Multicoloured Swap Shop! (Direct Connect)

Member Name: chrispitts

Product:	Direct Connect
Date:	23/07/02 (683 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Huge collection of files, Good search facility

Disadvantages: Not for beginners, A bit slow.

I'd dabbled with file sharing before, using the now-restricted (ie dead) Napster, and, more recently Kazaa, but when I finally got a cable connection, I hunted for more.... File sharing really comes into its own when you have a fast connection - you're not just restricted to the usual music files - instead, you can download videos, games... you name it.

The best solution I have found so far is Direct Connect, a program created by a company called "Neomodus".

Direct Connect runs on a Peer to Peer (P2P) protocol, meaning that you download files directly from other users, rather than searching randomly through a central hub. At first, this can seem confusing for the beginner, and the layout of the program interface doesn't help matters.

In most file sharing programs, you have a big window with a few tabs above, with which you can flick between your downloads, searches, uploads, and, for the technically-minded, the connection details. Not so with Direct Connect, which utilizes a more traditional "Windows"-style interface.

But first things first. How does it work?

When you start the program, you have to connect to a file sharing hub. That's the main computer through which all traffic is routed. The "Connections" window lists dozens of these - many with over 500 users. Some have file sharing limitations - you can only join if you share, for example, 10GB of data. Once you're connected, the "Users" window shows who's connected and how many files in total are being shared.

What you do next is pretty much up to you. You can click on individual users to list all the files shared by that person. Or you can run the comprehensive search engine to find files you are particularly interested in.

Download speeds are probably slightly lower than programs such as Bearshare, because Bearshare downloads simultaneously from a few computers, whereas in Direct
Connect, you only download from one. If a download is cut off for any reason, it can be easily resumed, or you can opt to find other users sharing the same file, and continue the download from them.

So how good is it?

Well, Direct Connect is rapidly becoming the largest file sharing program in the world. Currently, according to the official website, 2,835.60TB are being shared between 84981 users. That almost 3 petabytes! What's a petabyte? Well, again, according to the website, a petabyte is the equivalent of:

1,451,002 DivX format movies
325,376,310 MP3 music files.

So pretty big then! You are pretty much guaranteed to find what you're looking for.

As I said, my main bug-bear is the speed - it's not terrible, but you have to choose who you download from carefully. An ASDL-ASDL connection will fly through, and I've reached about 60-70kB/sec, but many of my downloads are running at around 3-4kB/sec, and that's unrealistically slow for movie downloads, for example.

There's also a problem with people cutting off mid-download. Often I leave my computer downloading overnight, only to find I've been disconnected by the other user. But that can happen with many file sharing programs, and I guess is just something we have to live with.

So in summary, Direct Connect is great, and is now the only file sharing program I use. You can share any file you want, it's more personal, because you know who you're downloading from, and, with a bit of a learning curve, it's easy to work with. Not one for complete novices (start off with Bearshare!), but if you have a bit of know-how, it's well worth a look. Oh, and the official website (link above) has a great "How to start" section.

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