while i'm at it
Like doctors forced to switch antibiotics as bacterial resistance develops, users have to periodically shift P2P apps as lawyers and record companies continue to serially neuter filesharing programs -- and others simply self-destruct under the weight of spyware. I've been recommending Overnet to folks for a while, but since its reincorporation into the eDonkey project, things on that network seem to have dried up.
So I've got a new P2P recommendation for you all: Soulseek. It's spy- and adware-free, and has a good recommendation tool. Most important, its user base has really good taste in music, and actually bother to hang out in chatrooms. An especially neat feature: if you find someone with some files you want, you can browse the rest of their shared directory. I imagine some other P2P apps have done this before, but this is the first time I've bothered to check it out. Turns out it's a pretty great way to find out about new music. All in all, Soulseek is well-suited to figuring out what you might want to buy in the future, which, if you feel any guilt about postcollegiate filesharing, is what P2P is all about, right?
The downside: they use a centralized server architecture. Ouch. Worse: they collect money for providing P2P services. Oh dear. You can pay $5/month and not have to wait in line when another user's upload slots are all taken. This is a nice system to my mind, but charging money is sure to attract the lawyers awfully quickly, and the centralized architecture will make it easy to shut down.
For those using Macs, it's possible to use the Linux client with a little work -- you'll have to check out the homepage for details. If you're feeling lazy, Kriston tells me Acquisition is good. Looks like it's a Gnutella client though, so you may have already seen what it has to offer through the lens of a different interface like BearShare or Limewire.
I imagine a lot of you have already heard of Soulseek or are using it already, but I'm sufficiently impressed with it after a day of use that I feel like risking preaching to the converted.
Comments
Not that I understand what any of this means, but I believe that Acquisition is a Limewire-based metaclient. It connects to multiple networks (gnutella, Limewire, KaZaa) to find what you want, and unlike with Limewire, I'm actually able to pull off some good music. Most importantly, it's made for Mac, meaning users will be really easy to nail.
I hear Soulseek is great for downloading whole albums, which you would of course delete afterward and go purchase.
I'm not sure Kriston -- this makes it look like it's a fancy port of limewire. but a lot of other apps have migrated to the gnutella network (most notably morpheus). as long as you can find what you need...
and yeah, I feel pretty guilty about getting entire albums. On the upside, it usually spurs me to get the artist's next CD, but you're right, I no longer go out and buy CDs I got off the net. Insert rationalizations here.
Tom, you're starting to look like a fancy port of limewire. Uh.
I believe I just got burned.
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