A Productive Use For File-Sharing

While music fans and the recording industry continue to bicker and sue each other over the legality of file-swapping, America’s top non-classical music school is working to advance the idea that there is a place for the peer-to-peer network, and it doesn’t have to have anything to do with illegal downloads. “The Berklee Shares program at the Berklee College of Music offers 80 different online lessons for download — and sharing — on topics like writing music, producing, engineering, remixing and performing… Anyone can use and trade the material provided she or he agrees to the terms set by the school: Users may not alter or sell the material, and must credit the original source.”