Crenk » mp3

Top 10 P2P File Sharing Clients and Applications

Steven Finch — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:28:37 +0000

Previously on Crenk we have discussed the top 5 bit torrent trackers and the top 5 tools for multi-search for torrents, but this time I thought I would go throught the top 10 peer-2-peer clients.

1) Bittorrent :

This is one of best, fastest, safe and widely used p2p program. Performance of BitTorrent is way better then any other available P2P programs.

Supported Operating System: Windows, Linux, Mac
Download Bittorrent Client

2) Limewire:

LimeWire is clean, safe, virus and malware free p2p software.it has build in media player with optimized search result.supportes download from multiple hosts.

Supported Operating System:

Windows, Linux, Mac
Download Limeware Client

3) Shareaza:

This was one of early p2p program when p2p was still new concept. It supports wide variety of networks like Gnutella, Gnutella2, EDonkey Network, BitTorrent, FTP and HTTP network protocols and which can handle magnet links, ed2k links, Piolet links, and the now deprecated Gnutella links.

Shareza has billions of users and uncountable numbers of files shared across shareaza network

Supported Operating System:

Windows XP, Vista
Download Shareaza Client

4) Kazaa:

Like Shareaza, Kaaza was one of best and most popular p2p during early days of p2p evolution. but in past few year due to many issues like virus infected files, lawsuite, spywares, Kazaa has lost its

popularity.

However kazaa has been continually trying to make Kazaa network virus and spyware free with many new features like built in virus scanner, infected file blocking made available in latest Kazaa Client to protect users.

Kazaa Lite is one of best client of Kazaa P2P network for file sharing.
Supported Operating System:

Windows XP, Vista
Download Kazaa Lite

5) iMesh:

iMesh another popular and

spyware, adware free
p2p file sharing with application multi language support. iMesh claims to have over 15 million FREE songs & videos Over 2 million original high quality songs licensed from the record labels.

Personally I liked iMesh for downloading music and videos but haven’t found it good for downloading any freeware software or application.

Supported Operating System:

Windows XP, Vista
Download iMesh Client for Windows

6) Bearshare Lite:

Bearshare is pretty good

p2p file sharing program with having pretty good user base and millions of files shared on Bearshare also supports for Multilanguage.

Bearshare is good for downloading music and mp3 files
Supported Operating System:

Windows XP, Vista
Download BearShare Client for Windows

7) eMule:

eMule is one of the biggest and most reliable peer-to-peer file sharing clients around the world thanks to its open source support and based on edonkey2000 client.

eMule has Multilanguage support with ability to connect to multiple servers and intelligent file corruption detection system to help you in getting genuine files. eMule is free from

spyware, adware and its completely free.

eMule is also available in portable form to run from your USB derive

Supported Operating System:

Windows XP, Vista
Download eMule Client

8 ) KCeasy:

KCeasy is client based on giFT

peer to peer file sharing protocol. This protocol improves the overall usability of peer to peer network, ability to downloads single file from multiple peers simultaneously. KCeasy supports multiple networks for file sharing.
Supported Operating System:

Windows XP, Vista
Download KCeasy

9) Ares Galaxy:

Ares is one of my favorite p2p program and I have been using it from last 4 years, ares network is not that much big as compared to other p2p but its completely free from viruses, spywares and adwares.

I haven’t got any infected files or corrupted installer. Ares List is used more then normal Ares client because of its low size, speed and performance.

Supported Operating system:

Windows XP, Vista
Download Ares for Windows

10) Soulseek:

Soluseek central server type of P2P file sharing application. Soluseek is good old

p2p file sharing program best of sharing music files. i haven’t tried soluseek ever but have heard that soluseek is best of music, audio, Mp3 file download.
Supported Operating system:

Windows XP, Vista
Download Souleseek Client

Dell Download Store Launches With Games, Music and Software at Great Prices

Steven Finch — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:49:50 +0000

Dell has finally launched their new download store. Dell has partnered with French company Nexway to release the download store which offers music, games and software. The Dell download store allows all worldwide users to purchase games and software, but there currently is a restriction on music because of “publishing and licencing agreements with [Dell's] digital music partners.”

