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MP3 Sharing Communities,
Downloading Software

Wanna download some mp3's??? Forget searching for sites and FTP servers. Try joining one of the "music communities" like Napster (used to be the best) and have fun.

Napster : The first and most famous music community. Unfortunately due to the well-known legal issues, it is currently using a filtering system that tries to prevent the sharing of copyrighted material. This means that few songs are currently found on its servers. If you want to connect to some compatible servers that don't belong to Napster Inc., try using Napigator.
Rating 50% (Songs 2/5 Speed 2/5 Interface 4/5)

Audiogalaxy : This program uses the Internet Explorer to search for songs and could prove unstable for some systems. Also, Audiogalazy servers are difficult to connect to for several hours per day (when there is the most traffic). Nevertheless, audiogalaxy hosts the most songs than any other protocol, and the speed is great, almost as good as Kazaa.
Rating 90% (Songs 5/5 Speed 5/5 Interface 3/5)

KaZaA (or Morpheus) : Excellent program. Supports resuming and it is probably the fastest peer-2-peer application available (downloads a single file from many users simultaneously). Many TB's of files are shared, most of which are not MP3, but you will probably find the song you seek (maybe along with its video:). The only real downside is that in an attempt to avoid legal problems the maximum bitrate allowed for mp3's is 128kbps. Kazaa and Morpheus are actually the same thing with a different name and logo.
Rating 80% (Songs 3/5 Speed 5/5 Interface 5/5)

Win MX : Another excellent program. It connects to its own peer-2-peer network, as well as the OpenNap servers. Resuming, search for alternatives etc.
Rating 60% (Songs 3/5 Speed 2/5 Interface 4/5)

iMesh : iMesh has a quite unstable client application, but offers resuming and many shared files (most are video files though).
Rating 50% (Songs 2/5 Speed 2/5 Interface 4/5)

Gnutella : Gnutella is also very popular and there are many good programs that access its servers (like Limewire and Bearshare), but it is not easy to use, and the searches last too long..
Rating 60% (Songs 4/5 Speed 3/5 Interface 2/5)