Pownce Joins Crowded P2P Market

Kevin Rose of Digg fame has launched a new startup named Pownce. One part social network, one part chat and file transfer program, Pownce seems a bit like AllPeers or Tubes but with some additional elements as well.

In addition to the website there is an optional desktop client built on Adobe's AIR platform which means it's available for all OSes, provided the user has the AIR runtime installed.

Here's what the site has to say about the process:

Right now, there are four basic things you can send: messages, links, files, and events.

You might send an event out to a dozen of your friends letting them know you???re hosting a party this Friday. They could easily get the event details you entered, respond with questions or comments and then quickly rsvp.

Say you had a great photo you wanted to share with all of your friends. Just add the file and all of your friends will get it right away. They???ll be able to reply and tell you if it???s cool. You could even post songs you recorded in your home studio to share with your friends.

For now the site is in private beta, but you can request an invitation on the home page. I haven't been able to test it yet, but judging by the screenshots, if nothing else, it certainly looks good.

Pownce is free, but there's a pro version for $20 a year which ditches the ads and increases the file upload limits.

Nerd trivia: the Pownce website is built on Django, a python framework that we dearly wish powered this site.