File Sharing: Decentralizing, Open-Source Fasttrack

Eloquence writes: "I've written a comparison of current file sharing software; what's interesting is that the original centralized indexing concepts are losing ground because of filters, and most relevant file sharing systems by now use at least a server-network, or a completely decentralized architecture. Unfortunately, most networks are proprietary, but at least there is now an open-source client to access the most popular network, Fasttrack's Kazaa/Morpheus, which was originally only accessible under Windows (around 500,000 users online at any time)."

Lots left out

The comparison seems to have left out a lot of good
Opennap clients like lopster and gnapster.

/Erik

swap nut

You forgot about looking into Swap Nut [swapnut.com]. I poked at it a few times while in windows and, although I have only ever used napster for file sharing, I liked its ease of use, and the multiple file searches at the same time. It also had other things I liked, like suspecting IPs in the 192.168.x.x range probably wouldn't get me the files I wanted.

Oh, and I was sorta put off when a friend first recomended it by name only... Then I read on their site the idea is By "Going Nuts," users can search for and find almost any type of digital file (audio, video, photos etc.) through a secure [they said secure, not me, I think putting your IP all over creation isn't secure, but I digress] peer-to-peer network.

It should be noted

It should be noted that over Morpheus you can share vorbis files. So if you want to share some vorbis lovin, just share vorbis files and nothing else. No wasted bandwidth, stickin it to the RIAA, and proliferating a pure standard, what could be better?

Re:It should be noted

In case you really don't know what the problem with LAME is, take a look at http://www.mp3licensing.com/royalty/software.html [mp3licensing.com]. To paraphrase, for the patent only license (i.e. just to get permission to use the patents they have out on MP3), you should pay:

• Decoder: 75 cents per unit or $50 thousand one off
• Encoder: 2 dollars 50 cents per unit

This does not include the right to stream that content, for which you have to pay more. In contrast, to decode, encode, stream, store Vorbis you have to pay $0.

Getting away from licensing issues, a recent listening test [iwarp.com] concluded that at 128kbps Vorbis RC2 was right up there with LAME encoded MP3, and better than Xing encoded MP3 -- and RC2 still has a couple of minor issues that will be fixed before the release.

(okay, what the FUCK kind of lameness filter reason is 'Junk character post'? I had to get rid of some dollar signs to get it to post)

AudioGalaxy

AudioGalaxy for Linux does not force you to install any spyware (I don't think there is something like that for Linux), and it's a really great MP3 sharing network.
All hail AudioGalaxy [audiogalaxy.com]!

Questionable Relevancy...

It's kind of neat and all, but a list of mostly windows clients doesn't really hold much interest for what is mostly a linux crowd.

Not to be mean, but this list in particular doesn't even clearly distinguish between the way the client and the protocol it uses, and is rather incomplete(no filesharing client list is complete without Lopster [sourceforge.net]).

The open source kazaa/morpheus client seems promising, but it looks a bit prerelease, not quite News for Nerds, Stuff That Matters grade material really.

Linux?

Linux? is that some new fangled hippie programming tool? does it run on windows?

And?

I honestly don't understand how this is news for nerds, or even an interesting article, anyone that refers to every irc network known to man as mIRC ("since its chat functionality can easily compete with mIRC and the like") doesn't need to be writing a comparison of anything for one thing. What happened to slashdot? All that seems to be posted any more is Software releases and bad articles?! C'mon can't we get back to real news?

Wow

I have to say I'm impressed. There is a reason that the only previous FastTrack clients were fr Windows: FastTrack is a closed source C++ based protocol stack that only exists for that operating system. FastTrack's livelihood is dependent upon licensing that stack to developers and hence keeping the protocol proprietary. That someone has reverse engineered it quite successfully is highly impressive and also a little worrisome if you're FastTrack. I'm surprised we haven't heard a lot more about this and FastTrack's response.

Decentralisation

I've always thought that the main advantage is that noone can shut down a decentralised network. Sure, you can ban Napster servers but you're going to need a shitload more power to ban every gnutella server out there.

I use Gnucleus here - the only real problem I've found with it is the thoughtless assholes that name files differently to confuse people.

P2P Is Crucial In Securing the Future of the Net

The current model of the Internet is not something that is going to surive the rigors of foolish governments, panicky interest groups, and greedy corporations. As we've seen time after time again, having single points of failure knocked out (regulation, threats, lawsuits, etc), we lose SO much information. Thanks to recent terrorist activities, we're going to find our bastions of freedom online gradually removed by people who honestly don't know any better.

Peer2Peer, I think, is a powerful solution for us to retain the freedoms we currently enjoy on the Net. Certainly P2P helps save us from Napster-like lawsuits regarding copyrighted material. However, can we take it further? Can we deliver web page content in the P2P model, for starters? Could we move all of our Internet services to this model? Consider a world where we start using technologies that prevent any central source of information/data/etc. from being stamped out by the ignorant.

I'm basically describing a model where when a source, be it a group or an individual, publishes something, it is in the network forever. Regardless of what happens to that source, tens of thousands of other machines will always be carrying that forbidden data. It couldn't be stopped. Sure we'd gather up massive amounts of garbage and quickly antiquated material, but every piece of knowledge out there is bound to be of value to at least somebody.