The music files will be available from major labels and will include leading artists, all without digital right managements solutions as MP3 files.

The store currently sells the Brit Awards 2009 for £9.99; both Play.com and Amazon did not have the album available for digital download.

Single tracks are available for 79 pence but the user interface lacks the intuitiveness of other available solutions like 7digital.

Don’t Get Sued… Use Tunerec

Keshav Khera — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:53:30 +0000

With the RIAA already suing teenagers for downloading pirated music, it’s time you move to the safer side and try another alternative. And yes, that ‘other’ alternative can be free and legal.

Tunerec is a web based service, that ‘records’ songs off internet radio streams and then tags them all for your convenience. Since it has to ‘record’ the streams first, it takes some time to save them in your database. But the patience is eventually rewarded. It has an iTunes like interface, where you can search for artists, songs and albums; Make playlists and also share them with friends.

Although I don’t understand why it has to ‘record’ songs for each user, and not just once for all its users, it probably doesn’t take much time as the number of songs i had last week jumped a whopping 100K this week, taking the total, as of now, to 1 Million.

It may not have all the songs you want, and likely demands patience even for those it has, the audio quality is commendable with very less buffering interuptions. As for the ‘legal’ thing you may be wondering about, the site mentions that it is completely legal and RWW also notes that Tunerec “ has worked out an agreement with the Swedish songwriters association STIM and the musicians (or at least the labels) get paid for every every song played on the service. ”

You can also invite your friends to the service and share your playlists with them.

Tunerec is currently in currently in closed beta but i was able to get into the service right away after i signed up. People living in Europe have a better option than Tunerec and that is Spotify. But sadly, Spotify is only available in Europe and will take some time untill it opens up to the U.S and rest of the world. Untill then, you have Tunerec. If you don’t like it, go buy your own CDs

(By) An avid freelance writer and technology enthusiast, Keshav Khera is young geek from India. Fanatic about the web, he also writes a blog and makes unsuccessful efforts to avoid twitter.

Jango Launches Music Vertical Advertising Network

Steven Finch — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:42:10 +0000

US music site Jango announced the launch of Jango Music Network (JMN), dubbing it as the world’s largest and most targeted cost-effective ad network for the music vertical.

The current JMN inventory of music sites reach a collective total of 30 million unique monthly visitors in the US alone. JMN also features a unique methodology that maps brand preference to musical taste and uses it to help advertisers target audiences that will be particularly receptive to their brand.

Wired Has Decided To Close Music Related Blogs, Listening Post and Underwire

Steven Finch — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:34:20 +0000

Wired have decided to close Listening Post and Underwire. They are citing a great deal of overlap among Listening Post, Epicenter and Underwire so there is a wisdom to concentrating our fire where it will have the most impact.

Wired have thanks approximately 12 writers who have worked on the blog and it still hasnt been fully confirmed if they will be completely out of a job or not.

This seems to be a very strange move from Wired. It might have just been better to slowly move the Listening post material into another niche instead of just closing down the 40th most linked to blog in the world according to Technorati. I really do think it is a shame because I have been really loving the Listening Posts articles over the last year or so, and if the writers ever need somewhere to write please contact me, because we also have another blog over at RouteNote in which we are always on the look out for writers who can help musicians in the current climate.

Amazon Mp3 Store Launches For UK Market

Steven Finch — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:19:48 +0000

Amazon has just launched their Mp3 Music store in the UK. The store can be found at http://mp3.amazon.co.uk. The simple-to-use digital music store offering over 3 million DRM-free (Digital Rights Management) songs which will work on any MP3 player including the iPod™- with top-selling albums from just £3 and individual songs from 59p.

Amazon Mp3 UK has all four major labels signed up, SonyBMG, Universal Music, EMI Music and Warner Music – and leading independents such as Cooking Vinyl, Harmonia Mundi, Beggars Banquet, The Orchard, Concord and IODA.

