Download Music http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com Download Music Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:39:12 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 en Install Limewire - Using Limewire Safely http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/post528/install-limewire.htm Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:39:12 -0700 http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/guid528/install-limewire
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.]]>
Install Limewire - 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.

Limewire Basic intentionally limits the number of files found during searches. This (of course) was done to get you to purchase Limewire Pro. The interface is fairly easy to use and ads are pretty low key.

Limewire serves as a media librarian for your PC. It displays music by artist, title, and other tags. The program also previews and plays music files and uses Windows Media Player to show video. It has a connection monitor where you can monitor incoming searches of your shared folder, as well as track files being uploaded from you by others. Limewire can also launch pages in a browser other than Internet Explorer.

There isn't much in the way of online support for Limewire Basic. You have to upgrade to Limewire Pro to e-mail a developer or get live online support. However, the freely available FAQ and downloadable PDF version of the user manual should get you through any rough spots. There's also a user forum and that's probably the best place to get answers to your questions.

Some Things to Look Out For

Copyright laws protect original works. Individuals who reproduce, distribute copies, or receive copies other than their own, without the consent of the owners, may be in violation of these laws. You should never copy - or allow anyone to copy from you - anything that is not produced for free public distribution. Be very careful about this. The music industry has been especially aggressive with copyright enforcement. Make sure you have the legal right to download or upload material before proceeding. If in doubt, get legal advice.

Setup Limewire very carefully. Make sure you don't accidentally open your entire system to the outside world. Lock things down tight. Be careful to only share certain folders, and that these shared folders don't contain anything you don't want others to have access to. This can't be stressed enough. Once something gets out on the 'net, it goes everywhere and stays forever.
]]> Limewire - Limewire http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/post474/limewire.htm Wed, 04 Jun 2008 07:50:35 -0700 http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/guid474/limewire
]]>
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.

Obtaining music on those terms via Limewire or a similar P2P service is perfectly legal and even encouraged. But copyright laws protect the creators of original works, such as music, movies, photos and artwork. Individuals who reproduce, distribute, or receive copies without the consent of the owners may be in violation of copyright laws. To put that in context, if you copy commercially available music or video files without paying for it, you're probably breaking the law.

But there are some exceptions to the rule. If you don't own a particular artist's CD and you download all the songs without paying for them, you are clearly stealing. But what if you bought the CD, and somehow scratched it to the point it will no longer play? In such circumstances, it should be acceptable to download the exact same files in order to burn a replacement CD. You are not stealing anything because the CD was already paid for. Keep your receipts to prove it!

Some who disagree make the counter argument, that if you own a beautiful serving dish, and it falls to the floor and shatters, you have no right to go back to the store and demand a replacement. So according to that logic, if your CD is damaged, you should have to buy a replacement. But this argument fails to take into account some important distinctions. Clearly to produce a copy of the dish, there are real costs involved. But a digital download of a song you've already purchased doesn't cost or deprive the artist or the record company.
]]> Download Music Legally http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/post428/download-music-legally.htm Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:54:03 -0700 http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/guid428/download-music-legally
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:
]]> Download Music Legally from Legitimate Sites http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/post407/download-music-legally-from-legitimate-sites.htm Thu, 29 May 2008 09:37:31 -0700 http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/guid407/download-music-legally-from-legitimate-sites
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.]]>
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?

The best way to avoid problems is to visit sites that sell music for a fee. Some will charge by the song, while others charge a monthly subscription. The correct choice depends on your preferences. If you plan to download a lot of music on a regular basis, the subscription route is the way to go. However, if you only pull enough songs to burn a couple of CDs and don't plan to do this often, then try the by-the-song approach.

