Kazaa the most downloaded software on the internet!

[firephoto]

The historic day of Friday the 23rd of May, 2003.

From Baku Today,*Azerbaijan. (looked like an interesting place to get the article. :) )
http://www.bakutoday.net/view.php?d=4645
Reuters reports that the company expects the P2P site to hit over 230 million downloads today, which would inch it past the current most popular program, ICQ instant messaging.

Kazaa has been receiving an average of 366,000 downloads per day, whereas the ICQ application has been receiving an average of 50,000 downloads per day, as measured by Download.com.

366,000 downloads a day is quite a number and that doesn't even count the number of alternate spyware-free versions out there.

I was first turned onto this software by a net-friend when Morpheus was still using their software engine before Sharman Networks sent out the kill code and Morpheus had to switch to a different engine. I had been a Napster user and when it was killed there really wasn't a good easy alternative till Morpheus showed up. I was almost in awe when I first used it. Downloads would come from multible sources at once, you could preview what you were downloading, and you could restart lost downloads, or pause and finish later. It was, and still is as Kazaa (Lite hacked K++ beta for me), an incredible piece of software.

As I type this there are 3,324,122 users online (3.3 million) and they are sharing 743,666,904 files (743.6 million) which total 5,988,736 GB of data (30 thousand 200gig drives full of data!!!). That's a lot of media out there being shared.

[RichW]

The RIAA is now sending messages to Kazaa file sharers now warning them that they are subject to prosecution for copyright violations.

[Kevin]

Kazaa is going down the same path as Napster. It's just too damn popular. That's why I use WinMX. :)

[firephoto]

Kazaa doesn't use servers like Napster did, it's a true p2p service. All you need is the software and the internet and it works. The user is responsible for what kind of content is shared.

If the RIAA had it's way your ears would have quarter slots that you would have to insert money into to be able to hear ANY kind of music. That's what greed will do.

[bills976]

Of course the best source of file sharing is IRC.....

[Steve Mehs]

Why are people using Kazaa, don't they know about Kazaa Lite. I'd like to see the numbers for Kazaa Lite.

[firephoto]

It could have to do with the "dark" area of the internet where K-Lite and other variations exist. K-Lite isn't always easy to find either because many versions claiming to be the lite version are just the regular version in disguise.

[zztzed]

Kazaa is actually not "true" P2P anymore. They changed the protocol a while back to use some form of encryption to prevent unofficial clients (http://gift.sf.net/) from connecting to the network, so official clients now connect to a central server to get the encryption key before connecting to the network.

[Geronimo]

Are therefees associated with the use of KAzza Lite? What is Kazaa Gold?

[firephoto]

Kazaa Lite is just a hacked version that strips out the gator/bonzai buddy/some spyware (I don't even know what's in the real version) and still allows the program to work. It checks for certain files and makes sure the files have the correct checksum or something so you can't just remove the spyware or it won't work. There are variations of the Lite variation that allows things outside of the normal parameters. K-Lite ++ allows you to use the "search more" button more than two times for example amongst other things.

[Geronimo]

When I searched for Kazaa Lite awhile back I kept seeing statements like "less than $1 a month". What's up with that?

[Steve Mehs]

Some websites that offer Kazaa Lite make you think you have to pay for it. I get mine from kazaalite.de. The site is completly in German but it's not that hard to figure out :)

[Mark Holtz]

Judging from the direction this thead is taking, I'm moving this thread to "Computer Talk".

[Jacob S]

I also have winmx, I thought it worked better for me and I liked it better as well. They said on techtv that there were more downloads of kazaa than there are people that live in the U.S. and that there is something even more intense that may be coming in the future that will make it harder to track people downloading things and so forth. It seemed rather interesting and sounded like the way they said it that nothing could stop it, in which is what I believe as well.

