Metallica join the digital revolution

Metallica have finally given in to the digital revolution and decided to make their entire back catalogue available to download.

The band, who have repeatedly refused to put their songs online, fearing the demise of the album format, have put ten of their albums for sale on iTunes' US and Canadian sites.

A posting on their official website reads: "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.

"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."

The collection includes everything from their debut album 'Kill Em All' right through to 2004's 'Some Kind Of Monster' EP.

The band have also thrown in a bunch of previously unreleased live tracks available for download on their first four albums.

Metallica's previous opposition to downloading was notably demonstrated when the band took on the original file-sharing incarnation of Napster, stopping fans swapping their songs via the network.