KaZaA (a napster look-a-like)
detail information
| Posted by | Robin |
| Posted on | 25/02/01 23:48 |
| Number of views | 2507 |
KaZaA in a Nutshell KaZaA is a media community, where the community members can share their media files - audio, video, images and documents - with each other. You can search for and download media files with any of our three products - KaZaA.com (this web site), KaZaA Media Desktop and the new KaZaA Winamp Plug-in. KaZaA Media Desktop KaZaA Media Desktop is a full featured peer-to-peer file sharing application. You can search, download, organise and play your media files - audio, video, images and documents with it. It has a powerful search engine where you can search on 'meta data' such as categories, artist etc. Search results are grouped together, so the same file will only be displayed once. The application has intelligent download - files will be downloaded from several sources simultaneously thus speeding up the download, and they will be resumed if broken. |
KaZaA is not organised like napster, because there is no central server.
KaZaA's network is a distributed, self-organising network. Neither search requests nor actual downloads pass through any central server. The network is multi-layered, so that more powerful computers get to be search hubs ("SuperNodes"). Any KaZaA client may become a SuperNode, if it meets the criteria of processing power, bandwidth and latency. Network management is 100% automatic - SuperNodes appear and disappear according to demand. |
The installation
Sounds nice... so I'm going to try the KaZaA Media Desktop... 1.48 MB. Download the English version here.
The installation goes perfect. There is an option to start KaZaA automatically on start-up but I disable that. I hate that
After the installation a wizard appears:
You have to provide a username, password and E-mail address. I disable the option Subscribe to KaZaA newsletter because i get enough mail
After the installation I thought i would get a program but the interface is really nice, and looks like my Internet Explorer:
The search
So let's start with searching some mp3 files...
I begin with Gigi D'Agostino - La Passion, so i type la passion in the search field. I get 18 results as in the next figure:
Comparing to napster (where i get the maximum results: 100) it looks like it's not that much... But who needs 100 times the same file
On the bottom of KaZaA there are some stats for this moment: 4203 users online, sharing 376K files (1684.5 GB). Not sharing any files... So i'm not sharing anything however i have many mp3 files on my hard disk. It's not searching for my mp3 files but only shares files in "C
So let's download some file. I sort the files on Bandwidth and i take one with 31. No idea what that's means... It says it takes 15:26 so let's see...
It starts with 10 kb/s and now says it takes approx 6 mins... not bad. The files are saved in My KaZaA...
Let's take a look at the player. If you click on Theatre you get some functions: Play, Pause, Stop, Fwd etc. The player isn't much, but it plays. I hate to use internal players anyway, i always use winamp.
The movies?
You can share not only audio but also video images etc. So let's take a look at one of my favourite movies: the matrix. I searched and i got 56 results. Well there are many titles containing 'the matrix' and also a few with DivX
A very nice feature of KaZaA is that it downloads from several sources the same time. Take a look at this:
Isn't that nice
Anyway after some trying it's hard to download a complete DivX. This is because users log in and log off all the time, so sometimes it can find a source. It takes some time to download it. But then again if u have cable, why hurry
Conclusion
I hope you have some idea what KaZaA is about. I think it's a nice program, and a good alternative for Napster. The simultaneous download (and resume) is very nice and the look is also very friendly. Afcourse the success of this program depends on the amount of users registered and usage. Perhaps a tip for the KaZaA team would be to automatically search & share *.mp3. Maybe nice to mention they also have a winamp plugin, so you can search directly from winamp. I'd say give it a try, and let us know!
Want to submit your own review? Click here
Posted by Badtobone on Monday 26 February 2001 01:10
Good review MP|3. But lose the smilies it will look more proffesional that way.
I like your review. uses Kazaa for a month. you can find what you're looking for. Great Prog. Maybe it continues where Napster stops.
Greetz
Greetz
Posted by Majapro on Tuesday 27 February 2001 13:02
hai die hai,
i used kazaa a time ago and it was slow in search and transfer
but mayby it is changed?
and i will give it another try because winMX is to mutch!
i used kazaa a time ago and it was slow in search and transfer
but mayby it is changed?
and i will give it another try because winMX is to mutch!
Posted by RedneckJedi on Thursday 01 March 2001 05:27
ok i was just checking out this kazaa proggie and read this on their webpage.
"Something You have to Keep in Mind...
