Slashdot Mirror

./configure --disable-ads

Not quite correct. Many clients such as BearShare (at least, last I tried it, I find the open-source Gnucleus far superior) support "gnutella websites".

That is, you can visit the IP address of the host in question in a web browser, and if they have the option configured, you are handed a nice HTMLified list of all shared files sorted alphabetically.

One thinks the xxAA and similar organisations could find a use for this... it shouldn't be too dissimilar to their successful legals pursuit of AudioGalaxy/MP3Board and other similar web-based-MP3-linking sites.

WinMX? Or one of the many gnutella clients (ie BearShare, there's lots!) or KazaaLite. Many many options...

Gnucleus is a FAST, open-source window$ client in a relatively stable state right now. It also works in Wine, from what I hear. It has lots of features not present in slower clients like Limewire and, being open-source, doesn't lock out other clients like BearShare does. Morpheus has switched its entire network to Gnutella on a modified Gnucleus client, so there is no longer the "lack of files" excuse for using a proprietary network instead of gnutella. If you download it, be sure to "evolve" to version 1.6.3, as the version on the site is not very stable.

If I use gnutella without some kind of family filter, even very innocent searches, (well, innocent if we forget about copyright law for the moment) will turn up some truly rancid stuff.

My first ever search for video files on a P2P was on Morpheus (old version), and it was for "Simpsons". It came up with a bunch of files including one describing underage rape or something. Of course I don't actually know that the description was accurate, but that was a search for a Fox cartoon show for crying out loud.

That's why I use Bearshare now. It's not the best gnutella servant, but it does have a very good family filter. (Here's a question though, does my Bearshare servant still pass on requests for porn?)

Going after websites without going after the rest of it is like only going after minivans for speeding...

One problem with LimeWire's initial implementation is that ultrapeers didn't respond to "crawler pings" with "leaf pongs". (We've since changed that.) So as pretty as these pictures are, they're probably not accurate. I would love to see updated results that accounted for ultrapeers.

The Gnutella network is evolving rapidly, and it would be great if academic papers considered these changes. The Gnutella Developer Forum (GDF) is the primary location for protocol development.

Christopher Rohrs
Sr. Software Engineer
LimeWire

AudioGalaxy IMHO is the best free client out there . The others such as MusicCity's Morpheus, Bearshare, Limewire, and KaZaA all have been held accountable for copyright violations. You might remember the slashdot article entitled P2P vs. RIAA: RIAA Wins. Now aren't we glad that our government passed that wonderful law called The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)[pdf]?

Thinking of downloading a free share program, ever wonder how RIAA can attack you? The following was taken from their website outlining how the DMCA can be used against you and I.

"The DMCA law also delineates the responsibilities of Internet service providers (ISPs) in cases of infringement online. For example, the law formalizes a notice and takedown procedure between ISPs and copyright owners. It is now clear that when an ISP is aware it is posting or transmitting infringing content, the ISP must act to remove the infringing works or it may be liable for any resulting damages." snip

So what has RIAA been up to? The following is proof that they have been busy using their precious DMCA.

The RIAA Anti-Piracy Unit seized 1,257,796 illegal CD-Rs by midyear 2001, this is up 133% compared to midyear of 2000. Here is a link to a pdf with their mid year statistics for 2001; and then I will end my rant on RIAA because I don't want to get too offtopic :)

On Cnet they keep track of the most popular mp3 search utilities. Morpheus comes in first this week with slightly less than a million and a half downloads; it has an impressive 42 million total downloads. Remember back to the height of Napster's popularity, they had a supposed 200 million users. This number shouldn't be compared to the number of total downloads due to the possibility of users creating multiple accounts.

Also on Cnet, Napster 2.0 beta 10.4 the one that was reviewed in the article has a ghastly approval rating of 0.099. That means that less than one hundredth of the people that downloaded the new pay-for-play Napster actually liked it. Going through the user reviews of the products it appears that they find that Napster falls short of the free clients, it certainly is apparent that it does not yet have the user base that Free Nappyster enjoyed.

