Limewire - Limewire is a free program that allows users on the Internet to share music, video and other files. Limewire also allows a user to search for content on other users' computers and download those files. No centralized server or website is used to store files. Limewire directly transfers files from one user to another, hence the term "peer-to-peer" or P2P file sharing. It's more accurate to say that a file is being transferred instead of downloaded in the context of P2P applications. Limewire allows you to share or access any file type such as MP3, AVI/MPEG, JPG, etc. Because it is written in the Java programming language, it will run on Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and other operating systems.

Is Limewire legal? And what about those "transferred" files? That all depends on what you do with the software. Some artists make their music freely available on file sharing services, in order to gain exposure or because they just want to give it away for free.

Music downloads are a great way to get the songs you want without having to buy an entire CD. But you must pay attention to the legal issues. Record companies have been very aggressive about clamping down on copyright infringement.

The creation of legal music downloads came about because of complaints from artists and musicians. They argued that they owned their music, and it therefore should not be available for free downloading. They have a valid point. Besides the time and energy that goes into producing music, there are distribution and marketing costs involved. Musicians and recording companies rightfully expect to be compensated.

As a result, music download websites began popping up online. iTunes and Napster are two popular services. iTunes charges a nominal fee per song, while Napster charges a monthly subscription fee. There are also more than a hundred of sites that offer music downloads.

You can find legal music downloads in several ways. It is advisable that you go through reputable and well known sites. Shop around the 'net, ask friends for recommendations. Be sure to deal only with reputable sites. You don't want to run afoul of copyright laws.

Here's a list of some music download sites:

Music companies and artists were upset years ago by Napster, a website that allowed visitors to download and share music for free. Legal cases were filed against Napster and many people were charged for copyright infringement. After being closed down by the record companies, Napster and similar websites have revamped to provide legal music downloads.

Legal music download sites have replaced the sites of the past and are very popular. People have become comfortable with paying for the songs they want.

Free music is surprisingly easy to come by, even music by famous bands. Sometimes you can only listen to a song while you're online, but with the ever-growing popularity of broadband this is really no longer a problem. Sites provide free online music by almost any band you can think of. However, most people want to download songs and burn their own customized CDs. So how do we do that without violating copyright law?

In Peer-to-peer networks (P2P), there is no central server. Instead, all machines are connected and have acess to each other. The purpose of P2P is the sharing of files between nodes. In a pure P2P, all machines function as both client and server.

A few networks use a client-server structure for certain tasks. An example would be a file search function. Instead of the search request being sent to every machine in the group, a central server would handle the request. However, most P2P networks have no central server and are considered true P2P.

Peer-to-peer networks can be classified by what they can be used for:

• file sharing

• video and audio media

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WinMX is a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing program that runs on Windows. The original developer abandoned support of WinMX in September 2005, but a community of programmers brought the service back online. WinMX remains one of the popular P2P clients.

WinMX, if properly configured, can share almost any type of file. Files over 2GB will not be shared, and must be split into chunks smaller than 2GB. Although there is no limit to the number of files a user can share on the network, when a list of a specific user's files is requested (by the browse function) only a limited amount will be shown. However, all the shared files will be visible to a general search by filename.

Limewire will run on any computer that has the Java Virtual Machine installed. Installation packages are available for Windows, Mac and Linux. The Windows version of Limewire includes Sun Microsystems' Java installer which will download and install the Java Runtime Environment if necessary.

Is Limewire legal? That all depends on what you do with it. Copyright laws protect the creators of original works, such as music, movies, photos, etc. People who reproduce, distribute, or receive copies without the consent of the owners may be in violation intellectual property rights. If you copy commercially available music or video files without paying for it, you're probably breaking the law.

Peer-to-peer networks are usually called P2P. In this type of arrangement, there is no central server. Instead, all machines are interconnected and have more or less equal access to each other.

The primary purpose is the sharing of files between participants. In a pure peer-to-peer network, all machines function as both client and server.

Some networks use a client-server structure for certain tasks, and peer-to-peer for others. An example would be a file search function. Instead of the search request being sent to every machine in the group, a central server would handle the request. There are several advantages to this, including speed. However, most P2P networks have no central server and are considered true P2P.

