Are you wondering what the big deal is with the whole Metallica vs. Napster issue? Well, you may finally have the opportunity to get answers to some of your questions.

On Tuesday evening, members of Metallica will chat online with fans regarding their pending lawsuit against the music distribution aid. Metallica and Napster fans alike can post questions directly to Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, and Jason Newsted at artistdirect.com and chat.yahoo.com 30 minutes before the chat, which is scheduled to take place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. (PDT).

In an official statement, Metallica said, "We recognize that this is a very complicated issue with larger implications that fans may not completely understand. We've always valued and respected our fans and wanted to discuss with them directly why we have brought this suit and answer their questions and

address their concerns directly.

As we previously reported, Metallica sued Napster Inc., on April 13 (see [article id="1432071"]"Metallica Sets Legal Sights On Napster"[/article]), alleging that the company facilitates online music piracy by allowing Napster software users to trade near-CD-quality MP3s of the band's work without permission.

The band also named three colleges in the suit (University of Southern California, Yale, and Indiana University) for allowing students to use Napster; the group has since dropped the schools from the suit, as all three have since announced that they will limit Napster use on school computer networks (see [article id="1432068"]"USC Restricts Napster In Wake Of Metallica Suit"[/article]).

For complete digital music coverage, check out the Digital Music Reports.