BearShare
Encyclopedia
BearShare is a peer-to-peer file sharing
Peer-to-peer file sharing
P2P or Peer-to-peer file sharing allows users to download files such as music, movies, and games using a P2P software client that searches for other connected computers. The "peers" are computer systems connected to each other through internet. Thus, the only requirements for a computer to join...

 application originally created by Free Peers, Inc. for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

, and now sold by MusicLab, LLC (iMesh
IMesh
iMesh is a media and file sharing client that's available in 9 languages. It uses a proprietary, centralized, P2P network operating on ports 80, 443 and 1863. iMesh is owned by an American company iMesh, Inc. and maintains a development center in Israel...

).

History

Bearshare was a Gnutella
Gnutella
Gnutella is a large peer-to-peer network which, at the time of its creation, was the first decentralized peer-to-peer network of its kind, leading to other, later networks adopting the model...

-based peer-to-peer file sharing application, with a support forum. The original operators of Free Peers, Inc. were Vincent Falco and Louis Tatta.

Following the June 27, 2005 United States Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

 decision on the MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd.
MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd.
MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. 545 U.S. 913 is a United States Supreme Court decision in which the Court unanimously held that defendant P2P file sharing companies Grokster and Streamcast could be sued for inducing copyright infringement for acts taken in the course of marketing file sharing...

case the BearShare support forums were closed.

On May 4, 2006, Free Peers agreed to pay $30 million in a settlement with the RIAA and transfer all their BearShare-related assets to MusicLab, LLC. (an iMesh
IMesh
iMesh is a media and file sharing client that's available in 9 languages. It uses a proprietary, centralized, P2P network operating on ports 80, 443 and 1863. iMesh is owned by an American company iMesh, Inc. and maintains a development center in Israel...

 subsidiary).

On August 17, 2006, MusicLab released BearShare v6, a new application unrelated to the original, which does not use the Gnutella
Gnutella
Gnutella is a large peer-to-peer network which, at the time of its creation, was the first decentralized peer-to-peer network of its kind, leading to other, later networks adopting the model...

 protocol at all, but instead operates on the same network as the iMesh
IMesh
iMesh is a media and file sharing client that's available in 9 languages. It uses a proprietary, centralized, P2P network operating on ports 80, 443 and 1863. iMesh is owned by an American company iMesh, Inc. and maintains a development center in Israel...

 client.

In August 2006, MusicLab released another version optimized for video download called BearFlix. The first release was version 1.2.1.

On October 27, 2008, Bearshare v7 with iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...

 support was released.

Versions

Three variations of the original BearShare gnutella
Gnutella
Gnutella is a large peer-to-peer network which, at the time of its creation, was the first decentralized peer-to-peer network of its kind, leading to other, later networks adopting the model...

 servent
Servent
In general a servent is a peer-to-peer network node, which has the functionalities of both a server and a client. This is a portmanteau derived from the terms server and client; it is a play on the word "servant"....

 were distributed by Free Peers: Free, Lite and Pro. The Free version had higher performance limits than the Lite version but contained some adware
Adware
Adware, or advertising-supported software, is any software package which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertisements to a computer. These advertisements can be in the form of a pop-up. They may also be in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the user during...

. The Lite version was adware-free but had lower performance limits than the Free version. The Pro version had higher limits than both the Free and Lite versions but cost US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

24. Version numbers in this series ranged from 1.0 to 5.2.5.9.

A variant of the original BearShare gnutella
Gnutella
Gnutella is a large peer-to-peer network which, at the time of its creation, was the first decentralized peer-to-peer network of its kind, leading to other, later networks adopting the model...

 servent, called BearFlix, is altered to limit sharing, searches and downloads to images and videos which are limited in length and duration. Though its version numbers appear to start from 1.1.2.1 in the user interface it presents itself on the gnutella network as versions 6.1.2.1 and up. It is offered in Basic and Pro (US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

19) versions with similar variations in performance limits as the corresponding BearShare versions, Lite and Pro. There is no Free (adware-supported) version in the BearFlix series.

MusicLab's BearShare v6 and later offer paid music downloads in the DRM
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...

ed WMA
Windows Media Audio
Windows Media Audio is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs...

 format as well as free content in various formats, mostly MP3. It also includes social networking features, somewhat similar to MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

. The free content is shared by users and is automatically verified by BearShare not to infringe. This verification is done using acoustic fingerprinting. Also, video files more than 50mb in size and 15 minutes in length cannot be shared, guaranteeing feature-length releases cannot be transferred across the network. No other content than music and video files can be shared, which excludes executable files and zip archives amongst others.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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