A music service that launched yesterday offers "universal" selection of P2P with claims to legitimacy:

A new all-you-can-eat music download service that claims to take advantage of a loophole in Spanish copyright law will launch on Tuesday [no mention of it on the Grokster sitye yet] and piggyback on a popular file-swapping network for distribution.

The new Madrid-based company, called Puretunes, is the second Spanish Web service to try offering access to a vast and otherwise unavailable catalog of music online without directly securing the record labels' permission.

The company's predecessor, WebListen.com, is still operating despite having been repeatedly sued by European record labels. Puretunes, with a U.S.-based publicity agent, appears to be focusing more heavily on the English-speaking world, however. Each claims to be legal and says it will compensate labels and artists for distribution of their works.

"It is evident by the enormous popularity of P2P and supporting MP3 players that the consumers are demanding their music digitally," Javier Siguenza, Puretunes general counsel, said in a statement. "Puretunes has pioneered a product that allows consumers to get the music they want digitally, without restriction, while compensating the rights holders for their works."

....In an apparent bid for publicity--and in what will certainly further spark record companies' ire--Puretunes' first affiliate distributor is Grokster, the file-swapping software company that recently won a clean legal bill of health from a Los Angeles federal judge.

Grokster will be marketing Puretunes to its users, either through a button inside the software or by bundling the Puretunes software along with the Grokster download, Grokster's president, Wayne Rosso, said.

....By the standards of most paid music sites, Puretunes is a good deal indeed, at least for the music buyer. The company offers customers unlimited downloads that can be done over specified periods of time. Eight hours of unlimited downloading will cost $3.99, 48 hours will cost $9.99, and a month will cost $24.99, for example. [CNET]