[BobMurdoch]

I love how the record companies are complaining that these sites are destroying their business. I forget which magazine did a story on this, but they showed that sales indeed did fall 11% since 1999. Except that new releases numbered 29,000 LESS than 1999 this past year, AND they raise prices in a down economy. Hmmm, must be those pirates (mostly students who didn't have the disposable income to buy all those albums ANYWAY) I am a heavy buyer who owns about 3000 CDs, all legit, and my buying has fallen 50% in the last year due to a lack of compelling releases and the anger at being called a criminal by the companies I buy from. 95% of the stuff I download is for remixes of old 80's songs that I can't buy anywhere else now. The other 5% tends to be obscure Electronica songs that I hear on XM but that I can't find anywhere else.

[firephoto]

Apparently there's a security flaw in Kazaa, patch to be released withing 24 hours they say.....

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2135233,00.html

[Chris Blount]

I like file sharing programs like Kazza. It takes the gamble out of buying CD's. It's really bugged me for a long time that when you buy a CD, and you don't like it, you can't take it back. With file sharing, you can sample music and then decide if you want to buy the CD from the store.

Actually downloading all the songs on a CD and burning your own copy, to me, is a pain in the butt. Some of the songs on Kazza are converted to MP3 incorrectly or it's completely the wrong song from what the titles says. It's easier just to buy the CD for $15.

[waydwolf]

    While I'm dead set against cable and satellite piracy, I do use KLite++ and iMesh both for one simple reason: I'm a former programmer and well aware of the sh*t that some of my fellows will publish with a straight face. Since their broken buggy crud can cause total information unawareness(read: wipeout your system), we should get to test it first. Instead, the industry is the only one where you buy it sight unseen and have no recourse or hope of refund much less damages for data loss.

    As a result, I've been able to test drive full versions of various software packages, find out which are attrocious pieces of cr*p, and which are good. The bad ones, if I can't kludge a fix to make them work for me, are deleted. The ones that do what I want get purchased either online or full boxed version. That's why Adobe has gotten so much of my money. (a big thankyou to Adobe for their numerous improvements to their programming and testing methods after the nightmare of Acrobat 3)

    Also, I've gotten some excellent listens to songs that I'd otherwise have to record from the radio and so too money has been spent following up at the local mall CD shops.

    But in the name of traffic congestion, I recommend it only be used by cable users overnight and not during the day when it can muck things up for others.

 

[Richard King]

The IRAA is simply feeling the effect of items mentioned above (higher prices, fewer releases, etc.) along with other media such as dvd's taking money from the pot where they formerly had an exclusive. I spend more on dvd's now than I do on CD's. That money is being taken away from the music business and being "redistributed" to the movie industry. Liberals should be happy. :lol: Before DVD's I NEVER bought movies. With the combination of the music industry, the movie industry and the gaming industry chasing the same $$$, there is bound to be a negative effect on the oldest of the industries, that being the music business. Then again, they aren't producing much music worth purchasing today anyway.

[RichW]

For me, audio CDs are just a way to "install" music on my mp3 jukebox. I still buy CDs, but not as many as I used to do because much of the pop music today is trashy rap/hip-hop that doesn't appeal to my tastes, but if Enya releases another CD, I would buy it up right away.

I have downloaded lots of MP3 files, but I don't know if they are still valid copyrights since much of my downloaded tunes are recordings from the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Such music should, in my opinion, be in the public domain even if they are not. Part of the motivation for granting copyrights is that the art eventually ends up in the public domain.

Nonetheless, I probably have "pirated" many songs, but I did so because that was the only way to get a certain tune I wanted without having to buy a full CD or hunt for an old 45 RPM record to rip. I am guilty but I consider it the equivalent of speeding.

The USENET binary newsgroups post hundreds of MP3s each day Yet I never hear any RIAA actions taken there.

Another source for material is the local library. We joke here that when the "book" has been checked out of our small library, we can still chose from a alot of CDs and DVDs. Audiobooks also seem ot be poular and can be ripped just as easily as music CDs.

[Jacob S]

To prevent having an excuse such as "I cant take it back to the store because I didnt like it and thats why I dont buy cd's" they will say that by only allowing you to play it 3 times or so many times will allow you to preview the song then you know what the songs are like. I think I have heard of this not long ago in which may be implemented on songs that will be downloaded and I heard that it may be done on Kazaa on the future, not sure though.

