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also, visit #gift on irc.openprojects.net for even more info

Sensing the ongoing increase of popularity of giFT, KaZaA has blocked all open-sourced attempts to connect to the FastTrack network used by KaZaA, Morpheus, and Grokster. More information here. For more about giFT, refer back to this slashdot article.
also, visit #gift on irc.openprojects.net

Now I use Morpheus. Works great and I can get pr0n with it too!

Not only will many artists still be making sure they're not on napster, but napster will fail once again due to the fact while it'll be a paid only music software, while software such as audiogalaxy and software that allows downloads of files and videos and all that, such as morpheus are now reigning all popular.

However, now that the recording companies are able to make a profit out of napster, perhaps they'll pursue morpheus, audiogalaxy and all these other companies to make sure that napster is unrivaled.

1. Get Morpheus.
2. Install and run it.
3. Select "Video" and search for "Lord of the rings"
4. then you should be able to get in a few mins. The problem is figuring out what the hell the file is called.

With apples shit site, I have to upgrade to a new version of quicktime, which took me forever and it still doesn't work. I wanted to get the zip file from the sorensen server... but it's dead.

... or you can just view the file here:
http://homepage.mac.com/johnemdall/.Movies/lotr- tv 240.mov

This posting describes a woman in California suing Fahrenheit Entertainment, Inc. and its label Music City Records

Hmmm.... Music City Records... Is it ironic that MusicCity is also a decentralized filesharing service based on the same technology as KaZaA?

Would it be further ironic if somebody figured out how to decrypt Circuit City DIVX movies and encode them with a DivX MPEG-4 codec?

I have to agree. I had been using Morpheus from Music City for a couple months when someone recommended Lava Soft to me. To my surprise, I found 386 bits of spyware on my system. Swifty deleted, I still use Morpheus because its a good shareware program, but I scan my computer for more spyware every time I start it up.

-David 'Klep' Kleppinger, Raving Lunatic

I think this kind of thing would be pretty hard to police.

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

Morpheus is a program that appears to be compatible with Kazaa (on searches some usernames show up as user@kazaa and others as user@musiccity) and contains no spyware or text-altering annoyances. It has the ability to download from multiple users at once, resume downloads, search by category, etc. I've been using it for the past month or so and it's worked pretty well.
--

port 1214 is also the port used by KaZaA and MusicCity's Morpheus for the direct semi-gnutella style communication for the file sharing network. Are you running either? Is it possible that it was a coincidence that you were on this system as well as someone from Toshiba?

With some serious tweaking by an interested party this protocol may have the ass kicking ability to scale beyond "close to a million" users, too bad its proprietary. Don't even think about gnutella doing that unless they ditch backwards compatibility gnutella will be stuck at the 40,000 to 50,000 limit forever.

Are there any good opennap networks up now? Is anything being done?

Mike Roberto
- GAIM: MicroBerto

start using Morpheus or edonkey2000. These networks are a little underpopulated now, but they seem to be gaining userbase. Both support the ability to download one file from many people at the same time, I've seen aggregates of 130k/s downloading from 5 different users. Steal your music just a little bit faster.

Morpheus is virtually Kazaa with a different GUI. It uses a Gnutella-like hybrid protocol.

While it is probably possible to shut it down, it will be more difficult to do then just to go to Music City and tell them to shut down thier servers. Alteast I hope it isn't that easy to shut down. Morpheus in my opinion is Napster done right (if you don't mind the annoying GUI!)

i mean, come on - i'm serious? it's virtually unusable with the current filtering in place. (i'd recommend changing to morpheus)

i was angry:1 with:2 my:4 friend - i told:3 4 wrath:5, 4 5 did end.

Actually I have found that a new file sharing protocol Morpheusis a MUCH improved version of Gnutella that boasts all of the simplicity of Napster and actually performs pretty decently. If I were a betting guy, and luckily I am, I would venture to say that this is the future of P2P -- at least for the time being. (That is, until freenet becomes as user-friendly as napster)...

In particular, where are all of the MusicCity servers?

MusicCity has switched from being an OpenNap network to being a Morpheus network with its own client.

how the hell do you get a hold of the gnapster author

Start with Mike Markley, who maintains the Debian package.

in particular, I want a client that can QUEUE UP SERVERS TO CONNECT TO

WinMX can add this. Why don't you add this feature to your favorite free software napclient?

Wow, I didn't realize people were still using the official Napster service. I thought they had all long gone to OpenNap, like I have, to get around all that annoying filtering stuff.

Not if the most popular OpenNap network gives busy signals ("The server is full!") constantly.

I think it'd be a good idea to go ahead and implement the "user-supplied aol.exe" solution anyways. Users can find version 3.5 -- we'll mirror it or trade it on music city if we have to.


-- juju

"As I was negotiating with Charley, I learned that (protecting CDs) was important to him," says Bob Heatherly, head of Music City Records, the independent Nashville label that Pride joined in January.

Isn't Music City an OpenNap network?

I like the subversion that Napigator offers since it still uses the Napster program for its main interface. Windoze users, take note! (If you haven't already!). It rocks.

