[OT] File sharing programs?

[MeepoTheMighty]

Without this turning into an ethical debate about the rightness or wrongness of file sharing programs, does anyone have any reccomendations of what's good now? I haven't used any of them in an awful long time and I'd like to make sure I get a good one.


So, any reccomendations?

 

[Zappo]

I use WinMX and I am very happy with it. It supports file resuming, multisource download, auto-completion of files (to a degree), and has a wide user base. It also has detailed settings for bandwidth usage, privacy, etcetera. Granted I haven't really used any other program, but WinMX does about everything I can think of. The large user base is a big value too.

 

[Ashtal]

I'm gonna punt this off into the D&D software forum ...

 

[kreynolds]

Without this turning into an ethical debate about the rightness or wrongness of file sharing programs, does anyone have any reccomendations of what's good now?

Personally, I really dig Kazaa. There's a huge user base for it. Just make sure that when you install it that you only install Kazaa and none of the other apps or plugins. Also, make sure that you specify how many connections you will allow people to initiate so that you can optimize your bandwidth usage.

 

[drowdude]

Actually, I would suggest going with Kazaa Lite

 

[LightPhoenix]

I would be wary of Kazaa... it comes bundled with spyware that reports information about you back to a central server. Especially notable is Cydoor, which can not be removed without neutering the program.

What program is best depends on what you're looking for, really. I use different programs for different purposes. Kazaa is good for mp3s, but for much else (ie, episodes of Jeremiah) it's usually much easier for me to go somewhere else.

 

[drowdude]

I would be wary of Kazaa... it comes bundled with spyware that reports information about you back to a central server. Especially notable is Cydoor, which can not be removed without neutering the program.

What program is best depends on what you're looking for, really. I use different programs for different purposes. Kazaa is good for mp3s, but for much else (ie, episodes of Jeremiah) it's usually much easier for me to go somewhere else.

Kazaa Lite has all the Cydoor crap removed, and it works just as well as the original program.

Also, I have never had any problems downloading anything from Kazaa... mp3, jpg, pdf, doc, mpg, etc... it all comes through just spiffy...

 

[LightPhoenix]

Also, I have never had any problems downloading anything from Kazaa... mp3, jpg, pdf, doc, mpg, etc... it all comes through just spiffy...

It's not bad if you're looking for common stuff. But for instance, the show I mentioned, Jeremiah, I can only find one or two episodes of on Kazaa, whereas I can get every episode someplace else.

In addition, I like Classical music, and while I can find lots of stuff by Dvorak and Holst, I can usually only find their common stuff. Rare stuff takes a miracle and a wish. But I can get the rare stuff other places much easier.

 

[Black Omega]

WinMX causes crashes in some machines, so I'd be a little wary of it. If it works on yours it's good though.

Kazaa is popular but personally I've gotten more use out of Limewire, once you make sure it's installing the minimum of spyware.

And lately most of my downloading has been using DC++. It's not as fire-n-forget as the Kazaa/Gnutella programs but the selection is amazing. Unlike Kazaa/Gnutella, most hubs do require you have a certain amount shared or you can't connect to them. So the downside is if you don't have much to share your selection of hubs is pretty limited. But it also means a better chance of finding what you are looking for.

 

[cybernetic]

Actually..I would recommend Grokster as a filesharing program...it searchs other file sharing programs too and is very powerful...and it is based off Gnutella too....so its easy to use...