What about P2P technologies, like Limewire and Winmx? The actual software is not a problem, but anything you download using these products will still be subject to copyright law. But there are some gray areas to consider. What if you already own a CD and it gets damaged. Is it illegal to download the exact same songs to create a replacement? Since you have already paid for the music, some would argue that you already own it and therefore this practice would not be illegal. Others disagree, claiming that if P2P were not available, you would have to pay for a new replacement CD at a music store.
]]> Sharing Files with Peer to Peer Networks http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/post385/sharing-files-with-peer-to-peer-networks.htm Tue, 27 May 2008 17:48:34 -0700 http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/guid385/sharing-files-with-peer-to-peer-networks
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.]]>
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

  • discussion forums

One of the goals of P2P is that all clients provide bandwidth, storage space, and computing power. As new machines are connected and demand increases, the total capacity of the system also increases. The distributed nature of true peer-to-peer networks means that there is no single point of failure. This increases reliability and allows the network to continue operating in case one or several nodes go offline.

A P2P overlay network consists of all the participating nodes. There are links between any two nodes that know each other. In other words, if a peer knows the location of another peer in the network, then there is a path between them in the overlay network. There are two classifications, depending on link structure - unstructured or structured.

An unstructured P2P network is formed when overlay links are established arbitrarily. As new peers join the network, existing links of another node are copied. The new node will build it's own links over time. When a peer wants to find a desired piece of data, the query is sent to every available node to find peers that share the files. Flooding a network in this way causes a high amount of signaling traffic, resulting in poor search efficiency.
]]> WinMX http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/post345/winmx.htm Thu, 22 May 2008 08:34:02 -0700 http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/guid345/winmx
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.

In September of 2005, the original developer received a cease and desist letter from the RIAA demanding that they either implement filters to make it impossible for users to download copyrighted material from WinMX, or shut down. The decision was made to drop the service and cease any further development. Later that same month, users were able to download a working software patch for WinMX from two websites. These patches work by modifying the DNS lookup WinMX uses to find peer caches. When WinMX tries to find the original peer caches, it is instead directed to look up one of the new caches set up by the community.

Most of the software that was made by third party developers were for use in the chat rooms. They include bots, clients to host rooms and plugins. Bots were used in the chat rooms to either make it more lively, introduce games or to moderate users.
]]> Limewire - Legal Issues http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/post292/limewire-legal-issues.htm Thu, 15 May 2008 07:08:32 -0700 http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/guid292/limewire-legal-issues
]]>
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.

But there are some exceptions to the rule. If you don't own a particular CD and you download all the songs without paying for them, you are clearly stealing. But what if you bought the CD, and somehow scratched it to the point it will no longer play? In such circumstances, it should be acceptable to download the exact same files in order to burn a replacement CD. You are not stealing anything because the CD was already paid for. Keep your receipts to prove it!

Some who disagree make the counter argument, that if you own a beautiful serving dish, and it falls to the floor and shatters, you have no right to go back to the store and demand a replacement. So according to that logic, if your CD is damaged, you should have to buy a replacement. But this argument fails to take into account some important distinctions. Clearly to produce a copy of the dish, there are real costs involved. But a digital download of a song you've already purchased doesn't cost or deprive the artist or the record company.
]]> Peer to Peer Networks http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/post275/peer-to-peer-networks.htm Tue, 13 May 2008 12:09:00 -0700 http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/guid275/peer-to-peer-networks
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 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

  • discussion forums

One of the goals of P2P is that all clients provide bandwidth, storage space, and computing power. As new machines are connected and demand increases, the total capacity of the system also increases. The distributed nature of true peer-to-peer networks means that there is no single point of failure. This increases reliability and allows the network to continue operating in case one or several nodes go offline.

A P2P overlay network consists of all the participating nodes. There are links between any two nodes that know each other. In other words, if a peer knows the location of another peer in the network, then there is a path between them in the overlay network. There are two classifications, depending on link structure - unstructured or structured.

An unstructured P2P network is formed when overlay links are established arbitrarily. As new peers join the network, existing links of another node are copied. The new node will build it's own links over time. When a peer wants to find a desired piece of data, the query is sent to every available node to find peers that share the files. Flooding a network in this way causes a high amount of signaling traffic, resulting in poor search efficiency.
]]> Limewire File Sharing Software http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/post205/limewire-file-sharing-software.htm Thu, 08 May 2008 07:43:33 -0700 http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/guid205/limewire-file-sharing-software
]]>
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.