Peer-to-peer networks can be classified by what they can be used for:

• file sharing

• video and audio media

• 
  
  More >>

Limewire is written in the Java programming language and will run on any computer that has the Java Virtual Machine installed. Installation packages are available for Windows, Mac and Linux (RPM). The Windows version of the Limewire installer includes a version of Sun Microsystems' Java installer which will download and install the Java Runtime Environment if necessary. LimeWire uses encryption to ensure that downloaded data is safe.

Is Limewire legal? That all depends on what you do with it. Copyright laws protect the creators of original works, such as music, movies, photos, etc. People who reproduce, distribute, or receive copies without the consent of the owners may be in violation intellectual property rights. If you copy commercially available music or video files without paying for it, you're probably breaking the law.

Limewire was loaded with spyware a few versions ago, and that just about killed my enthusiasm for having anything to do with it. But now it seems that all the spyware junk is gone, at least for the time being. My current complaint with the free version of Limewire is that the searches are limited to 200 hits, including duplicates. But the free version is a good way to see if you want to use P2P on your machine.

Installing Limewire Basic is fairly straightforward. You'll have to get past a bunch of skull and crossbones warnings about the perils of P2P. The only thing that's loaded is the program and Java runtime environment. If you decide to uninstall Limewire, there will be some Java files left behind, and the Java runtime environment will also remain.

Downloading music is a good way to build a portfolio of your favorite tunes. But you must do it legally. Free music is not really "free" because it costs a lot of money to produce and distribute. It's also protected by copyright law. Regardless of how you feel about the Internet being a "free" community, or about copyright law for that matter, you will be prosecuted if caught stealing - or whatever you want to call it.

There is absolutely no reason to take this kind of rish. There are a lot of sites to download from for a small fee. It's legal and quite easy to do. So resist the urge to grab something for nothing.

Free music is surprisingly easy to come by, even music by famous bands. Sometimes you can only listen to a song while you're online, but with the ever-growing popularity of broadband this is really no longer a problem. Sites provide free online music by almost any band you can think of. However, most people want to download songs and burn their own customized CDs. So how do we do that without violating copyright law?

WinMX runs on the Windows operating system and is used as a peer to peer (P2P) file sharing system. Although the original developer dropped support in 2005, a community of programmers picked up the service and brought it back online.

WinMX, if properly configured, can share almost any type of file. Files over 2GB will not be shared, and must be split into chunks smaller than 2GB. Although there is no limit to the number of files a user can share on the network, when a list of a specific user's files is requested (by the browse function) only a limited amount will be shown. However, all the shared files will be visible to a general search by filename.

Limewire Basic is a good way to tell if you want to join the P2P community. It has enough features to get a good test. Installation is pretty easy. If you like it, you can upgrade to Limewire Pro and get additional features.

Limewire was loaded with spyware a few versions ago, but now it seems that all the spyware junk is gone. The free version of Limewire is limited to 200 hits, including duplicates.

Installing Limewire Basic is fairly straightforward. You'll have to get past a bunch of skull and crossbones warnings about the perils of P2P. The only thing that's loaded is the program and Java runtime environment. If you decide to uninstall Limewire, there will be some Java files left behind, and the Java runtime environment will also remain.

Limewire Basic is freely available to the general public. It's currently limited to 200 search hits, but that shouldn't stop you from trying it to see if you want to continue. Limewire Pro has no such limits and the upgrade fee is reasonable.

Several versions ago, Limewire (at least the one I tried) was loaded with adware. I was completely disgusted and dumped it from my system. However, the newest version that I just tried has no ad or spy stuff at all, at least not that I can find.

Installing Limewire Basic is fairly straightforward. You'll have to get past a bunch of skull and crossbones warnings about the perils of P2P. The only thing that's loaded is the program and Java runtime environment. If you decide to uninstall Limewire, there will be some Java files left behind, and the Java runtime environment will also remain.

In a typical peer-to-peer (P2P) network, there is no central server. All machines are interconnected and are considered equal access nodes. The purpose of this arrangement is the sharing of files.

Some P2P networks use a central server for certain tasks, and peer-to-peer for others. There are several advantages to this, including speed. However, most P2P networks have no central server and are considered true P2P.

Peer-to-peer networks can be classified by what they can be used for:

• file sharing

• video and audio media

• 
  
  More >>