Greg Greeley, Vice-President of Amazon EU Retail said: “We’re excited to provide our UK customers with more ways to discover and enjoy great music. In addition to the millions of low-priced CDs available in our music store, Amazon MP3 now provides a vast selection of DRM-free albums and songs across every genre you can think of, ready to enjoy in seconds”.

We7 Launches Out of Beta with a Bang and a lot of New Features

Steven Finch — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:17:27 +0000

After spending months in public beta and lots of changes to the ad supports music service, We7 is about to launch out of beta with a bang.

We7 have launched with a “Big Listen” campaign. This new service has some great new features including Free on-demand, unlimited access to full tracks and albums, “Search, Click & Play”, A ‘Celestial Jukebox’ with several million track, ‘Play Anywhere’ – a link and play system for blogs and websites, Users can create playlists, share with friends and buy mp3’s, Payments to rights owners and artists.

The first thing you will notice with the new site is that they have a completely new design. Other new additions include a Magazine, Blog and a much improved list of advertisers. Im sure we will be hearing a lot more from We7 in 2009!

The New AllofMp3 is AllofMp3Download.com

Steven Finch — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:01:38 +0000

I got a very interesting email this morning from an unknown Czech email address. It was to showcase a new site just launching called Allofmp3Download.com. Now doesn’t this site sound very familiar. Mid way through 2007 a site called Allofmp3 was shut down by the Russian government. Pressure from the United States, and a refusal to enter the World Trade Organisation (WTO) convinced the Kremlin to take the website down for good.

This new site Allofmp3download.com sounds very much like it is coming from the same source. It has the exact same characteristics as Allofmp3, but seem to be selling very cheap music video downloads instead of the basic mp3s. I’m guessing it will only be a matter of time before this new site is shutdown, so if you are after cheap music videos then make sure you head over to Allofmp3download now.

There are also other alternative sites that seem to be offering a similar service as the old Allofmp3.

MP3 Search carry in excess of 50,000 albums from 46,000 artists. Prices start at $0.19 per track. Most tracks are in high quality bitrate, 320 kbps. The site accepts major credit cards.

MP3 Fiesta hold nearly 67,000 albums from nearly 17,000 artists. Prices are around the $0.10 mark for single tracks with full albums coming in at roughly $1.00. Tracks are available from 192kbps and they take major credit cards.

Another allofmp3 replacement, LegalSounds.com prices are $0.09 per song, full album downloads average $1 each. Music carried includes the US Top 100 Albums/Singles, European Top 100 Albums and UK Top 50. Tracks are available between 192kbps and 320kbps and they take major credit cards.

Just Music carry around 160,000 albums from 44,000 different artists. Prices vary according to the amount of credit you apply to your account and range between $0.11 and $0.15 per track. Tracks are available at 192kbps and they take major credit cards and PayPal.

GoMusic claim to carry over 35,000 tracks. Prices are $0.19 per track and around $2 per full album. Tracks are available in various bitrates and they take major credit cards.

MP3 Skyline appears to be offering a huge amount of music. The site claims a staggering 2.2 million tracks available from over 128,000 artists. Prices are around the $0.35 mark for single tracks and encoded at 192kbps. Major credit cards and PayPal are accepted, along with other payment options. They also have a free download of the day, currently ‘Seeing Red’ by Killing Joke.

MP3 Sale boasts a cataolgue of over 90,000 albums from 23,556 artists. Prices are $0.15 for a single track with full albums around the $1.50 mark. Tracks are encoded at 192kbps and the site takes all major credit cards, PayPal and a wide range of other payment options.

iSound currently offer nearly 60,000 albums from 14,000 artists. Prices start at $0.11 per track up to a maximum of $0.15, depending on the amount of credit deposited in your account. Tracks are encoded at a minimum of 192kbps. Major credit cards and PayPal are accepted.

iPod Shuffle In New Vibrant Colours

Steven Finch — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:44:03 +0000

Apple has announced this morning that the Apple iPod shuffle is getting some new colours, and here they are. The shuffle has been transformed into the same colours are the new iPod Nano’s. However, they still come with a very attractive price tag, $49 USD.

