Napster is dead... (Gnutella)

Member Name: The Duke

Product:	Gnutella
Date:	06/05/01 (333 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Free, Fairly easy to use

Disadvantages: Does not show some file info

"Oh No! Napster has filtered out all copyrighted material so I can't download songs any more! Oh, woe is me!" Etc. etc.

Never fear! Dukey is here! So, Napster has gone to the great file transfer in the sky. What next? Is that it for illegally sharing mp3's via Internet and computer? Well, no actually. There are other file share utilities out there – Scour and Gnutella are two that immediately spring to mind. Scour and Gnutella are what's known as peer-to-peer transfer methods. What this means (and what makes it different from Napster) is that there are no central servers to host the file transfers.

"Gnutella? Don't you put that on bread?"

Gnutella is a file-sharing network. As such there is no actual program called "Gnutella" but rather there are Gnutella clients that you can use.

"Don't get technical with me, you nerd – what's a client?"

A client is a piece of software that enables you to use some sort of networking in a manner which is dependant on the type of client you are using. If you've used mIRC or WinFTP then you'll have used a client before – they are a chat (Internet Relay Chat) client and file transfer (File Transfer Protocol) client respectively. A Gnutella client simply enables you to share information (or files) that is stored on your computer.

"Sounds groovy – where can I get myself a Gnutella client?"

Well, the client I use personally is Gnotella, and I found it at http://www.gnotella.com. It's currently at version 0.9.9, but there are other clients out there – BearShare, LimeWire, Furi to name but three, and there are Linux and Macintosh clients too. It's free to download and use, and there are no screens which pop up to nag you about buying or registering. It's about 2.5 MB to download, so should take that much time, especially if you're reading opinions here
on dooyoo at the same time! If you want to use one of these other ones, then take a look at http://www.gnutelliums.com where you'll find all sorts to suit your needs.

"So, I've done as you suggested and installed Gnotella. Blimey, I'm lost! Help!"

Right, it's a bit confusing at first, isn't it? You've at least set it up and answered all the questions. Notice that there's no login or username/password to remember? Cool! OK, first of all you are automatically connected to the Gnutella network, provided you are online when you start the program, so no need to worry about finding the connect button. The interface seems complicated, but you don't actually need to refer to those graphs to use the program. Simply click on the "Find" button at the top of the screen.

"Right. This is still confusing – what are all these options for?"

OK. You're in the find screen – this is the screen where you'll be spending most of your time. First of all, unlike Napster, you can do three searches simultaneously! Second of all, you're not restricted to just mp3's - you can search for zip files, txt files, exe files as well as mpg files, wav and avi files. See the two drop down menus just to the right of the search query? That's where you set your file options and the minimum speed of connection you want to use. Unlike Napster, you only get one "box" to type in your search criteria, but you just type in the artist and track and click the "find" button. As with Napster, all the results are displayed giving additional information such as file size, connection speed etc.

"Groovy! I've found what I want, now what do I do?"

Simple – you highlight the required file, and hit the download button. If you click on the "Up" or "Down" buttons at the top of the screen, you'll be taken to a wind
ow where it will show you the status of any uploads or downloads in progress. If your download hasn't started, don't worry – there may be heavy "traffic" on the connection you wish to use and will just have to wait your turn. Your download data will stay here until you either abort the transfer or the download completes. You also have the ability to come back and resume incomplete downloads which is a big plus over Napster.

"Is that it? That was easy!"

Of course it was, you had me to guide you through it! But that's not all – you can do more. In the settings screen you can alter what files you are sharing (if any), change your download folder from what you specified during installation and change your skin, if you have any (if you don't you can download them too!).

"So, you recommend this then?"

Yeah – I haven't used any other Gnutella clients, and so they may be easier to use for non-nerds, but Gnotella does exactly what I want, and in a style similar to Napster for those who have used that piece of software before. It's also a lot more stable than Napster and is not prone to the crashing that regularly happened on my PC. I like the advanced file sharing options, so if you only want to share mp3's then you can – you can also set the number of uploads that people can take from your computer e.g. you can limit this to 3 uploads at any one time, with only one upload per person being allowed. This is where Napster failed in my book because every time someone downloaded a file from my computer, my incoming data transfer rate fell to practically zero.

"Thanks Dukey, how can I possibly repay you?"

Oh, a pint of Guinness would be nice...

Summary: