Any WinMX users?

[jspchief]

Anyone here know anyone that uses WinMX? I have a friend that knows a guy who's cousin uses it and he's having problems getting any songs. Has anyone else heard of anyone that is having trouble? Apparently in the past it was a good source, but lately it's been a complete failure for this guy.

Also, does anyone know someone who has a cousin that uses an alternative/better source?

[tk13]

I had trouble getting a couple new songs, but I haven't really had problems with older songs, which is all I usually download anyway. At least that's the pattern I noticed.

[Simplex3]

Use NewsGroups when you can (best speed) and IRC second. The best Windows IRC client is mIRC. Probably the best channel for recent stuff is #mp3addicts on EFNet. If that doesn't make any sense let me know and I'll explain.

[edit] The best binary newsgroup client for Windows is XNews [/edit]

[jspchief]

Originally Posted by Simplex3

Use NewsGroups when you can (best speed) and IRC second. The best Windows IRC client is mIRC. Probably the best channel for recent stuff is #mp3addicts on EFNet. If that doesn't make any sense let me know and I'll explain.

[edit] The best binary newsgroup client for Windows is XNews [/edit]

Wanna go into further detail? I'm not familiar with the use of newsgroups. Smoke me if you'd rather. Thanks.

[HolmeZz]

I used to have it and it blew ass. I usually could only DL one song at a time, and that didn't matter much because I had trouble finding the songs anyway. The connections timed out quite a bit.

I switched to LimeWire and it works great.

[jspchief]

Originally Posted by HolmeZz

I used to have it and it blew ass. I usually could only DL one song at a time, and that didn't matter much because I had trouble finding the songs anyway. The connections timed out quite a bit.

I switched to LimeWire and it works great.

I'm a "not broke, don't fix it" guy when it comes to this sort of thing. So much stuff that you download these days is malicious, I was content sticking with what worked, even if it didn't work best. Never had many problems, but don't really have anything to benchmark it against.

I'm receptive to altrenative suggestions as long as they don't infect my computer with something that ass-rapes my dog in the middle of the night.

[Simplex3]

Originally Posted by jspchief

Wanna go into further detail? I'm not familiar with the use of newsgroups. Smoke me if you'd rather. Thanks.

A Brief Primer on Music Liberation Using the Internet

News Groups (ng)
NG's are a distributed environment, with most ISPs keeping their own servers on their network. A post is submitted to one server by a user then the ng network distributes that post across the network of servers. Most servers only keep binary posts (music or other files) for 3 to 5 days, some pay services keep them longer. This means:

1. Files are only available if someone has uploaded it recently.
2. Files can (usually) be downloaded at the full bandwidth of your Internet connection since the server lives on your ISP's network.

If you find a ng that has music of the type you're looking for then you can generally drop in a request post, usually something like "REQ: Artist, Album" and if someone has it they will generally upload it. Newsgroups are organized in a "tree" style fashion with "." between the nodes, for instance:

alt.binaries.mp3
alt.binaries.mp3.comedy

MP3 files are almost exclusively under the alt.binaries branch.

To access the binary ng's (for Windows users) install XNews from this link:

http://xnews.newsguy.com/

When you install it will ask you for your ng server. Here are a couple of the popular KC ISPs and their server:

Everest: news.everestkc.net
Time Warner: news.kc.rr.com

Both use anonymous (or no) authentication. You will only be able to access these servers from within their network.

Use the XNews documentation for further help.

Internet Relay Chat (irc)
IRC is a peer-to-peer service that uses direct pc-to-pc transfers. Transfer rates will vary depending on the two pc's Internet connections, etc. Windows users should use mIRC or xchat (I use xchat):

http://www.mirc.com/
http://www.xchat.org/

IRC is comprised of multiple servers hosting "Networks" which have multiple "Channels". The two most common networks are EFNet and FreeNode. The best mp3 channel I've found is on EFNet and is called "#mp3addicts".

When starting xchat it will ask you what network you would like to connect to. Choose EFNet. xchat will have a server pre-loaded to connect to EFNet so just let it pick the default. Once connected you will type the following command into the window:

/join #mp3addicts

This tells xchat to join the #mp3addicts channel. xchat will connect to #mp3addicts and you should start to see TONS of text scroll by the window. Most of this is uninterresting to you. In the window type the following command to search:

@find metallica

Now, unless you want to spend the next 30 minutes closing responses don't actually search for metallica. The search is not case sensitive or order sensitive. You can put more than one keyword in. Users' servers will respond to you by either dumping a message to you in the channel (which kind of sucks) or by opening a peer-to-peer chat (which will show up as a new tab in xchat). Each server will have instructions on what to paste into the channel to download from them.

Conclusion
It's easier than ever to liberate music. Standard P2P networks are full of choads who have no clue, spammers who put porn and other crap up as real files, etc. Since the ng's and irc are a little more esoteric they are generally populated by a better group of user.

As for using XNews and mIRC, I can probably answer some specific questions but I haven't used Windows for anything significant in over a year, so I'm a little rusty.

[4th and Long]

http://www.bearshare.com/

Bearshare= spyware & adware. Same with Kazaa.

The Mpaa and Riaa are both onto you if you use those programs.

Most P2p is useless now because the Riaa is flooding them with dupes ; flawed files.

Emule works. I wouldn't let mp3 get uploaded . You might get sued.

Try anonymous filesharing p2p like http://www.i2p.net/home

Though , I have not gotten it to work right. Bit like Freenet.

[|Zach|]

I only use SoulSeek.

[Miles]

My cousin says that bittorrent is good source for full albums.

http://www.torrentspy.com/search.asp?mode=help

[4th and Long]

Originally Posted by Ninjaman

Bearshare= spyware & adware.

You just have to know how to remove those little buggers and everything works just fine.

[lawrenceRaider]

I am in Wichita, and wondered if anyone knows if Cox has a ng server.

Thanks,

LR

[Simplex3]

Originally Posted by 4th and Long

You just have to know how to remove those little buggers and everything works just fine.

I prefer to just not get them in the first place. Maybe that's just me?

[KCWolfman]

Originally Posted by Ninjaman

Bearshare= spyware & adware. Same with Kazaa.

The Mpaa and Riaa are both onto you if you use those programs.

Most P2p is useless now because the Riaa is flooding them with dupes ; flawed files.

Emule works. I wouldn't let mp3 get uploaded . You might get sued.

Try anonymous filesharing p2p like http://www.i2p.net/home

Though , I have not gotten it to work right. Bit like Freenet.

Not Kazaalite.