Sizing-up Internet file sharing on Peer-to-Peer Networks
By Chris Hackett
One of the biggest stories to rock the music world in the last year is the advent of Internet
file sharing, also known as peer-to-peer networking (Napster, Gnutella, Scour, etc.). The
implications of peer-to-peer networking go well beyond the music industry. File sharing technologies
will probably have their most profound effect in B2B e-commerce applications, but that is
beyond the scope of this article.
File sharing exchanges allow users to share files, including MP3 files, with other users who are currently signed-on to the network. Once downloaded, MP3 files can be played through a computerís speakers or a stereo plugged into a computer, saved to a CD or loaded into an MP3 player like the Diamond Rio. In practice, the exchanges are only effective for those of us lucky enough to have broadband access; the average MP3 file is about a 4 MB. With the exception of SpinFrenzy, which offers a link to the International Lyrics Server, none of the file sharing systems are of help finding songs if you donít know the title and artist; none of the systems aid in finding music by genre.
First, a few definitions. There are currently three flavors of Internet file sharing:
These exchanges distribute, free of charge, software which allows you to log-on to their server(s). As you log-on, a description of a portion of the files on your hard drive (typically MP3 files and other media files) is automatically uploaded to their server. These files are searchable and made available to other users who are currently logged-on to the system. Likewise, their files are made available to you. Users are able to designate which of their files are available for sharing. Users are only able to trade with other users on that particular system, like the old days when AOL users only had access to AOL content. Launched in September 1999, Napster is the original and most well known example of this genre.
Pros of Centrally Indexed Exchanges
Cons of Centrally Indexed Exchanges
Similar to the centrally indexed exchanges, users download a free program that facilitates access to everyone else currently logged-on to the network; however, there are no central servers and no central indexing of files. Everyone logged-on has access to everyone elseís files. Since there is no central server, each computer logged-on to the exchange becomes both a client and a server (technically called a servant*). Like the centrally indexed exchanges, users are able to designate which files on their hard drives are available for sharing. Furi is an example of servant software which accesses the peer-to-peer exchange called the Gnutella Network; the Gnutella Network has been around since March 2000.
Unlike the centrally indexed exchanges, there are only two peer-to-peer exchanges today (see below) but there are multiple ways to access them. This situation is analogous to using Mosaic, Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer: different programs but they access the same material.
Pros of Peer-to-Peer Networks
Cons of Peer-to-Peer Networks
The gateway portals are a new class of Internet portal which have just become available this summer. The distinguishing feature of the gateway portals is that users typically do not need to download software before searching and downloading files. Also, the gateway portals arenít really exchanges, but rather give users access to the other exchanges. The user simply goes to the website (e.g., www.zeropaid.com/gnusearch/) and types in the name of the file they are looking for (like a Yahoo search). The portal then searches Gnutella, Napster, Scour or one of the other file exchanges and returns the results. In this way, the portals are similar to meta-search engines like C4 and Dogpile, except that they specialize in searching the peer-to-peer networks. ZeroPaid is an example of a gateway that searches the Gnutella network.
Pros of Gateway Portals
Cons of Gateway Portals
Having laid out the landscape, letís take a look at our favorites in each category.
Centrally Indexed Exchanges
The big four of the centrally indexed exchanges are Napster, CuteMX, iMesh and Scour Exchange. Of the four, our favorites are Napster for music and CuteMX for other media.
Napster (www.napster.com) has by far the greatest music selection of the centrally indexed exchanges. This is a recent development (in the last few weeks) as Napsterís technical team finally figured out how to connect all of their servers. This is not immediately apparent when you log on to Napster (you get the number of users and files at the bottom left corner of your screen, and it typically says something like 5,000 users sharing 500,000 files). But as soon as you do a search, you will be overwhelmed with the richness of the results, indicating that you actually have access to orders of magnitude more files than the numbers suggest. Other handy features unique to Napster include search fields for both Artist and Song Title as well as well as data on how the song was ripped (bit rate, higher is better). Napster also furnishes data on the distance the file is from your computer. (Measured in ping. The higher the ping, the further the file is and presumably the longer the transfer). Having said this, Napster is only set-up for trading music files. Also aggravating is the all too common cryptic message "Unable to Connect" when attempting to log-on to Napster.