P2P could bring about the global consciousness that the Internet was meant to be. Lucky for us, you can't kill a brain by trashing a few neurons. :)

Don't blam Napster Blame the RIAA

A series of new studies of Napster users suggests everything you've been reading about music file-sharing systems is baloney. You're not thieves and pirates, it turns out, but marketing pioneers and music lovers quite willing to pay for music. These new stats suggest that file-sharing could have enormous implications for the selling of content, culture and information online, none grasped by dunder-headed corporations like the record labels. They are also a reminder not always to believe what you read. (Read more).

According to the January issue of American Demographics, a magazine which hardly supports radical copyright-infringers, music sites like Napster have created "powerful new opportunities for music marketeers." Despite the best efforts of the greedy record companies and a few recording stars -- Metallica and Dr. Dre come readily to mind -- to alienate a new generation of music lovers, recent figures prove that file-sharing services actually generate sales and put more money in artists' pockets.

This has enormous implications for those making movies, publishing books, or creating any kind of saleable entertainment. It suggests that the Net may work best as a three-step process: first connecting customers with culture, then generating interest in cultural and informational offerings, then keeping track of their tastes through sophisticated new digital marketing research. Theoretically, file-sharing approaches could go beyond shopping to stimulate interest in education, business, even politics, if the music experience is any indicator. And it sure ought to be.

The relationship between new decentralized software programs -- Napster, Freenet, Gnutella, P2P -- and such issues as copyright infringement, artists rights and conventional retailing is complicated. Legal, political, educational and other institutions haven't begun to sort through them. But clearly the music industry's panicky and greedy overreaction will prove one of the most dunder-headed, short-sighted responses in recent business history. The industry couldn't have been more off-base, dishonest or greedy.

Nearly 75 percent of college students have downloaded music from the Net, 58 percent of them using Napster, according to a recent study by Greenfield Online, a Connecticut research firm, and YouthStream Media Networks. Nearly two-thirds of the 1,135 college students surveyed say they download music as a way to sample music before buying it. The proliferation of online music is introducing consumes to artists they don't know, in almost precisely the same way department stores offer samples of food, perfume and other retail items. A survey by Yankelovich Partners for the Digital Media Association found that about half the music fans in the U.S. turn to look for artists they can't or don't hear in other venues, like radio. Nearly two-thirds of those who downloaded music from the Web say that their search ended in a music purchase. Music labels should have been donating money to Napster users, not threatening to sue them and chase the site off of college campuses.

And the much-libeled Napster users are dedicated music buyers, quick to reach for their wallets. Jupiter Research says it found that 45 per cent of online music fans are more likely to have increased their music purchases than online fans who don't use Napster. The Jupiter study of Napster users found that 71 percent of users say they're willing to pay to download an entire album.

Interestingly, reports American Demographics, the Jupiter Study of Napster users found that 71 percent of those who use the site said they were willing to pay to download an entire album. But in a Greenfield Online survey of 5,200 online music shoppers, nearly 70 per cent say that they have not paid -- and will not pay -- for digital music downloads. This suggests that subscription-based services may be more likely and successful than a per-song fee system.

This potentially revolutionary model for marketing culture is about to be dismantled by the new partnership between Napster and Bertelsmann, which is giving the file-sharing site more than $50 million to develop software that will charge users for music. Bertelsmann says it will keep a part of Napster "free," but watch for yourself to see how quickly it shrinks.

These figures, remarkably, demonstrate that almost every assumption about the free music movement, reported in most media outlets and used as justification for a wave of new legislation and legal action like the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, is dead wrong:

Most music downloaders aren't thieves or pirates but music lovers willing to pay for music. Artists have made more money from this new generation of music lovers than they would have without them. The true significance of file-sharing wasn't an end to intellectual property, but an exciting new way to develop markets. Record companies and other corporations should be supporting file-sharing sites ratherthan hiring lobbyists and lawyers to intimidate, sue and enrage new and eager customers. College students have nearly universal access to broadband, and are tomorrow's mainstream consumers. The more information and culture they have access to, the likelier it is that they'll sample new venues, products and information.

Evidently, file-sharing isn't a dangerous menace but an effective new method of disseminating -- and selling -- content, and culture. Aside from these new findings, the Napster experience also suggests that when it comes to dealing with the Net, businesses often have no idea what's good for them.

And oh, yeah. Don't believe what you read about yourself.

Re:Don't blam Napster Blame the RIAA

• recent figures prove that file-sharing services actually generate sales and put more money in artists' pockets.

And there's the problem. If you're getting your music through KazaNapTella, and paying for it through FairTunes [fairtunes.com], where does that leave the corporate weasels at OmniGlobalMegaHyperLabel?

They don't care about the artists, they don't care about you or me. I honestly believe that they will buy as many politicians as it takes to ensure that the law keeps changing so that if you get music through any method other than by paying money to a big label, you will be made a criminal, and you will be threatened, harassed and denied access until you knuckle under.