But there are some exceptions to the rule. If you don't own a particular CD and you download all the songs without paying for them, you are clearly stealing. But what if you bought the CD, and somehow scratched it to the point it will no longer play? In such circumstances, it should be acceptable to download the exact same files in order to burn a replacement CD. You are not stealing anything because the CD was already paid for. Keep your receipts to prove it!

Some who disagree make the counter argument, that if you own a beautiful serving dish, and it falls to the floor and shatters, you have no right to go back to the store and demand a replacement. So according to that logic, if your CD is damaged, you should have to buy a replacement. But this argument fails to take into account some important distinctions. Clearly to produce a copy of the dish, there are real costs involved. But a digital download of a song you've already purchased doesn't cost or deprive the artist or the record company.
]]> Limewire Basic http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/post190/limewire-basic.htm Tue, 06 May 2008 10:47:08 -0700 http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/guid190/limewire-basic
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.

Limewire Basic intentionally limits the number of files found during searches. This (of course) was done to get you to purchase Limewire Pro. The interface is fairly easy to use and ads are pretty low key.

Limewire serves as a media librarian for your PC. It displays music by artist, title, and other tags. The program also previews and plays music files and uses Windows Media Player to show video. It has a connection monitor where you can monitor incoming searches of your shared folder, as well as track files being uploaded from you by others. Limewire can also launch pages in a browser other than Internet Explorer.

There isn't much in the way of online support for Limewire Basic. You have to upgrade to Limewire Pro to e-mail a developer or get live online support. However, the freely available FAQ and downloadable PDF version of the user manual should get you through any rough spots. There's also a user forum and that's probably the best place to get answers to your questions.

Some Things to Look Out For

Copyright laws protect original works. Individuals who reproduce, distribute copies, or receive copies other than their own, without the consent of the owners, may be in violation of these laws. You should never copy - or allow anyone to copy from you - anything that is not produced for free public distribution. Be very careful about this. The music industry has been especially aggressive with copyright enforcement. Make sure you have the legal right to download or upload material before proceeding. If in doubt, get legal advice.

Setup Limewire very carefully. Make sure you don't accidentally open your entire system to the outside world. Lock things down tight. Be careful to only share certain folders, and that these shared folders don't contain anything you don't want others to have access to. This can't be stressed enough. Once something gets out on the 'net, it goes everywhere and stays forever.
]]> Legally Download Music Online http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/post149/legally-download-music-online.htm Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:07:25 -0700 http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/guid149/legally-download-music-online
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.]]>
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?

The best way to avoid problems is to visit sites that sell music for a fee. Some will charge by the song, while others charge a monthly subscription. The correct choice depends on your preferences. If you plan to download a lot of music on a regular basis, the subscription route is the way to go. However, if you only pull enough songs to burn a couple of CDs and don't plan to do this often, then try the by-the-song approach.

What about P2P technologies, like Limewire and Winmx? The actual software is not a problem, but anything you download using these products will still be subject to copyright law. But there are some gray areas to consider. What if you already own a CD and it gets damaged. Is it illegal to download the exact same songs to create a replacement? Since you have already paid for the music, some would argue that you already own it and therefore this practice would not be illegal. Others disagree, claiming that if P2P were not available, you would have to pay for a new replacement CD at a music store.
]]> WinMX History http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/post135/winmx-history.htm Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:52:04 -0700 http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/guid135/winmx-history
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.

In September of 2005, the original developer received a cease and desist letter from the RIAA demanding that they either implement filters to make it impossible for users to download copyrighted material from WinMX, or shut down. The decision was made to drop the service and cease any further development. Later that same month, users were able to download a working software patch for WinMX from two websites. These patches work by modifying the DNS lookup WinMX uses to find peer caches. When WinMX tries to find the original peer caches, it is instead directed to look up one of the new caches set up by the community.

Most of the software that was made by third party developers were for use in the chat rooms. They include bots, clients to host rooms and plugins. Bots were used in the chat rooms to either make it more lively, introduce games or to moderate users.
]]> Limewire Pro http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/post109/limewire-pro.htm Sun, 27 Apr 2008 10:09:29 -0700 http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/guid109/limewire-pro
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.]]>
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 intentionally limits the number of files found during searches. This (of course) was done to get you to purchase Limewire Pro. The interface is fairly easy to use and ads are pretty low key.

