LimeWire Readying Digital Music Store

Limewire, the P2P program that is installed on 18.71% of all computers worldwide (according to a Digital Music News Research Group study), is in talks with various indie labels and label distributors about creating a digital music store. Like other file sharing programs, Limewire has faced its share of legal trouble, but hasn't had to close up shop, to some extent because (from DMN)

"Lime Group chief executive Mark Gorton has been preparing for a fight for years, and a more secure defense could emerge. One source close to the organization also noted that there were 'no internal emails' and 'no paper trail' indicating that the group knowingly encouraged copyright infringement, a critical component of the inducement test for the courts."

A source close to the situation tells me that despite ongoinglitigation with the major labels, other labels -- including largerdistributors such as DMGi, IODA, and The Orchard -- have expressed interest in signing up with Limewire, which plans to

"leverage [its] large user-base while avoiding the huge mistake of killing it a la iMesh, Napster, etc."

An observer close to one of these deals was sceptical, equatingLimewire's current P2P offering to "a rocket ship" and the upcomingdigital music store to "a train." But sometimes, before you can moveforwards, you need to take a step back first... maybe Limewire will beable to start selling music without alienating its audience, using thelessons of iMesh and Napster as its guide.