Napster Is Looking For a Buyer. They Should Never Have Turned Into a Download Store!

Steven Finch — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 18:41:32 +0000

Napster has hinted that the company is up for sale again, saying in its response to a dissident shareholder group that the company is once again exploring possible strategic alternatives, and has retained UBS Investment Bank to assist in the process. The company hired UBS two years ago to explore a possible sale, but no deal emerged. Napster informed shareholders of the move in a letter that also said the company believes that three proposed dissident board candidates are “unqualified.”

The company said the dissident candidates “have offered no specific business plan, other than suggesting a vague review of Napster’s business,” and also “have no significant ownership in Napster and, in fact, have been frequent sellers of Napster stock.”

Napster instead urged shareholders to re-elect its current slate of independent directors.

I predicted something like this happening to Napster back in December of last year. Napster has a business model that was rapidly decreasing and they didn’t even look like changing it. The company has a great brand, but they are still just moving in the wrong direction. A download store was never going to be right for this brand, they should have done something ad supported and in the same market as Imeem, build a community around this great brand. I so wish I had control of this brand!

RouteNote Launches into Public Beta!

Steven Finch — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:00:34 +0000

Crenk has long been a part of the Insomnia Media Group, which today is launching our music initiative.

RouteNote is a user driven music distribution service, allowing indie artists to get access to major online retailers and make their music available to film, radio and other media producers for quick, easy licensing.

The site is launching into public beta which involves our distribution section. Distribution through RouteNote will allow unsigned artists and independent labels from all over the world to sell their music in some of the worlds largest online stores. RouteNote is a completely non-exclusive music distributor that has some of the best rates in the industry. Artists are able to sign up for FREE, uploading as many tracks as they would like and being able to keep 90% of the revenues from download sales.

What RouteNote offers:

Retain 100% Ownership of your tracks
Non-exclusive
Worldwide Exposure
No Signup Fees
Receive 90% from all download sales
It wont stop you from signing up to a record label in the future
Forward looking partnerships and marketing expertise

RouteNote is a unique service that can help hundreds of thousands of artists all over the world. So why not signup today.

Stay tuned for more features to also launch over time.

Amie Street Sign Beggars Group Which Brings 15,000 Tracks to Their Catalog

Steven Finch — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 09:49:11 +0000

Amie Street have just announced today that they have signed the Beggars Group to their service. The Beggars Group consists of labels such as XL, Rough Trade, 4AD, Matador Records and Polyvinyl Recording Co. This means a further 15,000 tracks to the Amie Street catalog.

As most of you already know Amie Street is a music download site that has been funded by the likes of Amazon. This is due to their unique pricing model. All tracks in their catalog start of at being a free download and once the popularity of a certain track increases, then so does the price accordingly. Tracks are finally capped at $0.98 per download.Â However, one of the most important selling points for the consumer is that the Amie Street tracks are totally DRM free Mp3s.

The Last Word

Steven Finch — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:24:20 +0000

There has been a lot in the last few days about the announcement by Last.fm about there new business model. Their business model has moved from 30 second clips of songs to full length streams. This however has a restriction of only 3 streams per song per artist. This is a major negative point with the new business model, because once you really get into a song I know I tend to play mine 10 times a day. All these announcements came on the back end of Last.fm signing content agreements will all four major labels.

Artists will be monetized by these streams through the advertising revenue made by the site. I know for a long time Imeem has been attempting to do exactly the same business model and they have had a great deal of success with this. Imeem now has all four major labels signed up and they are making a great deal of money off of the advertising model. Last.fm has also announced that their new revenue model is not exclusive to only the major labels, and anyone on Last.fm can now opt-in and stream their full music for very low royalties.

This all being said I would have really like to see Last.fm slightly change their model. I dont see why there is a limit on the amount of streams per song, unless they have an additional model that allows members to sign up at an additional fee to be able to play the song unlimited times.Â It is also good to see that Last.fm has partnered with 7digital to offer the music downloads, however a long term solution for Last.fm must be to kill this partnership and enter the download market independently, this might even be a threat to iTunes!

