The company that originally threw a few million dollars at the original Napster in hopes of being in on the ground floor of an Internet phenomenon says it will launch GNAB (BANG spelled backwards) by the end of this year in Germany. Bertelsmann hopes to roll out GNAB to other companies throughout 2006 and beyond.

But GNAB is not your typical peer-to-peer, file swapping network. While it relies on a non-centralized P2P network to offer downloads, the actual content is stored on centralized servers. Also, GNAB will not be distributed to consumers. Instead, it will be licensed to partners wanting to sell their own downloads. The only way consumers will get to use GNAB is if they go to one of the file-sharer’s partners.

As to content, Bertelsmann’s media services unit, Arvato AG, says it has agreements with several labels, including Sony. Of course, Sony was probably an easy sell, considering that Bertelsmann has a 50 percent stake in the label.

Another Fine iMesh

While Bertelsmann was making noise about its latest foray into file sharing, another song-swapper was soaking up attention over its new and legal P2P service, iMesh 6.0.

Not only was the original iMesh one of the first Napster clones, it was an almost exact duplicate of Shawn Fanning’s creation and relied on a centralized server facilitating file trades between users. Needless to say, it quickly attracted the attention of just about every record label on the planet and, in July 2004, the company paid $4.1 million to record labels to settle a copyright infringement lawsuit.

Now iMesh says it has a legal solution to file trading – a new system offering access to 17 million music files, with 15 million offered for free while the remaining 2 million will be protected releases selling for 99 cents per file. The new iMesh is offering a 30 to 60 day free introductory period, after which users will be charged $6.95 per month.

iMesh users will be able to access two P2P networks – the company’s own file trading community as well as the no-songs-barred Gnutella P2P network. However, the company refers to Gnutella as the place where iMesh users will find “unclaimed” content, meaning that the music will not be copyrighted. While iMesh’s announcement makes no reference to any type of filtering device that might prevent unauthorized songs found on Gnutella from being traded among iMesh users, it’s a sure bet that the company is doing something to keep the major labels in its corner.

After all, even Mitch Bainwol, chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association Of America, had something nice to say about the new and improved P2P, calling it another example that respects the rights of musicians songwriters, record labels and others.

“It is a significant moment in the transformation of the peer-to-peer model.” Bainwol said.