Limewire serves as a media librarian for your PC. It displays music by artist, title, and other tags. The program also previews and plays music files and uses Windows Media Player to show video. It has a connection monitor where you can monitor incoming searches of your shared folder, as well as track files being uploaded from you by others. Limewire can also launch pages in a browser other than Internet Explorer.

There isn't much in the way of online support for Limewire Basic. You have to upgrade to Limewire Pro to e-mail a developer or get live online support. However, the freely available FAQ and downloadable PDF version of the user manual should get you through any rough spots. There's also a user forum and that's probably the best place to get answers to your questions.

Some Things to Look Out For

Copyright laws protect original works. Individuals who reproduce, distribute copies, or receive copies other than their own, without the consent of the owners, may be in violation of these laws. You should never copy - or allow anyone to copy from you - anything that is not produced for free public distribution. Be very careful about this. The music industry has been especially aggressive with copyright enforcement. Make sure you have the legal right to download or upload material before proceeding. If in doubt, get legal advice.

Setup Limewire very carefully. Make sure you don't accidentally open your entire system to the outside world. Lock things down tight. Be careful to only share certain folders, and that these shared folders don't contain anything you don't want others to have access to. This can't be stressed enough. Once something gets out on the 'net, it goes everywhere and stays forever.
]]> Using Limewire Safely http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/post78/using-limewire-safely.htm Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:21:49 -0700 http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/guid78/using-limewire-safely
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.]]>
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.

Limewire Basic intentionally limits the number of files found during searches. This (of course) was done to get you to purchase Limewire Pro. The interface is fairly easy to use and ads are pretty low key.

Limewire serves as a media librarian for your PC. It displays music by artist, title, and other tags. The program also previews and plays music files and uses Windows Media Player to show video. It has a connection monitor where you can monitor incoming searches of your shared folder, as well as track files being uploaded from you by others. Limewire can also launch pages in a browser other than Internet Explorer.

There isn't much in the way of online support for Limewire Basic. You have to upgrade to Limewire Pro to e-mail a developer or get live online support. However, the freely available FAQ and downloadable PDF version of the user manual should get you through any rough spots. There's also a user forum and that's probably the best place to get answers to your questions.

Some Things to Look Out For

Copyright laws protect original works. Individuals who reproduce, distribute copies, or receive copies other than their own, without the consent of the owners, may be in violation of these laws. You should never copy - or allow anyone to copy from you - anything that is not produced for free public distribution. Be very careful about this. The music industry has been especially aggressive with copyright enforcement. Make sure you have the legal right to download or upload material before proceeding. If in doubt, get legal advice.

Setup Limewire very carefully. Make sure you don't accidentally open your entire system to the outside world. Lock things down tight. Be careful to only share certain folders, and that these shared folders don't contain anything you don't want others to have access to. This can't be stressed enough. Once something gets out on the 'net, it goes everywhere and stays forever.
]]> P2P File Sharing Networks http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/post74/p2p-file-sharing-networks.htm Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:21:33 -0700 http://co1082800.kdbloggers.com/guid74/p2p-file-sharing-networks
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.]]>
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

  • discussion forums

One of the goals of P2P is that all clients provide bandwidth, storage space, and computing power. As new machines are connected and demand increases, the total capacity of the system also increases. The distributed nature of true peer-to-peer networks means that there is no single point of failure. This increases reliability and allows the network to continue operating in case one or several nodes go offline.

A P2P overlay network consists of all the participating nodes. There are links between any two nodes that know each other. In other words, if a peer knows the location of another peer in the network, then there is a path between them in the overlay network. There are two classifications, depending on link structure - unstructured or structured.

An unstructured P2P network is formed when overlay links are established arbitrarily. As new peers join the network, existing links of another node are copied. The new node will build it's own links over time. When a peer wants to find a desired piece of data, the query is sent to every available node to find peers that share the files. Flooding a network in this way causes a high amount of signaling traffic, resulting in poor search efficiency.
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