- 25 Mar 08, 20:58#37222However, on September 28, 2005, eDonkey officially closed its doors (BetaNews Article). MetaMachine President Sam Yagan said in a statement that the company would "convert eDonkey's user base to an online content retailer operating in a closed P2P environment," and "such a transaction to take place as soon as we can reach a settlement with the RIAA.". This will have little effect on the network as a whole, as eDonkey clients only make up a small minority of the whole network.
On September 12, 2006 it was reported that MetaMachine, Inc. has agreed to settle with the RIAA for $30 million (Monterey Herald Article), and the website has been replaced by a text advertisement reflecting the RIAA's interpretation of copyright law:
The eDonkey2000 Network is no longer available.
If you steal music or movies, you are breaking the law.
Courts around the world -- including the United States Supreme Court --
have ruled that businesses and individuals can be prosecuted for illegal
downloading.
You are not anonymous when you illegally download copyrighted material.
Your IP address is xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx and has been logged.
Respect the music, download legally.
Nevertheless, the eDonkey Network is still available through other clients, such as eDonkey 2000, eMule, aMule, Shareaza or MLDonkey and other server based software like satan-edonkey-server
Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point. 
