What Is Gnutella?

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com

LA Computer Company: LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, Apple Displays, MacBooks, iMac's, MacBook Pros, Laptop and iPod accessories and more. Apple A/C Adapters for laptops starting at $25.00 Call 1-800-941-7654 or Click Here.

OWC: Juice up your iPod w/NewerTech High Capacity Battery from $19.99 Free Installation Videos for most models. Pro Installation Service w/FedEx Shipping From $57.95 (Battery Included). - www.MacSales.com

Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.

MacBook/MacBook Pro / MacMini / iMac Intel Core2 DUO DDR2 667Mhz 4GB Kit $84, 3GB Kit $60, 2GB Kit $40 1GB $20. Click to Maximize your Macs...

Evan Kleiman - 2002.03.04

Q. What is Gnutella?

A. Gnutella is a file sharing systems that is somewhat similar to Napster. It can be used to share music, but Gnutella takes things a few steps further than Napster.

The Power To Share More Than Just Music Alone

First, Gnutella allows you to share files of any type, not just music in the MP3 format. If you'd like to, you could share your entire hard drive (not that you'd really want to) with the entire world.

Since Gnutella has this advantage over Napster and the Napster clones, it raises many more concerns for debate of both a moral and legal nature. Sharing music is one thing for the record companies to debate, but using any common Gnutella network-accessing program (such as LimeWire, etc. - we'll get into that later), just typing in the word "Microsoft" will yield the reason this software is under such hard scrutiny and debate. You will see full versions of Office, Windows, and even Bob (remember that) available for you just to download onto your computer. You, of course, decided how to use Gnutella, whether for good or for piracy.

Gnutella isn't all bad; in fact, it is much more than just a nifty little piracy aid with a cool name. The ideas behind Gnutella are revolutionary, as we can see in the next example of just why it is as good as they all say.

"Designed To Survive Nuclear War"

One of the main downsides of Napster - and the main reason it was so easy to be shut down - was that everything was linked on a centralized server. You, as a home user, would tap into these severs using Napster's own software and do your downloading as you wished.

Gnutella changes that whole idea. The Internet is based on almost everything coming from centralized servers for everything that you do, but Gnutella's principle is different. Instead of having just one or two servers for everyone to connect to, everyone in effect provides their own server. You could think of it as one big network "collective." (Yes, people, you heard it here first: a Borg reference referring to something other than Microsoft.)

Why is this so great? If one computer goes down, you can just download the file you need from another server. Gnutella is a network that is not dependent on any one computer, so if one or even one-thousand computers go down, yours will still work, and you will be on your merry downloading way.

Now that you know what Gnutella is, how can you use it?

Gnutella software is very abundant out there around the net for you to download, however, right now there are two main contenders for Gnutella servers on the Macintosh platform.

LimeWire

LimeWire is by far my favorite Gnutella client. Since it is Java-based, you will need all of the applications associated with Java (which is all included in the eleven megabyte installer). Being Java-based makes the program a little sluggish and unresponsive at times, but it is very much crash-free. In fact, I've never had any of the final versions crash on me.

Of course, other than download speed, stability is one of my determining factors in choosing a Gnutella client - what good is a cool looking program that dies out at 84% in a 9 megabyte download?

LimeWire sports such features as resumable downloads and a nice feature referred to as "swarm downloading," which allows you to download files from multiple servers at one time, which not only speeds up downloads significantly, but also allows you to pick up an interrupted download almost seamlessly. When a server drops a download, it will automatically go to the next one hosting that exact file.

LimeWire is free. However, there is also a "LimeWire Plus" version which is available for US$8.50. All it basically does is remove the not really annoying ad bar on the bottom.

Mactella

Another viable contender, Mactella, has many of the features offered in its competitors, but in a much slimmer package and with a smaller footprint. However, I find it a lot less tolerant to bad Internet links and much less stable than the LimeWire, so I tend to use LW a lot more often (I have very little tolerance for dropped downloads).

But, if you're just in the market for tight little Gnutella client purely for MP3 downloading, Mactella is your best bet.

Phex

Phex is a program based on the older Java-based Gnutella client, Furi, just like Mactella. Phex has many of the features of LimeWire. In an attempt to make one downloadable version of Phex compatible with every OS under the sun, it is written in the Java programming language, thus it has no OS-Specific code at all.

While this is a good feature in theory for the power user, the novice user will find it as a rather huge annoyance. Instead of seeing an executable when you first decompress the .SIT archive and view its contents, you are greeted by some not-so-friendly Java Classes, which you are responsible for opening using Java SDK (Software Developers Kit) Version 1.3 or later, which can be an inconvenience for many.

