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iMesh Launches Legal P2P Service

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

October 25, 2005, 11:15 AM

Becoming the first official legal peer-to-peer service, iMesh on Tuesday announced it was taking the sixth version of its software into public beta. The company says it is the only globally active P2P network that maintains the experience of file sharing while assuring the copyright holders are fairly compensated.

The original iMesh was founded in 1999 and enjoyed several years of success before it was sued in September 2003 by the RIAA. Since then, the company has been working on a way to stay viable as a P2P service, yet assure the record labels that it was serious about offering compensation for its members' file-sharing activities.

The new iMesh 6 service will use Windows Media 10 DRM-enabled files to protect music shared over the P2P network. The company said this would make the service compatible with any PlaysForSure device.

"After working more than a year to build the first, authorized P2P service, we are pleased to offer the music industry a comprehensive solution to internet music piracy and are eager to deliver to consumers the most compelling commercial P2P offering available today," said Bob Summer, Executive Chairman of iMesh.

Membership in the now-legal service will cost $6.95 USD per month, however users will be able to try out iMesh 6 for a period of one or two months.

iMesh will still allow users to download "unauthorized" content from the Gnutella and iMesh networks, but these files will be denoted by a grey star as opposed to a gold star that would appear next to "authorized" files. Even so, on its Web site, iMesh assures customers the service "is 100% legal."

"This marks a major step forward for consumers in their desire to legitimately access a massive pool of music over peer-to-peer networks," added Talmon Marco, iMesh Co-founder and President.

iMesh also promised Tuesday that version 6 of its software would be free of adware and spyware.

iMesh version 6 is available for download from FileForum.

Add a Comment (14 Comments)

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By jeas

edited Jul 20, 2006 - 9:51 AM

bajar buena musica

Score: 0

By ldvdsd

edited Nov 1, 2005 - 8:34 PM

Can you download the files with the grey star or are these files illegal to download?

Are the files that are gold legal to download?

I try to your the help memu, but I couldn't get it to work.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Oct 25, 2005 - 3:36 PM

"DRM-enabled files"

What-ev-ah.

Burn to CD...rip from said CD. Buh-bye DRM.

And if it's any harder to do than suggested above, it isn't going to fly. If I cannot listen to the music in my car, in my CD-Player, I'll not be purchasing it through this service.

DRM, sadly enough, is the one and only reason I will not use many of these services. If I pay for a song, it is going to be mine to do with as I please so long as I am not sharing it with others.

Give me an online music service that does not bundle restrictive DRM, maintains low prices, and provides good quality/service. This is the *only* way it will get any money from me.

Score: 0

By rpc8153

posted Oct 25, 2005 - 5:12 PM

You can avoid many DRM limitations by BUYING the tracks, but if you want to go subscription, you'll have to live with DRM (or not).

Long term, everything will be DRM compatible, so this will not be an issue.

The fact that you are HERE, indicates that you probably share the same belief. CDs (and CD players) will die.

Score: 0

By rpc8153

edited Oct 25, 2005 - 3:20 PM

Tried it. They have a mix of "free content" and "premium" content. Apparently, all premium and free content is free for now, but they will start charging for the premium stuff at some point.

Premium stuff seems to be high quality and "seeded" by them. Nice.

No spyware/adware according to Microsoft and Adaware.

Not bad at all.

Score: 0

By Scary Guy

edited Oct 25, 2005 - 3:11 PM

lol "legal p2p service"

All P2P is legal, it's the users who make it otherwise. (edit: or rather the content users upload)

Score: 0

By ibn4n

edited Oct 25, 2005 - 3:02 PM

I've not been to the website, but iPod owners may need to read the fine print (I'm just pointing out some things to think about, you'll have to do the homework yourself - I've no plans to use iMesh). iPod is not a PlaysForSure device (I doubt either Microsoft or Apple will ever bend enough for the iPod and PlaysForSure to be compatible). Unless this recent generation of iPods is different, they don't play wma files either which, as PC_Tool points out, is almost certainly the file type that the new iMesh will use.

Score: 0

By Dirrty_Harry

posted Oct 25, 2005 - 3:03 PM

its using the gnuttella network...
i used that with limewire and some other programs ... and quite frankly the quality of the things i downloaded sucked...
bittorrent is a lot better than this s***e.. and its free

people, dont get fooled this thing isnt gonna last

Score: 0

By xoineg

posted Oct 25, 2005 - 3:15 PM

I agree, who is going to pay for a low quality format. Unless they add their own high quality downloads. At least music stores like itunes gives you a good quality file, with cover picture and artist information. Also the fact that 80 % of the music players are ipods makes these stores a though sell.

Score: 0

By serrebi101

posted Oct 25, 2005 - 1:05 PM

I don't know why I'm excited to check imesh out, but I kind of sorta am.
Don't know why though. I'm probably gonna be sorly disapointed.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Oct 25, 2005 - 12:24 PM

For those of us who cannot access the site through work...

Pricing?

Quality? (obviously WMA, but...)

Meh...

Unless the prices are insanely low, using a P2P app to purchase music just doesn't appeal.

Score: 0

By TheBeastH6

posted Oct 25, 2005 - 11:38 AM

At least we'll have the choice for illegal downloads.

Score: 0

By xoineg

posted Oct 25, 2005 - 3:18 PM

hey, I’ve seen people in the nyc subway selling compilations from the 80's at $5 for 100 songs and the quality is great. These people even have a cd player that plays mp3s so you can test the quality. Can't beat 5 cents a song :P

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Oct 25, 2005 - 3:30 PM

Give me a bat...I'll beat it.

Score: 0

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