This feature is at least five months old -- judging from blog posts I just found -- but I first noticed it when a friend emailed me an MP3 the other day. Instead of the usual "open file" or "download file" options, Gmail offered a "listen" option. So I clicked on the "listen" hyperlink and a music player window (pictured) opened up.

The discovery that Gmail makes it easier to share MP3s came on the same day I listened to music executives at the Music 2.0 conference dish out statistics and anxiety over personal sharing. As a means to filling up an iPod, P2P seems to be public enemy number one. Personal sharing, though, is thought to account for more digital music acquisition than P2P, legal purchases and files ripped from CD collections. Should music executives just be happy that somebody is listening to their music? That's a tough argument when sales are plummeting. Now, I don't expect Mitch Bainwol and the RIAA to launch a tirade against Google for facilitating music sharing, but I don't doubt it's on his mind.