If they wanted to, they could always just reserve those email addresses and let users sign up for the unfilled addresses.

I really think e-mail would be a step forward for them, because their active userbase could automatically get an e-mail account assigned to their userids. If they promote it well enough they could gain some traction but not enough to take on GMail – which I doubt they can really compete with in both service and offerings.

I’m no expert, but we’re not even in butterfly season yet. Unless it’s different where you’re at. (;

Good private messaging is important for any social service. FB clubs message replies into thread – making for less cluttered and less spammy – neat inbox. Twitter lacks this badly.

Did you mean that Twitter lacks private messaging, or organized private messaging? Their DM feature is private messaging. (:

I don’t think this necessarily means MySpace is going to launch free email. It might just be that they are moving their corporate email addresses to a new site because of the staff changes.

They also may be trying to broadcast a more corporate image; jonsmith@myspace-inc.com sounds a lot more professional than jonsmith@myspace.com.

Besides that, why would people use MySpace email? I am a MySpace user but I see no reason to sign up for another email account outside of their internal messaging system. I have enough email addresses! (;