The Internet has not only led to the proliferation of software piracy, as broadband Internet connections become more and more available at a lower cost, other sectors of business have felt the impact of Internet file sharing. The best known of these is the music industry. The first widespread example of the online sharing of music was the rapid explosion in popularity of the file sharing system �Napster.� This system allowed users to download a free client that would allow the user to upload their list of mp3 encoded files to the central Napster server. The system also allowed a user to query the central Napster server for a list of users who possessed a file whose name was similar to that of a string passed to the client by the user at runtime. This system allowed a single user with an Internet connection access to thousands, even millions of files stored remotely on other user�s machines. This caused an outcry from the music industry, who eventually won their suit to have the Napster central severs taken offline. In this case it was possible to control the piracy of music files because the system used for their exchange relied heavily on a central server to provide a common portal for all the clients worldwide to give and receive information about the files they possessed on their disk drives, or the files they wished to download. This type of suit is called an injunction, where the plaintiff seeks to have the actions being performed by the defendant stopped by a court order (Long).
Click here for more information about the history of Napster.
Other File/Music Sharing Programs
Today, there are an ever growing number of file sharing programs avaiable as freeware, shareware, and for commercial sale. The vast majority of these clients are based upon the Gnutella protocol, as described below, and these will be described first. There are, however, a growing number of peer to peer file sharing programs available to the everyday user that do not require a sometimes resource intensive connection to a Gnutella network. These file sharing programs are frequently used in situations where the transaction of data is not so anonamous, because of the nature of the required information needed to esablish a connection.
Gnutella
Gnutella is the name for both a file sharing protocol, which took the name of its all but non-existant client (if not non existant, at least unsupported). The protocol defines how different clients, (ie: kazaa, kazzaLite, LimeWire, Gnutella, Morpheus, etc.) communicate over the internet, and can be viewed in .pdf form here. This allows for a uniform basis for developers to create clients for, and allows clients to communicate with the least probability of a error created by any inconsistiancies created by individual developer's innovations.
There are many sites whose main focus is examining the intracacies of the Gnutella protocol you can find yourself, or you can visit a good off-site FAQ, here.
Kazaa/KazaaLite
LimeWire
Limewire, like the previous two examples works on the Gnutella network. This client has many of the advantages provided by KazaaLite, but with one primary disadvantage. It is programmed using Java, which means that while the program is platform independant (will work on any Java-enabled pc), it uses somewhat more resources than if it were pre-compiled. This is a result of the amount of resources needed to support the JVM (Java Virtual Machine), and the fact that Java programs are stored as byte-code, which is compiled at run-time, as opposed to being distributed as a precompiled executable. This fact also leads the program to take a relatively long time when it needs to refresh its window content. This, on slower machines can be a significant hinderance, as well as lead to instabilities. All things consitered, this is a very well rounded application- if the computer being used is fast enough to handle the program.
Kazaa was one of the first clients popularized in response to the void created by Napster's court ordered demise. Kazaa provided users with the ability to download and share music, as well as to view media files interally by using an imbedded media viewer.
One significant improvement from its predecessor was that Kazaa allowed for the sharing of not only music, but of any type of data file. Another, arguablely much needed improvement was the user interface- the somewhat bland GUI (Graphical User Interface) presented to Napster users was replaced by Kazaa's comparatively vibrant and colorful logos and graphics.
If Kazaa was such an improvement- why do few users persist in its use? There are many reasons, but the largest one being the alegations of imbedded spyware. Regardless of the presense of "spyware," after using the program it became clear that Kazaa was an exremely pervasive piece of software. Kazaa frequently would open "Pop-ups" in your default browser, promoting their sponsors. This was augmented by the fact that Kazaa refused to close- a user had to close the program twice: once by standard means, and another time by right clicking on its small taskbar icon. This probably intentional programming quirk not only allowed for the user's files to remain available to the network, but allowed the program to continue to spawn additional advertisement windows. This not only presented a nuscense by consuming screen space, but the bandwidth intensive program had the ability to slow down the function of a machine to a very appreciable extent.
Kazaa-Lite was origionally a hacked version of Kazaa. The executable was edited, and the "Spy Ware" removed- as well as the ever-persistant banner pop-up adds. Recently though, it appears that the creators of kazaa-lite have attempted to legitamize their product. The old program files are becoming exceedingly difficult to locate and the old kazaa-lite website has been replaced by one requesting users to register and pay for their support service. The site is still alleging however, that the software is still free- since if a user cancels their service they are still entitled to the software, but this still requires an online payment. Kazaa-Lite seemed to be the next step in the evolution of peer to peer sharing clients, however its lack of free availability has all but nullified its other positive aspects.