For Linux users, I've had great success with Gnapster which uses many of the same Musiccity servers. Free music for everyone!
------------

At the height of Slashdot's reporting on Napster (twice or thrice a week) I couldn't understand what relevance it had with regards to being "News for Nersa" or "Stuff that Matters", some service that is primarily used to pirate songs was getting sued, big deal.

Now that Napster has been rendered useless as a file sharing service by the RIAA and a court of law, why is Napster still news? Everyone I know has moved on from Napster and now uses a service that surpasses Napster's poorly designed service in one way or the other. For simply sharing and obtaining music there are iMesh, Audiogalaxy, Music City, Ohaha, Gnutella and a host of others. For uses of P2P beyond simply grabbing MP3s we have Mojo Nation, Freenet and Publius.

Why doesn't slashdot start reporting on these systems instead of beating the dead Napster horse?

As im sure you know ther _is_ an open implementation of napsters services called opennap. While its not done with the companies blessings, ive found many opennap nets to work so well i dont even use napsters servers anymore. I mainly use Music City which i find to be a far better service. All the servers are linked, thers way more files and it by far faster.

"MusicCity.com will respond to claims of copyright infringement committed on our Network that are reported to MusicCity.com. If you are a copyright owner, or authorized to act on behalf of an owner of the copyright or of any exclusive right under the copyright, please report your notice of infringement to MusicCity.com. We will attempt to respond expeditiously to all claims of copyright infringement that meet all of the following requirements.

PROCEDURES FOR SUBMITTING A CLAIM OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT Our compliance with the DMCA may include, but is not limited to, removing or disabling links to allegedly infringing material and complying with other applicable laws. To protect content owners, users and ourselves from fraudulent notices, incorrect or ineffective claims of infringement, we will respond only to Notices that are substantially compliant with the requirements of the DMCA as set forth below. Notices Must Be in Writing."

So what does this mean, (IMHO) it means that if a copyright owner doesn't want their works on the musiccity network, they have to submit it in writing and list what files spcifically are infringing, do whatever else in accordance with the law, and musiccity will remove it.

This seems to be the case for Napster as well:

Napster must halt the trading of specific files it is told to block by record companies. But that could be millions of songs, and it sets the stage for new, sweeping restrictions on what can be traded through the service - Says www.news.com.

The *real* question is: If musiccity says they can do this, (remove infringing files upon copyright owner's request) then why can't Napster do the same?

A penny for my thoughts? Here's my two cents. I got ripped off.

"MusicCity.com will respond to claims of copyright infringement committed on our Network that are reported to MusicCity.com. If you are a copyright owner, or authorized to act on behalf of an owner of the copyright or of any exclusive right under the copyright, please report your notice of infringement to MusicCity.com. We will attempt to respond expeditiously to all claims of copyright infringement that meet all of the following requirements.

PROCEDURES FOR SUBMITTING A CLAIM OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT Our compliance with the DMCA may include, but is not limited to, removing or disabling links to allegedly infringing material and complying with other applicable laws. To protect content owners, users and ourselves from fraudulent notices, incorrect or ineffective claims of infringement, we will respond only to Notices that are substantially compliant with the requirements of the DMCA as set forth below. Notices Must Be in Writing."

So what does this mean, (IMHO) it means that if a copyright owner doesn't want their works on the musiccity network, they have to submit it in writing and list what files spcifically are infringing, do whatever else in accordance with the law, and musiccity will remove it.

This seems to be the case for Napster as well:

Napster must halt the trading of specific files it is told to block by record companies. But that could be millions of songs, and it sets the stage for new, sweeping restrictions on what can be traded through the service - Says www.news.com.

The *real* question is: If musiccity says they can do this, (remove infringing files upon copyright owner's request) then why can't Napster do the same?

A penny for my thoughts? Here's my two cents. I got ripped off.

"MusicCity.com will respond to claims of copyright infringement committed on our Network that are reported to MusicCity.com. If you are a copyright owner, or authorized to act on behalf of an owner of the copyright or of any exclusive right under the copyright, please report your notice of infringement to MusicCity.com. We will attempt to respond expeditiously to all claims of copyright infringement that meet all of the following requirements.

PROCEDURES FOR SUBMITTING A CLAIM OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT Our compliance with the DMCA may include, but is not limited to, removing or disabling links to allegedly infringing material and complying with other applicable laws. To protect content owners, users and ourselves from fraudulent notices, incorrect or ineffective claims of infringement, we will respond only to Notices that are substantially compliant with the requirements of the DMCA as set forth below. Notices Must Be in Writing."

So what does this mean, (IMHO) it means that if a copyright owner doesn't want their works on the musiccity network, they have to submit it in writing and list what files spcifically are infringing, do whatever else in accordance with the law, and musiccity will remove it.

This seems to be the case for Napster as well:

Napster must halt the trading of specific files it is told to block by record companies. But that could be millions of songs, and it sets the stage for new, sweeping restrictions on what can be traded through the service - Says www.news.com.

The *real* question is: If musiccity says they can do this, (remove infringing files upon copyright owner's request) then why can't Napster do the same?

A penny for my thoughts? Here's my two cents. I got ripped off.