Limewire Alternative

[boomboom1]

Hey all.

Now that limewire's file-sharing is shut down by federal injunction, what is the best (non-torrent) file sharing program out there for mac?

I'm looking for something just like limewire, with a simple search function.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Corndog5595]

iTunes

 

[miles01110]

You don't need Limewire to buy software, music, or other media.

 

[redwarrior]

Frostwire is still working for me. Don't know for how long though. 🙂

 

[boomboom1]

ha, sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear: I was looking for a FREE file sharing program, ie, limewire...

 

[Tankfantry]

I believe as part of the forum rules and regs providing someone with the ability to download software that requires a key or license is not aloud and could cause said person to be banned. I know I have been bitched out before for asking similar questions.

 

[Hastings101]

Pfft, file-sharing doesn't always mean illegal, the OP could be doing something entirely legal.

Frostwire is free; also I am in no way encouraging the illegal acquisition of any software/music/whatever.

 

[Tankfantry]

Pfft, file-sharing doesn't always mean illegal, the OP could be doing something entirely legal.

Frostwire is free; also I am in no way encouraging the illegal acquisition of any software/music/whatever.

I completely understand. I just don't want to see any fellow Mac users getting into any kind of trouble. Need to look after each other and help out, that is what the forum is for.

 

[Surely]

I'm pretty sure that Limewire still works..... you just can't download it from their site anymore.

 

[cam-orozco]

I'm pretty sure that Limewire still works..... you just can't download it from their site anymore.

It's not working anymore because they shutdown the gnutella(1) network.

 

[munkery]

I think Gnutella network is still up and running but some of the higher level hosts were run by Limewire. I believe the Limewire hosts were taken offline and this reduced the amount of infrastructure supporting the network.

Supposedly you can connect to the remaining gnutella network with other gnutella clients and the recently released Limewire PE. This new Limewire client is the equivalent of Limewire Pro in features but it is free, open source, and lacks spyware/adware. The performance will still be reduced due to the loss of some hosts.

Disclaimer: Most of the infrastructure that was removed was shut down due to illegal file-shariing activity so using the remaining parts of the Gnutella network for such activity will most likely only lead to dismantling of the rest of the network.

EDIT: The number of hosts is the same. The size of the network was reduced with the drop in the number of active file-sharing clients. I just downloaded Cabos and Acqlite; both connected as usual. The court injunction on Limewire LLC made them add a kill switch to the Limewire client including automatic updating such that, once enough users had the kill switched version, the Limewire client software could be shut down. Given that many other Gnutella clients are based on Limewire code it is possible this kill switch got into other clients as well. But, the network is the same as it has always been.

 

[stevento]

Correct me if I'm wrong - isn't this the same thing federal injunction that happened to Napster - which the exact same type of site.

A person has a music file, then posts it. Someone else downloads it from the first person. Why would Limewire (another one is Kazaa) be able to operate if Napster was shut down this way?

 

[munkery]

Correct me if I'm wrong - isn't this the same thing federal injunction that happened to Napster - which the exact same type of site.

A person has a music file, then posts it. Someone else downloads it from the first person. Why would Limewire (another one is Kazaa) be able to operate if Napster was shut down this way?

Limewire, Napster, and Kazaa are client software with each being for a different file-sharing protocol.

Napster produced both the client and the protocol so the injunction against it ended that P2P network (some open source clients for Napster as well).

The injunction against Limewire does not include disabling the network because other client software uses the Gnutella protocol. Other software can access the network given that client code exists that is free and open source.

Big difference is Napster was a centralized peer-to-peer file distribution network that relied on a central server system while Gnutella is decentralized. Shutting down the central servers disables the network.