For the electronic junkies out there I would recommend a less well known file sharing client known as SoulSeek. You can download it not from Cnet, but from their own website. The latest version is 104 and it includes dedicated techno/electronica service with a great user base; "Private messaging capabilities with both online and off-line users; Folder based file-sharing, which allows for more convenient browsing and downloading; Fine-grained control over file-sharing, with the ability to restrict access to a select list of users, as well as the ability to disallow access to specific users; Fine-grained transfer queue management, with the ability to restrict the number of uploads and downloads per-user and in total; File searching with users in room or in user list; Wishlist that takes search patterns for easy automatic notification when certain files become shared; A generic personalized recommendation system." snip

Now that these Pier to Pier file sharing networks have taken over, they are looking for ways to make money. Maybe to pay their programmers and lawyers. Beware of the adervistements that come bundled along with the install for the more popular sharing clients, such as Audiogalaxy. These bundled programs are known as SpyWare.

-If I metamoderated myself I would care more about karma

I just don't undersatnd why people can't use better Gnutella clients. Same thing. No restrictions.

Call me stupid, if you wish, but I just don't get it.

> Just build an http server into the gnutella client
...
> Of course the thing is that nobody bothered to do so sofar.

BearShare does precisely this. It's marginally useful at times.

A good example of a decentralized p2p network is FastTrack; you'll find FastTrack in some of the newer p2p software like Morpheus and Kazza. FastTrack extends what the Gnutella developers have been trying to do.

1. It incorporates SuperNodes automatically. A SuperNode is a computer with the capacity to host serial other clients. Which solves the weakest-link problem with the Gnutella network; an example would be a user with a 56k connection having to relay all PING/PONG/QUERY messages for its section of the network. It also solves the problem of slow searches.

2. It uses a hashing scheme to identify files, this allows for the software to positively identify identical files for simultaneous downloads.
3. It's not file specific. Users could share anything. Or course he network is rampant with copyrighted software, pornographic material and mp3's. But at least it's not designed to do that - it's just used for that.

The central problem with FastTrack isn't the technology but in how's it's marketed. FastTrack license its technology to be marked by third party developers, these third partly developers market as the next napster. To manage there user base they have established a login system which breaks the decentralized nature of the network.

Thankfully the gnutella scene has been working on incorporating these features into the gnutella network. Namely the flagship gnutella companies, BearShare and Limewire.

Freenet IMO is broken except for the most fanatic of freedom fighters. The central problem with Freenet is its speed, which I believe is inherently broken. When a user begins a transfer of a file over the Freenet network it is copied to every node (space abiding) along the path. This is to enforce redundancy, and is central to the anonymous nature of the Freenet network as it allows users to be unaware of what they are storing; it also has a weakest link problem in that a hop from the source might be very slow. In theory if a file is popular enough it will always be close, however we have yet to see that happen.

The other problem with Freenet is that it is un-searchable; users are required to KNOW what they are looking for. I don't deem this is a death blow as other services could get around this, an indexing service for example

Some links that you might find helpful:
FastTrack
BearShare
Limewire
Gnutella Developer Forum @ Yahoo
MusicCity's Morpheus
Freenet

-Jon

This is a disturbing trend among free-to-download software.

-- Agthorr

Read the report yourself because it is funny, but here is brief coverage in the Washington Post.

And for P2P pleasure...
Gnutella clients...
http://www.bearshare.com/
http://www.limewire.com/
Not based on Gnutella protocol...
http://www.aimster.com/
http://www.edonkey2000.com/
Or just go to CNET's downloads and select from many P2P flavors :)

Looking at BearShare's homepage, the 2.2.6 release adds a new "Family Filter" that hides "innappropriate content."

The latest version of BearShare has a family filter to hide "inappropriate content" (whatever that means; hopefully, it will block access to real Britney Spears videos as well ;-)). But it's probably easy to circumvent like all other filters...

Interesting fact from the PDF (page ii): The number of children using file sharing programs is unknown but believed to be high. Great! For a study on children's access to file sharing, couldn't they at least have tried to collect some data on this?

