Napster experience while at the same time providing payments to the rights holders," according to a company statement. Napster and Bertelsmann will seek support from others in the music industry to accept Napster as a membership-based service, the companies say.
As this chapter of the Napster saga ends another is bound to begin as various (free versions) of Napster are emerging. These programs known by many as "Napster clones" are bound to draw current Napster users, as the membership service is introduced.