September 03, 2004

• Soulseek for music. I've heard stuff about Limewire, but am not too bothered to check it out.
• What sorts of things are you looking for, and what's your platform?
• I suppose I'm looking for a little more obscure stuff. Indie rock, maybe a little jazz, some electronica to mix it up a bit. Platform: WinXP
• Although I don't use it all that much, I've found Soulseek to be the best for smaller files. I use BT/Azureus for larger stuff. But with BT you have to know where to look, more than with anything else. You just want music, then?
• I'd say mostly for music yes. BT is great for everything but.
• Well, some people swear by binary newsgroups. I've been using gnutella ever since the demise of napster (Acquisition is the best gnutella client on the mac, I seem to remember Phex being the best for Windows ). Gnutella has always been a bit second-rate, but because of the way it's designed it can pretty much never be shut down, and because it's open source the architecture is always getting tiny improvements. It has been gradually improving to where it's now roughly equivalent to Napster at the peak.
• I use Limewire. It's extremely easy to use, and I've found some fairly obscure stuff (indie, new wave, world, classic rock)- even things that were never released on CD. No complaints here. It's the only other thing I've used since Napster back in the day. BTW, I am on a Mac.
• kimdog - acquisition uses the same network as limewire, and has a really great interface. I can't say enough good things about it. Caveat: like Limewire, it's nagware.
• Very good results can be had from SoulSeek; good variety of results, and the "wishlist" function is nice, constantly searching for certain things. S'how I finally found Paper Bag's "I Smoked Dope With Judge Ginsberg." Still looking for Bone Of Contention's "Barbie Likes To Die," tho.
• I use a number of alternate labels that have no qualms about distributing their songs for free. Magnatune is my favourite.
• Well, okay, I'm a little hesitant to post direct links, so I'll go with random Google searches: Have you tried these Bit Torrent sites? A few hoops to jump through on the former, but worth the effort if you have the bandwidth.
• WinMX
• I use Shareaza. It searches eDonkey, Gnutella, and it's own "Gnutella2" network, and has bittorrent support. It's open-source, if you care about that sort of thing. And so far, it's adware/spyware/WTF-is-wrong-with-my-computer-ware free.
• I've got to hand it to Napster in its pre-lawsuit glory days. I found some -really- obscure 70s/early 80s hits on there that never turned up ever again under Limewire or WinMX. I'm guessing the latest clients are too "difficult" for your 45-year old Joe Sixpack to figure out, thus the older out-of-print fare becomes gone forever.
• Anyway I didn't mean to sidetrack the discussion but I prefer WinMX, but I'm not thrilled with the results. I can't ever seem to find obscure stuff anymore. Seems like it's good if you're into Beyonce or something.
• Actually, some guy I know finds the more popular stuff can be a pain. Record companies tend to flood the p2p networks with copies of songs that look like they're the right length, but when you play them it's 30 seconds of the song followed by horrible static and high pitched squealing.
• Aa-choo! *sniff*
• Another vote for Shareaza. Searches 3 networks in one. Doesn't have as big a problem with deliberately bad files. Haven't tryed Soulseek but heard good things about it. Also if you're looking for esoteric stuff, consider Direct Connect which is like a million little Napsters run by users with particular interests.
• I gotta say, I'm likin' Soulseek right now. The BT sites are pretty sweet too. You monkeys rock!
• i, too, offer a strong recommendation for indietorrents (sneeze link above). i would advise signing up soon, because i read in their f.a.q. that they're capping membership at 10,000 (it went over 5,000 three weeks ago; now it's at 7,500). if you're down with bittorrent and can figure out some port issues (all in the faq/forums) it's got so much frigging stuff.
• Narc
• ?
• itunes, emusic, audiolunchbox free stuff can be legally be found at epitonic and Better Propoganda I even turn to allofmp3.com before I turn to the p2p stuff since you can pick your quality there.
• Both are good. I'm using BitTorrent and LimeWire for Mac. BitTorrent is really great for complete albums, and the encoders usually post compression and format so you know what you're getting. Join a BT community and find out what all the shouting is about. OTOH, Gnutella, et.al, still can't be matched for finding really odd, strange, weird and wonderful stuff, but you take some chances with every download.
• I don't understand how to run downloaded BitTorrent files...
• Let me rephrase: FreddytheFish is a on the hunt for copyright violators. Don't tell him anything.
• oh
• Winmx for me. Kazaalite is too irritating, and I couldn't get Soulseek to work.
• I second StoryBored's recommendation of Direct Connect. I use OS X and with limited p2p options I'm finding DC very useful and focused. For more general searches or quick fixes I use acqlite (a Gnutella client).
• Another vote for WinMX. Good for audio books and documentaries.
• Sweet, I've never been called a Narc before.
• space kitty, I found this slightly helpful with understanding what the hell seeding, leeching, etc. was all about. I'm sure there's others other there too.
• Hmm, for some reason (don't ask me why) I feel the need to defend myself against mexican's allegations. First off...I am not a narc. Second of all I have no music industry ties whatsoever. Thirdly, I live in Canada where one cannot yet be sued for downloading music off the internet. I hope this satisfies any and all fears regarding my reasons for posting a Curious George. Many thanks Monkeys for all your suggestions. They are much appreciated.
• Sounds like something a Narc might say.
• *squints in threatening manner*
• *looks hurt*
• Heh. Hard to tell of course. I can't imagine a Narc coming here though. No advantage to it. Unless there's a hidden gang of rogue monkey file swappers, operating covertly out of a reconditioned banana farm, the Narc wouldn't learn anything they didn't already know.
• thanks, ilyadeux!