Not at all!!! It is about loosing control to state and corporate entities. Once you start to loose options, you start to loose your ability to choose, which in turn means you begin to loose your freedom.

Bearshare (windows gnutella client) rocks. I can find just about anything I am looking for.

If you have the connection to sustain a connect, you can find pretty much ANY mp3 you want on Gnutella. (For hosts, connect to *Surprise* gnutellahosts.com:6346)

I'm currently running a Win32 box for gaming, so I use both LimeWire and BearShare, although BearShare has been a touch flaky lately. Not sure why.

---

When Aimster jumped the gun and sued the RIAA it was the beginning of the end for them (as if they didn't already have a huge bull's eye on their collective foreheads).

The problem with all the companies that have headed down this path is that they're simply too visible. If you want to create a successful filesharing system, don't do it in the open. Make software that can function if you drop off the face of the earth. Gnutella, and derivatives like Toadnode and Bearshare are still around because there's nothing for the RIAA to grab a hold of and sue (both have been around a lot longer than Aimster too).

These companies need to wise up; it's a field-day for the RIAA right now ... too many fish, not enough barrels.

_f

The majority of napster users have already left due to filtering.
If microsoft and napster setup an agreement, only more people will leave for alternatives such as bearshare and audiogalaxy.
Trying to kill mp3 trading by an agreement with napster is like trying to kill linux by buying corel, in my mind.

(I'm not sure what the situation with Corel was, its just to illustrate that people will move to alternatives.)

Bearshare is a program that installs Onflow on your computer. Use Gnotella or Limewire instead.
__________________

• Alpine - Adaptive Large-scale Peer2peer Information NEtworking
• ANAP -- Anonymous Napster
• AudioGalaxy Satellite
• Bearshare -- Powerful Gnutella client
• Blocks -- open source distributed sharing client with encryption
• Carracho -- MacOS file sharing program
• CuteMX
• Direct Connect
• DFSI -- Distributed File Sharing over IRC
• Espra
• FileSwap
• Filetopia
• FreeNet
• Gnutmeg -- peered file sharing system
• gnutella -- distributed P2P file sharing tool
• Hotline
• IMesh
• Jungle Monkey -- open source
• KaZaA - Windows Media Desktop
• Konspire -- open source distributed client in java
• OFSI -- Open File Sharing Initiative
• ProjectELF -- anonymoys distributed sharing system
• SongSpy
• Spin Frenzy
• Splooge -- P2P file sharing by file extension
• Swapoo -- Napster like service for sharing video game ROMs
• Swaptor -- Online File Sharing Community
• VNN - secure file sharing app

However, my position is that word of mouth has always been among the most powerful means of advertising and the least compensated, monetarily. Accordingly, the legacy financial models of entertainment distribution seem to violate fundamental principles of economics. Those who are creating value in the form of word of mouth marketing and sales have not ever received their proper cut.

Enter Napster, creating vastly more perfect market information in this regard. I think that it should be incumbent upon the entertainment industry to keep up with the times and create new business models that spur technology rather than defending oligopolies and stifling innovation.

In the meantime, we the community must scatter in a number or random directions now that the feds have effectively shackled Napster.

I feel really bad for Shawn, but the only way to keep the spirit alive is to abaondon Napster altogether and go somewhere else ... and we must keep migrating and scattering like this until the feds get the hint that file sharing is not going away simply because the RIAA pays them to prop up their anachronistic institution.

Here are some starter ideas - LET A MILLION NAPSTERS BLOOM!

Hotline
Gnutella
Fidelio - Hotline for Linux
Gnucleus - Another Gnutella for windoze
BearShare - Another Gnutella for windoze
Aimster
And lots more on ZeroPaid

Perhaps your Gnutella client doesn't filter properly. If you're using Win32, check out bearshare (which, besides filtering out this trojan properly, generally kicks ass all-around).

Check out BearShare, it's one of the most powerful Gnutella clients around and works nicely here. Other than that, see infoAnarchy (sig) for news & updates on Napster alternatives, as well as a comprehensive list of them.