Until then though, let's keep supporting FairTunes and highlighting that the "all sharing is piracy" argument is bunk.

freenet?

Isn't the freenet not also a decentral file sharing network?

I miss it in this comparison.

Is there a Linux GUI for eDonkey2000?

eDonkey 2000 for Windows is bloated IMHO. Is there a Linux clone (GUI)?

BeShare is the best!

Would it be too much to ask of you to review Jeremy Friesners lovely BeShare client? It's a really nice opensource client based on the MUSCLE system. It's currently only available for BeOS. But downloading and installing BeOS PE is a trivial task, so that's no excuse.
It doesn't have a large userbase(yet), but I think the technology is what's most important here.
The server compiles on pretty much any OS out of the box.

Don't miss out on such a fun and original sharing client :)

Here's a link: http://www.lcscanada.com/beshare/index.html

Happy sharing!

There is also another younf decentralizezd system

It's called Netmess, (http://netmess.multimania.com).

It works through HTTP proxy (at work), is able to resume downloads from clones on other nodes, share evrything, and works under linux too.

Kazaa/Morpheus is easily disabled

It has been done at my school. All they had to do was block the port that K/M uses, and voila, no more p2p. Supposedly, they dropped our bandwidth usage by over 90%.

There is no way to tell K/M to use a different port, at least from what I saw. Whatever happened to the old goals of the Internet, sharing files freely from computer to computer?

Personally I'm glad to see an open-source client

if anything just due to the fact of all the damned SpyWare that gets installed with Morpheus/Kazaa.

Sheesh

Score -99, Flamebait

For all practical purposes (and I mean that quite literally--there are few legitimately used practical purposes for these things), this is a "guide to intellectual property piracy."

Oh, I'm sorry. Are some of you still straight-facedly waving the "mp3s must be free" banner? even pr0n generally belongs to somebody.

Open Source Spy Software Too?

Will we get our own Open Source spy software, complete with programs that break the file sharing program if uninstalled (a la Kazaa)?

fair share?

Have any of you ever used fair share? I hear numerous good things about it, but have never tried it. Is there a linux client?

garc

P2P and Bandwidth

As a student at the university of Maine, I've noticed this year that the ds3 pair coming out of portland up here has been so incredibly saturated since everyone has arrived, I can't get much better than 56k-like connections to most internet sites. I, like many many many other people up here right now blame P2P programs, specifically Kazaa, for this massive traffic increase this year. At this point I'm so frustrated with it that I'd rather just see the RIAA and the MPAA bring down P2P because the traffic it generates ultimately ruins everyone's connection. It doesn't really have a "useful" use anyhow. At least I have I2 connectivity up here, so I can get SOME things at a reasonable speed.

P2P is not the way to contest the RIAA

The music business puts out a product that you are expected to pay for, you can choose to buy the product or you can steal it and suffer the consequences should you be caught. That's fair. If you don't like the prices they charge, then you can choose not to buy. After a while they will be forced to lower the prices if no one is buying. So finding better ways to steal things is not the way to go in my opinion.. it's still just plain wrong. If people really don't want to pay anything for music they should just form free music communities, sort of like how Linux came about. Of course there are reasons why this hasn't happened yet, but I won't get into those here.

Direct Connect open source client

I'm involved in a project developing an open source Direct Connect client in Java. The project has just started and is hosted by Sourceforge. Check it out:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/javadc/

Direct Connect is a popular P2P file sharing program for Windows. There is also a free program that let's anyone start their own file sharing hub. Check out www.neo-modus.com for more info.

Re:Mac mp3 programs

The moral of the story is:

Linux users make fun of Windows users because windows is an inferior computing platform. Yet praise the Apple platform for it relative stupidity(ease of use).

Also, if you want software that is half decent use Windows, most of the good software can only be found there. Well, stuff that doesn't crash: see windows 2000(In 6 month's has not crashed on me once.)

Re:FP!

wow that's a lot of words wasted!

here's a one-liner that shows that muslims don't really have a monopoly on evil:

here you go [princeton.edu]

Re:You miss the ultimate file sharing software

I think BeShare is a good enough reason to install BeOS PE on your system. BeShare is lovely, and BeOS is a lovely OS to play MP3's on. Good combination :)

Re:Die Terrorist Scum

This is getting old now.

Re:Mac mp3 programs

MacSatellite X 1.2(audiogalaxy client) works just fine for me. MacSat X 1.3 doesn't seem to work for anyone, so I'm not exactly sure why it was released...

gnutella is awful. edonkey is nice, too bad the Mac client sucks and has no GUI

Re:Sinner, YOU have invoked God's wrath upon Ameri

Isn't this the guy who talks to dead people on the Sci-Fi channel? That show Crossing Over? I can't imagine Crossing Over will do a show on John Edwards talking to firey salmon. I also can't imagine how this relates to file sharing, unless John Edwards is sharing files to the dead. If he is, I bet he uses BearShare.

Re:Gnotella Performs Much Better in Windows

Please try gnut [gnutelliums.com]. This console client rocks! You can have multiple search, multiple downloads, and of course you can increase/decrease number of servers at fly. I don't know what is better in Windows client.