What does "Multi-Network Support" mean?...

**amitabuda** · January 10th, 2004, 11:26 PM

I'm kind of confused about "networks"....

Does that mean if I use Shareaza, I can download things from more than one networks? (which sounds great?)

And if I use program that has a specific "network" (like eDonkey, Overnet, Gnutella).....I can only download things from ONE network?

Thanks! :aim

**cpugeniusmv** · January 10th, 2004, 11:52 PM

yep, you got it.

**ATLien** · January 11th, 2004, 12:01 AM

With Shareaza, yes. What ever networks it supports. WinMX, Kazaa, Emule, Direct Connect, all work on there on, but different networks.

**Sephiroth** · January 11th, 2004, 12:56 AM

Originally Posted by amitabuda

I'm kind of confused about "networks"....

I can download things from more than one networks? (which sounds great?)

It would be no different than running multiple programs on different networks. You still have to use the computer and bandwidth resources to connect to more than one network. They are mainly used to try to tranisition people to their program or network. Since networks arent the same and are different you might be able to search and download from different networks but they might not be compatible with one another.

**The Man Who** · January 11th, 2004, 01:27 AM

Sometimes the multi-network clients, such as Shareaza do not give as good of a support for a particular network, than clients that connect to just that one network. In Shareaza case, I have heard it supports, but is not particularly good for Bittorrent.

**[Crucial] Lee** · January 11th, 2004, 03:33 AM

Well it's ok for Bittorrent, but it's not as advanced as other BT clients.

Anyway Shareaza's good for downloading files from different networks instead of one. :)

**amitabuda** · January 11th, 2004, 04:22 AM

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

It would be no different than running multiple programs on different networks. You still have to use the computer and bandwidth resources to connect to more than one network. They are mainly used to try to tranisition people to their program or network. Since networks arent the same and are different you might be able to search and download from different networks but they might not be compatible with one another.

Huh?....Do you mean Shareaza still cannot download from different networks at the same time?

What do you mean by "not be compatible with one another"? :bk

Thanks! :tilted

**amitabuda** · January 11th, 2004, 04:30 AM

Originally Posted by ATLien

With Shareaza, yes. What ever networks it supports. WinMX, Kazaa, Emule, Direct Connect, all work on there on, but different networks.

Wow.....Shareaza also supports Kazaa's network? (Fast Track) :wings

**lion7718** · January 11th, 2004, 04:55 AM

Originally Posted by amitabuda

Wow.....Shareaza also supports Kazaa's network? (Fast Track) :wings

No Shareaza dosen't connect to WinMX or FastTrack (Kazaa)

Read HERE

**Shareaza** · January 11th, 2004, 05:35 AM

The core goal of multi-network programs like Shareaza is that if you want to share files, you should be able to choose whatever file-sharing program you like, and then use it to connect to whatever network(s) you like.

That's how it works with web browsers: you can choose the browser software you prefer, and then use it to browse (almost) any web site. Unfortunately with file-sharing this is rarely the case: if you want to access a particular network, or are interested in a certain kind of files, the choice of software tends to be limited. Multi-network programs help to eliminate this problem and provide more choice.

Of course, you could just run several single-network programs on the same PC. The advantage of a multi-network program though is that you can actually be downloading one file from many networks simultaneously, which is something you definitely can't do when running separate programs. For instance Shareaza will happily download a file from multiple Gnutella2, Gnutella1 and eDonkey2000 sources (and sometimes BitTorrent peers as well). This can be quite handy with large files where you can access more sources than a single-network program could.

There are a couple of lesser advantages: you have a single program to manage the shared file library, downloads list, uploads list, etc, and a single place to search and show the search results coming in from several networks.

A disadvantage of a multi-network program is that you don't always get the latest features from all of the networks. For example Shareaza does not yet have the credit-based upload queues found in eMule on the eDonkey2000 network. Often this has nothing to do with a program being multi-network -- it's just the natural way that different programs add features at different times. For example in the Gnutella world, some multi-network programs like Shareaza have had features like partial-file sharing for more than a year while other Gnutella-only programs are still in the process of adding them.

My opinion is obviously biased, but I believe that the advantages of multi-network programs easily outweigh any disadvantages.

Shareaza is of course not the only multi-network file-sharing program: MLdonkey and Morpheus (betas) both support multiple networks, and I'm sure there are some other programs around too. This is a good thing: everyone has more choice about what file-sharing software they use.

(note: when talking about the ability to download a single file from multiple networks, I was speaking only for Shareaza: I'm not sure whether MLdonkey/Morpheus do this kind of thing)

**Malicious Intent** · January 11th, 2004, 05:55 AM

I personally believe in specialisation when it comes to networks, I think that the loss of features it a problem and programs that try to be everything usually lend up as nothing. Admittedly Shareaza does put in a lot of energy to minimise this.
I think that Shareaza brings up an important point at the start of his post. Multi-network support isn't about increased speeds, but instead about the choice.

**Afn** · January 11th, 2004, 07:17 AM

Originally Posted by amitabuda

I'm kind of confused about "networks"....

Does that mean if I use Shareaza, I can download things from more than one networks? (which sounds great?)

And if I use program that has a specific "network" (like eDonkey, Overnet, Gnutella).....I can only download things from ONE network?

Thanks! :aim

You can use two or three file sharing programs at the same time. In any case, filesharing is best when you find a group of friends that have what you like and you share between them.

Try downloading from one client, and perform searches on 2 other clients.

The goal is to find the G-spot.

Good luck!

**Sephiroth** · January 11th, 2004, 10:04 AM

Originally Posted by Shareaza

The core goal of multi-network programs like Shareaza is that if you want to share files, you should be able to choose whatever file-sharing program you like, and then use it to connect to whatever network(s) you like.

I can not see how can you say that people have the chose to use whatever file sharing network and connect to whatever network when you dont even allow that option in your program. So the "core goal" according to you is conflicting with current practice and so i just want to know is which one is it?

Of course it will be interest to see if you will actually speak for yourself and answer the question rather than try to ignore the question by changing the subject or resorting to flaming like in the past.

**Shareaza** · January 11th, 2004, 07:32 PM

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

I can not see how can you say that people have the chose to use whatever file sharing network and connect to whatever network when you dont even allow that option in your program. So the "core goal" according to you is conflicting with current practice and so i just want to know is which one is it?

Of course that option is available! Network menu -> Choose Networks.

BitTorrent is a bit different because you don't "connect" to it: you can choose whether Shareaza will handle torrent links under Settings -> Web (along with all other link types).

**babarfloyd** · January 16th, 2004, 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

It would be no different than running multiple programs on different networks.

Except that you wouldn't be able to swarm 1 file from all the different networks at the same time if you were using different programs.

You still have to use the computer and bandwidth resources to connect to more than one network. They are mainly used to try to tranisition people to their program or network.

No, they are mainly used to give the user more choices and more sources for the files they want.

Since networks arent the same and are different you might be able to search and download from different networks but they might not be compatible with one another.

The 4 networks that Shareaza supports, Gnutella1, Gnutella2, eDonkey2000, and Bittorrent are compatible with one another. I can't speak for other multi-network p2p apps, though.