BearShare is legal iMesh clone

Filed in archive Companies on August 21, 2006

The P2P brand BearShare has been purchased by Musiclab, owner of iMesh. Musiclab has cloned iMesh to create a totally new and legal BearShare music service and software. The iMesh and BearShare services will operate independently, although their users can interact. The BearShare web site did not have the new BearShare 6.0 software as of the posting time of this blog entry.

BearShare's original owner, Free Peers, agreed to settle with RIAA in May and close. iMesh was similarly closed in 2005 and launched as a legal service in January 2006.

The BearShare service includes a "ToGo" portable music subscription, compatible with Windows Plays for Sure portable music players, as well as social networking features. Subscribers will have access to 15 million songs, including 2.5 million from major labels.