I am still not convinved by Last.fm. The have a great piece of technology in the scrobbler, but I dont think their professionalism on that software has carried over to the site, monetization options and also profile and social network strategy.

Amazon Signs Up Sony/BMG to Make It All Four

Steven Finch — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 12:46:36 +0000

AmazonÂ is getting serious about their new Mp3 Download Store. After last weeks announcement that they were adding DRM free tracks from the Warner catalog, they are now adding Sony/BMG to their collection.

That’s right, Amazon has just announced a partnership with Sony/BMG. This means Amazon MP3 Will Be the Only Retailer to Offer Customers DRM-free MP3 Downloads from All Four Major Music Labels. Im very interested to see where this takes the company in terms of their market share. I can see Amazon Mp3 continuing to grow and gaining more market share, but i dont think it will really be a serious contender to iTunes. If anything Amazon Mp3 helps Apple grow, because at the end of the day Apple has a complete package and the Mp3’s sold on Amazon need to go somewhere and most of the time it is on to an iPod.

Here are the views of other sites around the place about Amazons’ new partnership:

Music Business Models Will They Change in 2008?

Steven Finch — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 00:56:37 +0000

In the last few days I have been reading some great articles over at RWW on the music industry, where it is headed and how Apple could potentially lose its dominance. These articles have fueled great debates on the RWW site and here is my take on the whole music industry.

Having the Complete Package

Josh wrote a great article at RWW that basically talked about Apple and how they are slowly coming under fire from Amazon and Zune. I think the situation is very straight forward until someone really tries to shake up the market!

Apple currently has 70% of the portable music player market and approx 85% of the music download market. Apple additionally has a very strong brand awareness and loyalty. Apple are very smart at what they do and for companies who only offer part of their package, it will be very difficult for them to compete and actually grab any market presence. Im sure we will see companies like Amazon attempt to attack parts of the music market but if they succeed in any particular area (such as cut pricing of downloads and DRM free downloads), then Apple will just calculate the right times to cover the advances and offer equal services. At the end of the day Apple knows that they have brand loyalty like no other and services such as Amazon Mp3 in the long run will only help them sell more iPods or Macs, because these people who download have to put their music somewhere.

In terms of Zune they have been receiving some good reviews for their new product, however this is Microsoft we are talking about. Microsoft has long been serial monopolists and Zune is not going to change that fact. Apple have of course AAC files that can only be played on iPods and Microsoft have exactly the same with the Zune.

At present no one can challenge Apples dominance and I dont think anyone will challenge them for at least another 5 years. Microsoft with Zune have just launched a product and service exactly the same as Apple did years ago with the iPod and iTunes, there is no difference to me. Amazon however, have launched a service that was need, a service that offers DRM free music not via subscription and via a cut price. Amazon hit a small gap in the market that was needed, but does this mean they will get any where near iTunes? No chance in hell!!

Future of DRM

I predict that 2008 will be the year that all the big 4 (Sony BMG, Universal, Warner and EMI) start selling DRM free music more openly. Amazon has Warner on the books and iTunes has EMI already signed up with Warner to come on board very soon.

In 2007 there have been lots of experiments with the music business model, such as Radiohead and also Amie Street, but have they proved anything? Yes I think they have. The Amie Street business model of offering music low and then prices increase when the track becomes popular has proved so successful that Amazon has bought into the company. Radiohead proved that selling digitally on a website can be just as popular as selling on the huge iTunes.

Conclusions. Overall, I really think customers are willing to pay for good quality music, especially DRM free music that can be transported to any portable music player, but only at the right price! Im still not too sure if we have found the right price yet. This is mainly due to the big 4 wanting to make a good margin on their sales on iTunes, thus prices are currently high. I cant wait to see a service that skips all of the hassels and just offers a simple service that sells good quality mp3s DRM free at a price such as $0.50 per download.

What Needs to Happen to Break the Music Industry

Currently, I am CEO of a company which is entering the music space but focusing on music licensing and distribution. Hypothetically, if I had the resources and money to launch a product in the music industry that would compete with iTunes and Apple, I would do the following.

