One of the biggest and widely used P2P (peer to peer) file sharing websites, Kazaa was shut down in the year 2006, due to a lawsuit that was brought upon it by the music industry worth $150 million. However, just like Pirate Bay, that was also marred by a copyright violation lawsuit, Kazaa has also been resurrected and has introduced itself on the internet as a paid website.

The all new Kazaa has been visually revamped and has emerged as a paid service, where users now have to pay for their downloads, instead of acquiring them for free of cost. Via Brilliant Digital Entertainment, the owner of the now dead Kazaa, Kevin Bermeister has now launched an all new Kazaa with an absolute legitimate business model.

One of the leading figures in the field of anti-piracy, Michael Speck who also runs the Music Industry Piracy Investigations said,

“Only one in 20 of all [music] downloads gets paid for and no legitimate operator has been able to change that, until now.”

According to Kevin Bermeister, the all new Kazaa will be initially available only to users residing in the United States, due to the limitations put forth by licensing issues. However, an Australian version of Kazaa is expected to hit the web in six months time.

In an interview Kevin said,

“People have been enamored with the ability to rebel and break through and get stuff for free, but I think sentiment is changing and people are going to shift towards a quality [legal] product.”

Even with the intense competition in the paid website market, Kevin Bermeister is optimistic that the all new Kazaa would prove its worth, as users are more likely to return to their preferred websites, than to try new websites, that they are unfamiliar with.

According to Marianna Annas (GM, MIPI),

“If Kazaa stands up as a legitimate digital music service, which ensures that creators and content owners are appropriately remunerated for their rights, then of course we would support it.”

Via Sydney Morning Herald.