--

Why is it that hotline never gets mentioned???

Because Hotline is a pain. Yes, it's simple enough to use and has potential, but the reality is pretty unpleasant to use. You find that someone has something you're interested in. You have to see what particular hoops you have to jump through to get access "...go to this web site and sign up for this spam-bait..." To hell with that. I share over AudioGalaxy and Napster and the BearShare Gnutella client because I like to share, not to try to make a nickle from people.

Surely more bytes have been transfered over Hotline servers than ANY other file (not just mp3) sharing peer to peer system!!!

Probably, but if you're interested in MP3s, and are not looking for movies or warez, everything else is less of a pain.

Sure, everyone knows about the scaling problems of GNUtella and clones, but the latest version of BearShare is an easy to use, no, idiot proof GNUtella clone for M$-windoze. I have been using it for a couple days now.

One of the main sources of problems for GNUtella is the type of content traded on the network. With 5MB songs, trading is quick and easy, but with 700MB mp4 DVD rips, trades take half a day, causing would-be-sharers to be locked into a small number of leachers for about half a day. GNUtella and clones tend to trade larger files more often than Napster. This causes you to be queued far more often, when requesting a file from a source who is sharing a DVD or two.

Still, if you have 10 minutes, check out either:
BearShare (for Windblows)
Limeware (for Linux, etc)

While it is important to look towards the future technologies such as Freenet or Alpine, the here-and-now matters the most. The current status of both Freenet and Alpine is not good enough for widespread use as a P2P network. The best thing for now is to try one of the new GNUtella servants (far better than the original in terms of ease-of-use and performance)... or try a hacked napster. However, sticking with the Napster tech is a bad idea... tech should move towards full distributed networks for robustness reasons.

Even though GNUtella can't scale in its current protocol version, I still see it as being the next generation after napster. Soon, the GNUtella protocol will be revised to greatly improve performance, and the GNUtella generation will hit prime time.

After that, people will want even better performance, anonymity, security, etc...
Those forces will bring about the following generation. Who will fill it? Well, thats the generation when we will see Freenet, Alpine, and other more ideal networks, fight for power.

All the while, in between generations, "duct tape" proxies will be used to mend the gaps.

...and will continue to improve if only folks would move to newer, more robust, and more compliant clients. If you're still running gnutella 0.53, or even Gn0tella, check out BearShare at http://www.bearshare.com/. You'll be surprised at how far Gnutella has come - that only hints at how far it may go in the future.

Critics said man would never set foot on the moon. Now critics are saying Gnutella is doomed. Funny, they've been saying that since March of last year and I'm still happily downloading MP3s. Ignore the critics and keep the faith.

Shaun

Actually, I have found that BearShare (which can be found here) is extremly easy to use. It uses the gNutella network, but makes it easy. Yes, there is some configuration, but this program makes it simple enought for a 5 year old to configure it. Give it a try.

the new version of Bearshare (2.0.4) seems to be working rather splendidly. My copy has been up (they fixed some major memory leaks) for about three days now, has transferred over 5 gigs of data and pulled down nearly a gig. This includes some resumes (check "auto retry failed") that have finally been able to complete.

Quick hint: when looking for movies files search "*.asf" or "*.divx", asf's (and mpegs) are a bit better since you can watch partial downloads, DivX ;-) doesn't seem to support that although they are generally better quality in less space (note: I'm not really into hardcore descriptions of codecs, just how they work in the real world). It's not perfect (by any means), but is moving in the right direction. Now let's just try and keep it legal.
--

try out bearshare. It also gives you quite a bit more info than nappy, including country of origin for the computers it connects to.

It alleviates the problems or complaints the articles author had with the Gnutella network (manually finding servers). I've found it to be rather good, but quite a bit slower than Napster. The protocol seems to be coming along, but I believe it will always require more bandwidth than a napster like central server. Regardless, as broadband continues to roll out, these services will only get better, more pervasive, and even more difficult to stop. They will replace or compete with mainstream broadcast media within 10 years. Unless those folks decide to compete seriously in individual digital file delivery.
--