What happen to FILESHARING?

[Bugilt]

When Napster came out filesharing was at an incline then Kazza came out and it reached its peak for me. Ever since the everyone has split up and gone to different clients on different networks. If you want to find the file you want you need to have atleast 3 clients to find it or even be able to download it. After spending 4 hrs trying to download a file I get about 10 incomplete files.... I have been running WIn XP since it came out and every time I open a client I have to edit some settings in the registry to get the P2P client to work. Where the F#*k has filesharing gone....................................

[Roamerick]

I kinda see your point, but it's generally simpler than you say. Here's my "client recommendations of the day":

Movies: eDonkey, hands down. Go to Sharereactor.com and see for yourself.

MP3: Blubster, Kazaa Lite - easy to find

Apps: eDonkey again or Xolox (you'd be surprised).

To avoid: Gnucleus (Top tech specs, but crappy execution)
and Morpheus (Now a ripoff of Gnucleus).

To look out for: Flock, the new eDonkey - It's shaping up to be absolutely astounding. Currently in Alpha testing.

As far as XP is concerned - That's just your setup. It's the most stable M$ OS I've tried to date (an I have used them all). I suggest a clean install (not an upgrade) and judicious use of the excellent System Recovery tools to keep it in tip-top shape.

[Matt]

I don't see any problems with Filesharing. I agree with roamerick though about the different file sharing systems to use with what. Except I disagree with Gnucleus. That system is absolutlley outstanding. By far the most advanced peer to peer application to date. It has everything a Gnutella application should plus more. I do disagree though with the interface, but they're fixing that. XoloX is probably a good program, it was just gone way too long in the file sharing game. It's hard to come back after a year. Just my 2 cents...this could be an interesting debate.

[PowerMan57two]

File-sharing has not gone anywhere. Theres more programs out, which is 100% good, because it's harder for the RIAA to shut them down, but if you want music, and wnat the same interface that napster had, just get Blubster, and Blubster 2.0 is supose to be coming out, and that is supose to have everything Napster had, HotList, playlist, it has a built in mp3 player, and best yet it's just for music, so when you type in something you don't get porn results, or viruses. so I would stick with Blubster for music, and wait for Blubster 2.0 it fixes all the connextion errors for you firewall people! :-)

[BloodySabbath]

My favorite network for mp3's has got to be AudioGalaxy.
Although sometimes speed can be below par, and there are more and more songs blocked by their copyright holders, AG is still is hands down the best network for total selection of music and rare songs. Combine it with a quality album downloader and its even better!

[PowerMan57two]

AG Satellite, I just downloaded it last night (one more time) to give it a shot, and holey crap, it's bad! It never connects, when I got on a p2p program I expect it to connect right away. and also when I finally did connect (after 3 or 4 minutes) I searched for songs I wanted, and every single one was blocked with an X next to it! how gay is that? AG is the next napster shutdown! Buh~Bye AG Satellite, I hate you!

[John Smith58849]

IMNSHO, on the user end file sharing has taken a giant leap backwards into the BBS and FTP days. Now most everywhere you go it's "Trade Only". Hey that’s fine and it is your system, believe me I am very particular about what goes on with my system. I change file names before making them available for SHARING with someone else. If I get IM'ed with a "whacha got ta trade?" uhhhh lets see.....NOTHING, buh bye.

(ok sarcasm is out of my system now)

On the application side it has become a major mud fest. Everybody wants their application/network to be on top. Again that fine. If I wrote applications like this I would want mine to be on top to.

One thing that continues to amuse me is some of these applications actually think there is money to be made. Some of these goofballs want to send you targeted advertising related to what you’re searching for on their network. Ok, target me till your server melts, but why would I "Click here to purchase" when I'm downloading that very (insert favorite media here) for free?

Others look suspiciously like they are slowly steering toward a subscription service. Let me see there are 152,983 (I made that up) file sharing applications and one wants me to pay to download (probably limited) content? 3+3=..(get it?). Does anybody remember the pay services that launched with a lot of fanfare a few months back? Me neither.

This was going on long before Napster (head bows in reverence) and will continue as long as 2 computers can connect to each other.

[Roamerick]

Evolution through competition is what is ruling the game right now: Darwin is alive and well in the sopftware world, where only the strongest will eventually survive. Ground breaking features of old P2P systems are must-have commodities for any new programs that wish to stand a chance of survival. Some common trends that are emerging - irrespective of the platform or network - are:

File hashing
Partial Downloading
Enforced sharing
Leech protection
Serverles technology

and, more importantly but often overlooked

random ports - to thwart port-blocking ISPs.

This is where it's heading, and the more the merrier!