Its the season of software comebacks.
Googles Inbox has beenresurrected by a new company.
The music streaming service8tracks was reborn.
And legendary media playerWinAmpis being overhauled.
And the latest entrant to the pack?
Yep, that file-sharing service where you got your MP3s in high school.
Now, its making a comeback as a… digital collectible service in the music space?
Shockingly, theres a crypto element to it too.
Anyway, well talk about all that later.
But first, a bit of context.
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The 2000s were an era that sawa ton of peer-to-peer file-sharing services launching.
One of the famous names in the sector was LimeWire.
Backed by popular gnutella and BitTorrent protocols, it was initially released in May 2000.
After a lengthy battle in court, the ownersdecided to shut down the product in 2010.
The project is being led by brothers Julian Zehetmayr and Paul Zehetmayr.
Wheres the NFT part?
Currently, LimeWire will only release artifacts (like an albums artwork) on the blockchain as NFTs.
All the other stuff stays on the platform.
How will this work for you?
Once you buy an album or a song on LimeWire, you have to stream it through the platform.
All other bonus content would also live on the site.
And, as mentioned, youll also get access to that artists fan community.
But and heres the kicker theres no separate Discord server or Telegram group for that.
Its all on LimeWire.
you might choose to resell your access.
But, again, everything remains on the platform.
If I do that, I will lose access to both the content, and the community.
And you will have access to those even after you resell on LimeWire.
If this gets you frothing with excitement though, you canjoin the waitliston LimeWires site.
Isnt this all a bit complicated?
The Zehetmayr brothers said that they wanted to make this platform accessible to all.
So theres inclusion for all folks.
As a fan, it feels counterintuitive to sign up for another service.
Music and NFT
What is inarguable is that music-based NFT platforms aregetting more popular.
The core concept is more palpable than other formats of NFTs, and the value is more visible.
And labels such asUniversalandWarner Musicare also looking to dip their toes into the space.
The key point will be the caliber and number of artists it can attract to use the platform.
And, of course, the level of benefits musicians get.
Still, its an interesting reskin of the famed file-sharing platform.
Maybe this is enough to attract users who associate LimeWire with teenage nostalgia.
The only difference is this time, the content theyre getting is all legal.
That’s one heck of a mixed bag.
He likes to say “Bleh.
That’s one heck of a mixed bag.
He likes to say “Bleh.”
