Kazaa legalizes

There was a time (about 2.5 years ago) when you could've called it the MySpace of file-sharing, when 60 million file-sharers and millions of downloads a week seemed like mind-numbing figures. Kazaa was the king of 2nd-generation file-sharing (after Napster of the 1st generation), then was overtaken by 3rd-gen BitTorrent. But enough background! The news is, the Sydney-based company registered in Vanuatu is paying the recording industry more than $100 million in damages and going legal, "following a series of high-profile legal battles," the BBC reports. According to the Associated Press, Kazaa "will redesign its … program to block customers who try to find and download copyrighted music and movies. It also will offer licensed entertainment for a price." Here's the Washington Post on Kazaa's out-of-court settlement with the London-based International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and the New York Times's coverage.