BearShare P2P Goes Legit

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August 17, 2006 (12:45 PM EDT)

By Gregg Keizer , TechWeb Technology News

iMesh on Thursday said it was set to launch a beta of a new version of BearShare, the peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing network that's run afoul of the recording industry in the past. BearShare, which iMesh acquired in May, is the latest P2P service to go legit.

The new service, dubbed BearShare 6.0 "will offer consumers a compelling service inclusive of the traditional benefits common to the P2P file-sharing experience, while assuring compensation to registered rightsholders," iMesh said in a statement Thursday.

Last year, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sent cease-and-desist demands to a number of P2P services, including BearShare, Kazaa, Limewire, and eDonkey. In May 2006, iMesh/BearShare paid the RIAA $30 million to avoid piracy lawsuits. In 2004, iMesh had forked over $4.1 million in a settlement with the RIAA. (Last month, Kazaa settled with the association to the tune of $115 million.)

"In our continuing effort to grow the authorized P2P marketplace, we gave full consideration to the rights of copyright holders while introducing features that greatly enhance the consumer experience," said Robert Summer, the executive chairman of New York-based iMesh, in a statement.

The beta of BearShare 6.0, which has yet to post on either the iMesh or BearShare site, will introduce a portable music subscription service dubbed "ToGo" that lets users access free tracks as well as what iMesh called "premium content." The service is also to feature enhanced social network-style elements, such as the ability to create and share profiles.

Out the gate, BearShare users will be able to access 15 million tracks, including 2.5 million tunes that have been licensed by the service.

iMesh and BearShare will continue to work as separate services for the time being, although features introduced in BearShare 6.0 will be added to the iMesh service in the coming weeks, Summer said.

The BearShare site is here.