The action was taken in response to a request from heavy metal band Metallica, which filed suit against Napster in April. Last week Metallica presented Napster with a list of users who it claimed had violated the band's copyrights.
The band provided Napster with a list of user names; file names of allegedly infringed music for each user; and the time, date and IP address of the Napster server to which the user was connected. The list did not contain IP addresses of the users.
Rapper Dr. Dre announced Wednesday he will submit names to Napster for removal from the system, according to attorney Howard King, who also represents Metallica.
Napster's technology allows users to copy digital music files from one another.
"We intend to fully comply with the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) and our policies," reads a statement posted on the Napster site. "We will take down all users Metallica has alleged, under penalty of perjury, to be infringing."
The company said users who feel they have been banned by mistake will be given the opportunity to submit a "counter notification" form.
Metallica obtained the users' IDs by monitoring the service over a two-day period. Napster said it did not give Metallica personal information, such as names and addresses, about the users who have been kicked off.
Metallica's attorney said last month that the band submitted the names at Napster's request.
Dr. Dre also filed suit against Napster last month.
The ban will only extend to users who shared versions of commercially released songs and would not apply to "bootleg" recordings made at concerts.
Marilynn Wheeler, ZDNet News, contributed to this report.