Please do not infringe on the copyright of other people! We are in negotiations with copyright organisations in order to reach an agreement where you can use the KaZaA service for a low fee. You will be able to enjoy the works of your favourite artists, who will receive their well-earned royalties."
Sounds to me like they are allready planning on selling out like napster. screw that! what a bunch of wussies! ill stick with napagator and audiognome. :7
"Something You have to Keep in Mind...
Please do not infringe on the copyright of other people! We are in negotiations with copyright organisations in order to reach an agreement where you can use the KaZaA service for a low fee. You will be able to enjoy the works of your favourite artists, who will receive their well-earned royalties."
Sounds to me like they are allready planning on selling out like napster. screw that! what a bunch of wussies! ill stick with napagator and audiognome. :7
Napster clones never stop. Maybe I should create a napster clone too. :4
Posted by Deimos000 on Monday 12 March 2001 15:03
it must take ages in order to download a DivX movie from other users... Bad idea!! 
nice try though
nice try though
I wasn't sure till I read your review about exiting program and then the listed searches resuming. Now I know, but here's something it seems you didn't know. The downloaded files go to "My Shared Files" folder which can be accessed thru the Start>Programs>KazAa>My Shared Files...route. Also once those files are there you can move them to a secure location. As far as sharing goes you can designate a path to your MP3's in Tools>Find Media To Share>Folder List(tab). Enjoy!
Posted by NightHawk on Wednesday 23 May 2001 12:05
KaZaA and Morpheus (same progaram under a differnt name) are very good problems, but there are some big problems. Firstly your download list is not saved till you exit the program, therefore your system crashes you lose and downloads added since the last exit The solution is to exit and then restart KaZaA after adding new downloads. Secondly if KaZaA consistantly can't connect to a file for a while it comes up as a filed download, ideally it should keep it it the download list and retry it later.
The solution is to exit and then restart KaZaA after adding new downloads. Secondly if KaZaA consistantly can't connect to a file for a while it comes up as a filed download, ideally it should keep it it the download list and retry it later.Hey, I think KaZaA rules 
. I've downloaded lots of movies from there, and it's fast if u know what you're doing. I like how they made it eazy to determine the bandwidth, and the estimated download time helps too. KaZaA is the best program i've ever used, and trust me, i've used almost all of them. If i had to pay for any service, I'd pay for KaZaA. I wouldn't ever pay for that worthless IMESH 
crap !
. I've downloaded lots of movies from there, and it's fast if u know what you're doing. I like how they made it eazy to determine the bandwidth, and the estimated download time helps too. KaZaA is the best program i've ever used, and trust me, i've used almost all of them. If i had to pay for any service, I'd pay for KaZaA. I wouldn't ever pay for that worthless IMESH crap !Yepp it rulz, about 650000 users at present, but I am really pissed off by viewing ads(this site has a console too, but I think every one just close it when it pop-ups, PLS REMOVE THAT GODDAMN WINDOW.)
Posted by calentharin on Saturday 29 May 2004 22:24
If anyone reads this article again, please note that it was posted back in Feb 2001 - since then Kazaa has undergone an image transformation, it is now (in my opinion) quite Evil.
Be warned that if you use the Kazaa Media Desktop (Free Version) then you are at the mercy of Sherman networks evil End-User Licence agreement.
Kazaa now installs a vast amount of spyware and adware on your machine and it's a small nightmare to get rid of it.
Kazaa has a huge number of users, but I personally do not like this invasion or privacy, nor do I appreciate my computer crawling to a halt due to the spyware..
Just be careful, not all popular programs are good for you
If you are adamant on trying file sharing programs, start with a spyware free client like 'Ares', 'Shareaza', 'EMule' ... they're not as popular, but then they don't suffer from the Kazaa factor.
Be warned that if you use the Kazaa Media Desktop (Free Version) then you are at the mercy of Sherman networks evil End-User Licence agreement.
Kazaa now installs a vast amount of spyware and adware on your machine and it's a small nightmare to get rid of it.
Kazaa has a huge number of users, but I personally do not like this invasion or privacy, nor do I appreciate my computer crawling to a halt due to the spyware..
Just be careful, not all popular programs are good for you
If you are adamant on trying file sharing programs, start with a spyware free client like 'Ares', 'Shareaza', 'EMule' ... they're not as popular, but then they don't suffer from the Kazaa factor.
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