While this column answers your basic questions about how Gnutella works, Gnutella is also going to be a large source of fuel for the ongoing debate over the legality of sharing files on the Internet.

Not sure if you should upgrade your old Mac or replace it? Check the Mac Daniel index to see if we've already addressed your problem.

Recent Mac Daniel columns

Bringing G3 iMacs and other G3 Macs into the Tiger Age, Dan Knight, 12.07. Tips on hard drives, memory, WiFi, and getting Mac OS X 10.4 installed on G3 iMacs and other older G3 Macs.
Multiple users on the same Mac at work, Dan Knight, 11.15. How to set up a Mac so multiple users can log in and use it - and use the same pool of work files.
1 working eMac from 2 broken ones, Dan Knight, 11.14. A pair of matching eMacs, each with a different failure, results in one working eMac and lots of leftovers.
More in the Mac Daniel index.

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Time Machine can now backup to a shard hard drive, Alan Zisman, Zis Mac, 07.08. Earlier versions of Leopard didn't seem to allow backup to a shared drive on another Mac, but the 10.5.4 update allows it.
More air: Expectations for future MacBook and MacBook Pro models, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 07.08. Next generation 'Books are expected to include Intel's next generation Montevino processor, but wireless power and wireless USB could give Apple a leg up on the competition.
Safari 3.1 Is the best browser for Macs and for Windows, Carl Nygren, Classic Macs in the Intel Age, 07.08. Apple's Safari browser is fast, lightweight, and compatible with pretty much any website that doesn't require users to run Windows and Internet Explorer 5.5 or later.
Best iBook G3 deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.08. Used clamshell, $100; 500 MHz CD, $169; 700, $279; 600 CD-RW, $240; 900 Combo, $299; 14" 700, $300; 900, $449.
Best Power Mac G4 deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.08. Used 450 MHz ACP, $79; 533 DA, $100; 867 QS, $200; 1.25 GHz MDD Combo, $375; 867 dual, $325; 1 GHz, $395; 1.25, $529; 1.42, $619.
Best classic iPod deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.08. Used 20 GB, $100; 30, $120; 40, $150; 60 color, $175; 30 video, $160; 80, $200; refurb 80 classic, $209; new, $229; refurb 160, $299; new, $319.
Mac of the Day: 'Lombard' PowerBook G3, June 1999 - 'bronze keyboard' model is first PowerBook with USB, reaches 400 MHz, trims almost 2 lb.
List of the Day: PowerList for those using Power Computing Mac clones.
July 9 in LEM history: 01: Anti-spam measures marginalize low-end Macs - Color Classics on eBay - DSL diary - The 25th Anniversary Mac - 02: eMac test drive - Women in IT - 03: A week with an eMac - Are Apple's applications helping or hurting? - 04: Hardware failure, that rare Mac headache - Radeon Enabler unlocks video features
Macintosh reliability improving since the shift to Intel, Kev Kitchens, Kitchens Sync, 07.07. For a while in the G3 and G4 era, Apple was plagued with logic board failures and analog board problems, but they seem to be a thing of the past.
1.8 GHz, SSD MacBook Air price cuts; Samsung vs. Hitachi notebook drives; Centrino 2 preorders; and more, The 'Book Review, 07.07. Also MacBook shipments up 61% over Q1 2007, Apple notebook redesign rumored, Santa Rosa MacBook Pro video failure, Mopar in-vehicle wireless Internet, bargain 'Books from $150 to $2,749, and m
iPhone 3G service more costly in States, outrageous in Canada, and more, iNews Review, 07.07. Also long fingernails and the iPhone, future iPhone may include keyboard and Intel Atom CPU, voice control for iPods, Ringtons Studio for the iPhone, and more.
Best MacBook deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.07. Used 1.83 GHz Combo, $819; 2.0 SD, $975; refurb 2.1 GHz Combo, $949; 2.4 SD, $1,099; black, $1,299; new 2.1 Combo, $1,005 a/r; 2.2 SD, $1,205 a/r; more.
Best eMac deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.07. Used 700 MHz CD, $140; CD-RW, $150; Combo, $170; 1 GHz, $200; 1.25 GHz SD, $230; 1.42 GHz Combo, $300; SuperDrive, $439.
Best Mac OS X 10.0-10.3 deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.07. Mac OS X 10.0.3, $40; 10.1, $49; 10.2, $60; 10.3 DVD, $80; CD, $160; 10.1 Server, unlimited users, $80; 10.3 Server, unlimited, $130.
More links in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2008 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, PowerBook, MacBook, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.