Farewell to Android
Klout is FarmVille for grown-ups
Does Flash matter on mobile?
What is Twitter?In the complicated and legally dubious world of file sharing, news that a service is being forced to close down is nothing new. LimeWire is the latest to come under fire from the music industry - at the last count, the company was being sued by no fewer than 8 different labels! Whether or not they'll actually manage to take the giant down remains to be seen, but so you can relax, safe in the knowledge that even if it does go under, you'll still have plenty of options, we're rounding up the best of the rest.
Alternative P2P clients
Ares is a P2P powerhouse. Incredibly popular in Europe, but a great app anywhere, Ares is even a Softonic Award winner. With a giant preview screen and simple, user-friendly configuration options, this app would definitely be my first choice.
Frostwire is the go-to app for LimeWire fans. Built around LimeWire's code, but open-source, it manages to be familiar and ad-free at the same time - sounds like a good option to me!
eMule certainly seems like it has been around for forever. That's pretty much because it has, but that just goes to show that it does a great job. It can be slow for new users, but it's open-source, solid and secure, so it is easy to see why it remains a hugely popular application.
Vuze is an application that takes a very different approach to the P2P market. Apart from incorporating a filesharing app that was previously known as Azureus, it tries to integrate social media and legal download options. Some purists will laugh at the idea, but the truth is that P2P filesharing is one of the web's grandmas. Wasn't about time for a makeover?
I think you mixed up all of the logos... the frog goes with Vuze, the mule with eMule, the blue circle with Frostwire, and the ARES with.... well, ares. Obvious mix up, but its alright. But this is nice. I'm glad there's other programs I can turn to.
Hi Chris! Thanks for your comment, and I'm glad you liked the post! The icons aren't actually meant to be lined up with the programs; I just took them all and arranged them in the way I thought was most esthetically pleasing for decoration. Since it's not clickable, I didn't think it would cause too much confusion - sorry about that! Niamh
I agree. The icons really are confusing. I dont understand why you would rather arrange them in a manner that is pleasing to you and confuse your readers? But other than that, really great post. Thanks for the info
The people have spoken ;)
See the problem with most people who review things is they review things based on what's popular, what their familiar with and what the masses say. That doesn't make the product the best. For instance uTorrent isn't the best Torrent Client, while it's small in size and easy to customize it's privacy concerns alone make it a bad choice for most P2Pers. Vuze is outdated and has gotten bloated, it also has to run on java which makes it slow down your computer too much. eMule is just plain outdated, the product has been outdated since 2006. It's having to sign on the network each time is behind the times. One of the best alternatives is BitSpirt which is small in size, quick and powerful it also does the same magnet links uTorrent does without the privacy concerns. It also doesn't slow your system down or use java like Vuze. If your talking a better straight up LimeWire alternative there isn't one. None are as simple and easy to use. Closest would be FrostWire but all Limewire alternatives that share off a network are more prone to get viruses and other forms of malware than simple Torrent Clients.
thank you for your comments. i used Limewire, which i found easy , i tried to download Frostwire but mu anti virus Kaspesrky keeps giving me warnings so i wondered if it is safe.im not computer wise so i thought frostwire looked like limewire so i just needed an easy option.is ares easy to use. i have downloaded bear share and it has taken over my computer. please can you help.
im needing help or guidance from people that KNOW what they are talking about please!!!!???? I am confused with the whole mp3, p2p etc.. files. Im old school and am just trying to download songs to my computer for near future cd burning...what is my best option and what type of files should i download from???? PLEASE HELP ASAP!!
Ares is the one that i just downloaded...works great so far, hope it stays that way...might be slightly confusing to some but once you play around with it, you'll be making cd's in no time...i didn't know people still used cd's but to each their own. oh and by the way, the logos are in order, they're just offset by about half an inch
All I want to know is whether Frostwire works the same way as Limewire used to. I am sick & tired of my jazz downloads being ruined by bogus files from the "Rocket" downloads that take up all my download space. Would the same thing happen with Frostwire? or should I subscribe to a different company? If that's the case, what company would you recommend? I am not great with computers, & I need something that is simple to use....Jerry
After reading the comments, now I am afraid to download Frostwire. The only good comments I saw were about Bitspirit. Is it easy to use? I'm not that good with computers. I just want my music back & a few porn things...
r u going to email me?
I looked at the website for these and none show MAC OS - Are there any programs like Limewire for us MAC users?
i used to download with ares but i got a nasty letter from sky warning me to stop. i moved onto bit comet and so far things have been ok.
i used to use limewire myself until i found ares. yeah sometimes the downloading can be slow and sometimes a file is corrupted but in most filesharing sites thier always is some. If you are looking for music though and need tons of songs ares is the place to go. i'm the type of person that loves every genre so i know too many artists from the 1700's until now. most other sites don't really have that much music but ares for a crazed music buff has even some of the harder songs i can't find anywhere. It is so the best choice.
By far the best option that I've discovered since LimeWire shutdown is a Chinese search engine that looks similar to Google: www.sogou.com ... The characters are in Chinese (Mandarin I'm assuming) which most comps will translate to English for you so you can more easily figure out the download process. However, it's not difficult if the characters remain in Chinese. Just click on the third tab which is for music searches. Then you dot the box that says mp3 and search the artist and/or song you're looking for. Once you do that, a list will load (so far I've been able to find 95% of the songs I've searched for) and you click the icon that looks like an arrow pointing down, which would obviously mean "download". This will open up a smaller window that allows you to stream the song or download it. Just right click the green oval with the downward arrow icon and you'll be able to download the file to the preferred destination on your computer... I was bummed when LimeWire was shut down because it was so easy to find and download single songs. Plus as a Mac user, many of the other good p2p apps like Ares are only for Windows. Needless to say, I was thrilled to have discovered sogou.com. It does not require you to download a new program to search for music, it's easy to use and I've been able to find almost every song I've searched for. Now you all can enjoy it to!
I downloaded every one of the above referenced applications and every one was a pain in the A$$ to work. I loved the old Frost Wire. Never a problem. Now they did this upgrade/update and I can't make it work for *&^%. I know, bad me... didn't want to pay for music, but I may just go with Itunes for the 99 cents/song because none of these work good. Too bad too.