CuteMX (www.cutemx.com) is a great file sharing exchange which works for music and other media. CuteMX is our current favorite for searching for MPEGs and JPEGs. Like Napster, CuteMX display connection speeds and ping of others who are sharing data. Their interface is intuitive and logical, but lacks the ability to discriminate searches by Artist and Song title (you get one box to enter search terms). Also, CuteMX is suffering from low user awareness; this may be do to the specter of the recording industryís lawsuit against Napster. Although they were early in the game, CuteMX actually pulled their exchange when Napster was originally sued. Unfortunately for CuteMX, Napster is building serious network effects while CuteMX dawdles.
Peer-to-Peer Networks
At this point, there are two to primary peer-to-peer networks: Gnutella Net and Ian Clarkeís Free Network Project. The Free Network Project was launched way back in June of 1999 and is promising, especially from a security standpoint, but it is not yet ready for prime time.
There are at least eight different versions of Gnutella servants**, all of which access the same network, Gnuetella Net, and all of which are free. Our favorites are FURI. (www.jps.net/williamw/furi/) and Gnuetella 0.56 (www.gnutella.wego.com).
FURI is a Java based servant, so it can run on Mac OS as well as Windows. FURIís interface is much more domesticated than Gnuetlla 0.56 (see below) and includes a workable chat function, similar to Napster and CuteMX. FURI also has the capability to filter searches, similar to the exchanges, so you will only get the type of files you are looking for (e.g., MP3s, MPEGs, AVIs). The only complaint we have with FURI is that it takes a robust computer to run it (at least 100 megs of RAM and a cable modem or better).
What we like about Gnutella 0.56 is also what we hate about it. O.56 is raw, similar to running DOS 2.0 or driving a Dodge Viper. With 0.56, you feel you are on the edge of the frontier, and you are!
Gnutella Net is immense and offers everything you can imagine, including music files, videos and computer programs; it is a lot like the Internet was in the early 90s. On the other hand, it is a little unwieldy to navigate and is slower than the exchanges to search (due to its size). When you are logged on to Gnutella Net, your computer becomes part of the network (moving files, conducting searches); this can demand significant computer resources and bandwidth.
Gateway Portals
The newest group of file sharing applications, gateway portals, donít really offer file sharing at all. As a user, you can use these portals to search for a particular MP3 (or MPEG), but others are not able to search the files on your computer. This is fine, as long as other people continue to offer-up their files on Gnuetella or Napster. In the medium to long term, we believe these portals will offer the best access to music on the web, but they are a bit primitive today.
As of this writing, the best gateway portal is ZeroPaid (www.zeropaid.com). It is the ultimate in simplicity: type the name of the song you are looking for and hit enter. The portal automatically searches Gnutella Net for available matches and returns the results, along with connection data (important for estimating download time). Unfortunately, the folks at ZeroPaid have not made retrieving the songs as elegant. ZeroPaid requires you to establish a disk storage locker (time consuming) and to download songs from Gnutella to the locker before downloading to your computer (clumsy). We hope they streamline the downloading procedure ÖÖ. stayed tuned.
iMesh recently introduced a gateway portal, but requires users to use iMeshís exchange software to download the files. It is not clear if the iMesh system is searching their own exchange, Gnutella Net or some other exchange.
Finally, word is that the folks at FURI will introduce a gateway portal later this summer. Based on their FURI servant, we are betting they will develop a winner.
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In the old days (say before March 2000), there were clients and servers: servers were the computers that companies like AOL and Yahoo operate, clients were the computers you and I used to serf the web. Then came the Free Network Project and the Gnutella Network, where there are no centralized servers, just a cloud of computers connected to each other through the Internet, each computer acting both as a client and a server. In this new configuration, each computer is a node on the network and is said to be a servant (in lieu of being a client or a server).
** How to use Gnutella and FURI Back
After downloading the servant software for FURI or Gnutella 0.56, the next step is to find an Internet Protocol Host address (commonly referred to as an IP Host) of someone who is currently logged-on to Gnutella Net. Remember, there is no central server, so you have to find someone else just like yourself who happens to be logged-on at the time you want to log-on. The IP Host address is a long number punctuated with periods and a colon: e.g., 129.133.159.20:6346. www.zeropaid.com lists a number of potential IP Host addresses. Also, the websites which distribute Gnuetella servants often provide lists of potential hosts or other resources where you can find host addresses. The good news is that once you have connected to Gnutella Net, your computer will automatically store a number of potential IP Hosts to connect to the next time you want to sign on. Of course, if you donít sign on for a while (a couple of weeks) you will probably have to go through the IP Host process again.
© Christopher J. Hackett, 2000