Users identified in Napster suit

Heavy metal band Metallica, one of a string of recording artists suing music swapping site Napster over copyright violations, said it has identified 335,000 music fans illegally sharing its tracks.

The band's lawyers are expected tomorrow to demand that the identified music fans be blocked from the Napster service. It will be the first time that individuals have been identified in a case relating to online music pirating.

Industry observers are expecting the move to send a chill through individuals in the online music community, many of whom thought they were operating anonymously and could not be traced.

The names of the music fans that Metallica have identified are unlikely to be made public, however. Instead, they will be passed directly to Napster.

Napster has so far refused to withdraw specific artists' content from its service, maintaining that it does not host the files but only acts as a directory for music fans to trade files.

Napster also has outstanding copyright violation lawsuits against its service from rap artist Dr Dre and the Recording Industry Association of America.