WinMX incredibly slow, please help.

[Spin Dragon]

Hi all. I'm new here and new at downloading MP3s. I am trying to start a library and I chose WinMX because from what I understand it's the safest. As in it doesn't load trojan horses on your system and it doesn't have spyware.
I'm told a lot of other MP3 sites like Kazaa, etc. have all kinds of problems.
I'm running a blazing fast cable connection and Zone Alarm of course. (Also run Notron Anti-virus).
My trouble with WinMX is that it takes around 25 to 30 minutes to download a 6 to 7 MB MP3!! (Far slower than my old dial up). I'm used to downloading say a video file that same size in about 25 seconds!
Is there any way I can fix this? (IWhile I pretty much know what I'm doing in general PC stuff I am totally new at this P2P thing).
I read somewhere that I should set my "Bandwidth Throttle" to 85% of my total capacity. How do I find that information out and where do I put this number in?
If there is nothing I can do to fix this could you folks suggest some other free places that are safe where I can get some MP3's?
(I'm not opposed to sharing because I can only make one MP3 file folder available to the public so all is safe, but I hardly have anything in that folder. So I hope folks don't mind my glutoney for the moment so that I can build my library. Then I'll have more to share).

Thank you everyone for your help.

Spin Dragon

[TC75580]

It's probably just that the file you're downloading doesn't have enough sources to downoad from, so it will be slow. Perhaps you're downloading from a 56K user. There's no way to fix this, but the file will complete if you let it.

[cheapprick]

Around the same lines I was thinking.

What version of WinMx?
How many of the files were from the same user? If he was 56k so are you.
Bandwidth should be in user options.
Kazaa lite is another excellent(and pretty quick) way to get MP3's.
And there's nothing wrong with just getting started. Put all that you have in that folder.

[cheapprick]

Congratulations on joining the blazing speed of cable.

[Spin Dragon]

I usually look for DSL or higher in the search and then try to pick cable or T1-T2-T3 if I can find them for the file I want.
It's the same slow speed on the multi-user files.

"Kazaa lite" Is that safe? I hear it a trojan horse.

Thanks,
Spin Dragon

[turborobb]

I have the same problem! I'm on a cable connection, and YES, I am downloading from someone else with a cable connection, but it takes about 30 minutes to download a 4 minute song.

It's says for best proformance to set your outgoing bandwith to 85%, but I don't have a clue how to do that or where you put that info in.

anyone know how to get this thing working faster? :green5

[psychotronic420]

another thing is that a lot of broadband users are throttling their upload bandwidth to ridiculous levels, its getting harder to find folks that have a decent upload bandwidth set, unless your looking for a rare file try using the find alternative and find simular option when you get a slow connect, (right click on the file you are trying to download and choose the appropriate menu selection this will give good results sometimes,



====================:cross =======================

[mlv12321]

To limit your upload bandwidth in WinMX;
- click on "Settings"
- click on "bandwidth throttle"
- check the box "Limit outgoing bandwidth" and adjust the value to about 85% of your upload capacity. You can try playing with those values a bit to find the best setting.

If you aren't sure how fast your connection is in KiloBytes, a good rule of thumb is to take the connection speed in Kilobits (which is generally how ISP's advertise the speed) and divide that number by 10.

And that's all there is to it.

mlv

[eclectica]

There are 8 bits in a Byte. So in order to download and listen to a 128 bitrate mp3 in real time, bandwidth of 16 KBytes a second is needed.

[mlv12321]

Sorry, forgot to mention that if you divide by ten, you don't have to take 85% of that for recommended upload speed. For example; upload speed advertised = 128kbps, divided by 10 = 12.8, thus 13kB would be a good setting for upload speed.
If you divide by 8, you will get the theoretical maximum, thus it is recommended you should utilize only 85% of that value.