[Steve Mehs]

That would be so easy to get around, as your playing the song just record it direct from the sound card a la Roxio Sound Stream or something similar and rip the wav into an MP3.

[Jacob S]

I figure it would be easy to get around, but then they could not say that you are pirating the music if you are 'previewing it' when you download it then you could rip it to your cd.

[waydwolf]

Originally posted by Jacob S
To prevent having an excuse such as "I cant take it back to the store because I didnt like it and thats why I dont buy cd's" they will say that by only allowing you to play it 3 times or so many times will allow you to preview the song then you know what the songs are like. I think I have heard of this not long ago in which may be implemented on songs that will be downloaded and I heard that it may be done on Kazaa on the future, not sure though.

    And they will do this with what magical technology? The public has spoken by choice repeatedly. When Sony offered MiniDisc, the public responded with a resounding silent "no thanks" by continuing with cassette tapes and CDs on which they couldn't yet economically record for themselves.

    Copy protection rich formats like ASF/WMV and RM/RAM have been largely ignored in favor of DiVX/XViD format AVI and MPEG-1/MPEG-2. So too are MP3s the favored format for audio instead of RM/RAM and WMA. StreamboxVCR is still distributed widely and with it, people can easily get and keep copies of streaming media they'd otherwise not be able to record. It wouldn't surprise me if Suze Randall's video site changed from per-minute streaming to monthly access precisely because of the ease of defeating the protection.

Prediction:

    If anything, Microsoft has by far the best desktop operating system ever. For ease of use Linux as a *nix derivative will NEVER touch, massive support that snooty Apple will haughtily never give, and tolerance for freedom of choice that IBM to this day doesn't grasp, they are willing to bleed themselves for this dubious flirtation with smooching the back end of the RIAA/MPAA morons and it is going to be YET ANOTHER punch in the arm for... Linux.

    NOT Mac. Apple's iTunes only shows Jobs to be the money-grubbing weasel-master of opportunism I've known him to be since the Apple //e and for him to about face and champion against further encroachment of fair use would be to slit his economic throat. Not that Jobs wouldn't as it's obvious he's done it a million times over the way he runs Apple, just that it isn't his style of suicide.

    So Linux will continue with its cadre of "screw the world and rules" brigade of coders behaving like children, which is to say, doing everything that they aren't supposed to do just to irk the powers that be, and it will bite the RIAA/MPAA in the heinie so hard and deep they won't be able to sit down again for a few decades.

    It isn't hard to see from past performance that they'll only retrench like liberal Democrats in the face of the Reagan 80s economy in more nonsense that only exacerbates every problem that they scream bloody murder about.

    Anyone recall their take in the recording industry on 8-tracks, cassettes, Beta, VHS? Anyone see how much more money they started making AFTER the roll-out of these dreaded technologies?

    Go to www.dailyrotten.com (http://www.dailyrotten.com) and in the sidebar, scrolled down a bit, is an interesting quote from Jack Valenti. Now if that isn't delusional, I don't know what is.

 

[firephoto]

In the perfect world we would have a free Mac OS X like operating system for the X86 platform and and a free opensource P2P program with lots of Ogg's for the sharing. :)

I downloaded eMule (http://emule-project.net/) the other day and played around with a little last night. It works on the eDonkey2000 network. Looks really good for getting some unique content or publishing your own content. It's an opensource project too so that's always a good thing. Has and IRC thing built into it, which is something I've never really got into or even know how it works, but I've heard it's been around awhile. ;) It's liquidirc. Anyone else using or used eMule or eDonkey?

Oh and I ripped (created anyway) some .ogg files the other day too from some avi tracks and they sound pretty good at 192k. Any opinions on the ogg format?

[pinkertonfloyd]

My only problem with Kazaa is that it's a huge security problem, as it's probably one of the worst written networking programs out there. You should see the junk it throws out on the net!

Basically I hope you have no sensitive information on your machine, (as just because it's not in your "shared folder" doesn't mean anything with Kazaa, your machine is WIDE open, it's just not "advertised".). It's probably the most widely accepted "virus" out there.