Michael Robertson, the founder of MP3.com, has announced plans to launch an innovative music sharing system known as 'digital locker' where users can store their record collections online, according to the Financial Times.

The launch is attracting attention because experts believe it has the potential to become one large file sharing depository where users voluntarily offer ‘locker’ access to others to allow them copy their music store – a form of copying by mutual consent.

MP3tunes.com will charge $39.95 a year for users to upload songs to a personal locker and access them through a web browser from any computer with an internet connection.

Robertson maintains he is offering storage in the same way that Google offers email storage with Gmail (now Google Mail), but concedes that record companies may suspect users will share password keys to their lockers and enable illegal music sharing online.

He says that the service will effectively be a ‘service provider’ and therefore not responsible for the content users upload.

Robertson has recruited Jon Lech Johansen, a 22-year-old Norwegian programmer. He is also known as DVD Jon for his hacking of DVDs, removing digital restrictions and allowing users to copy DVDs to their computer hard drive.

He was tried and acquitted twice when no proof was found that his program caused illegal distribution of DVD content.

Salman Momen, head of media technology at Capgemini Telecom, Media told vnunet.com: "Previous P2P programs allowed anonymous and automated file-sharing, in that users would not necessarily know who was accessing their computer for stored content. The new 'digital locker room' emphasises secure storage of content for individuals - allowing them to manually give away their access codes to other trusted users only.

"From a legal perspective this could move the burden of proof to the individual, as this new web service itself does not automatically allow access. Therefore, the service provider can claim to be innocent of directly facilitating file-sharing. "