Digital music downloads need to have a copyright system in place that actually tracks who the music is sold to and if the music is transported between computers or players it just needs to be unlocked via a password or something similar.
Offer a DRM free music store in which the music can be transfered to any portable music player
Offer a reasonable price and optimize the transaction fee the third party takes.
Then offer other vertical services such as videos, games, ebooks and more.
Finally, move into horizontal integration, such as a revolutionary portable music player, online and satellite radio stations and many more ideas.

This is the only way I can see someone breaking the Apple dominance and taking at least some share of the music market. If you are a VC and would like to fund my idea, please get in touch with me! haha. I love a challenge!

Napster Is Now Web Based

Steven Finch — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:33:37 +0000

Napster have announced that they are dumping their desktop client and re-launching with a new web-based version. Napster customers will now be able to listen to their music from any computer anywhere in the world. This will hopefully enable Napster to also develop embeddable widgets that can push their products on possible web enabled devices.

Napster is still going to be based as a subscription model, which most industry experts think is holding back the company, because it makes Napster incompatible with the iPod. Consequently Napster has lagged behind Appleâ€™s end to end iTunes system which reportedly controls 70% of the digital music market.

UMG has announced they are now happy with iTunes and the revenue split, so it is only a matter of time before DRM free becomes standard and Napster will really need to gain some market share before Apple.

If you would like to see a slideshow of the new Napster service, please head over to Crave.

RouteNote Signs with AudioLunchbox

Steven Finch — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:09:19 +0000

RouteNote has just signed a deal to provide our content on Audio Lunchbox. Audio Lunchbox will sell our content on their sites and services for the next three years. Audio Lunchbox has a licensed catalog of over 2 million songs in 79 sub-genres. Audio Lunchbox is the only service on the web to offer both a la carte and permanent subscription downloads side by side. Well thats what they claim.

Amazon Download Store Finally Open

Steven Finch — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:16:40 +0000

After more than a year of speculation, The Amazon DRM-free download store Â has finally opened with an impressive 2,323,235 mp3’s available from 180,000 artists on 20,000 labels. All tracks are 256 kps mp3’s priced at 89 to 99 cents.

Included are thousands of tracks from Universal (more it appears than are available elsewhere) and virtually the entire EMI catalog including Radiohead and Pink Floyd. Missing are digital hold outs The Beatles and Bob Seger.

Leading independent labels offering their catalog of music for the first time DRM-free include Alligator, HighTone, Madacy, Sanctuary, Rounder, Righteous Babe, Sugar Hill, Trojan and Phillip Glass’ Orange Mountain.

Press Release

Starbucks To Give Away Free Downloads

Steven Finch — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 08:13:46 +0000

Starbucks said it will be giving away millions of songs via download on iTunes. It is reported that more than 10,000 US Starbucks locations will be participating in the give away, which will be running from October 2 to November 7. Customers can receive “Song of the Day” cards redeemable on Apple’s iTunes store for a complimentary song selected by Starbucks. Starbucks said it will give away 1.5 million downloads per day for a total of more than 50 million free songs. Customers will have until the end of the year to redeem the song on iTunes.

Box.net Updates Facebook App

Steven Finch — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 12:43:16 +0000

Box.net, the file-sharing and storage system, has two announcements coming later today. First up is the launching of the second version of its Facebook application, followed by the announcement of its Files application being opened up as a development platform for other Facebook developers.

With version 2 of the Facebook Files application, Box.net will offer new file privacy options, which is incredibly important for Facebook users when taking on these applications (and an important consideration for developers as well). As Facebook newsfeeds and profile settings are social by default, most Facebook applications donâ€™t allow much room for self-management tools, like calendars, to-do lists, etc. Box.netâ€™s latest version will also work well with Facebookâ€™s new email-out option as well.

The furthered step of opening its Files application to the developers community will encourage a new group of file-sharing applications that are designed for Facebookâ€™s social space, as the box.net service can be integrated into these other applications. The developerâ€™s platform is scheduled to be made available some time next month.

Via (Mashable)