A day after Judge Marilyn Hall Patel slapped a preliminary injunction on the file-swapping software company, the spoof band Spinal Tap announced the launch of Tapster, where fans can download MP3 files of “Back From The Dead,” Tap’s latest “hit.”

In a news release, singer David St. Hubbins explained the timing. “There’s a fine line between exploitation and opportunism.”

The Web site features a knock-off of the Napster logo, but colored red and with horns and tail attached. Registering with the site gives users access to a directory very similar to Napster’s, but with a library of Spinal Tap tunes available for download including the immortal “Big Bottom” and “Break Like The Wind.”

Billed as the “Ultimate File Sharing Service,” Tapster takes the pesky problem of choosing a song out of the process.

“Napster’s a bit complicated, really, what with all of the songs available,” guitarist Nigel Tufnel said. “One of the brilliant things about Tapster is that there’s only one song to choose from.”

The launch of Tapster and the release of “Back From The Dead” coincides with a marketing campaign in support of the September 12 re-release of the classic 1984 spoof documentary “This Is Spinal Tap” in theatres and on a special edition VHS tape and DVD.

The Tapster site was built by the online music network ARTISTdirect and is a companion to the official Spinal Tap Web site.

Given its close approximation to the real Napster, Spinal Tap believes Tapster will be a lightning rod for controversy.

“This will be far more controversial than Napster, really,” Tufnel said.

Bassist Derek Smalls added, “We’re not necessarily concerned about intellectual property – this isn’t about Harvard, Yale or Oxford.”