I need to know...
 

Bottem line whats the best, p2p app out there right now, in terms of strong user base, simplicity and spyware free???

What are some of the ones people here are using?

In My Humble Opinion...
 

Grokster, with the spyware disabled of course!


Pros:
1Million+ other users online at any time.
Preview Play
Multiple downloads
Resume failed downloads
Flexible searching

Cons:
Closed source
Dark forces at work at Kazaa
Potential security loopholes
Stupid logo

Grokster is still my favorite since Morpheus morphed on us. Despite there being leeches on the system, you can control them with a little monitoring and there *are* alot of people there sharing a nice catalogue of quality files.

For # of files and variety searchable, winMX has got the advantage, but it can be very hard to get anything. I did finally get a movie there...overnight. I only recommend it if you can't wait for a big new release to become widespread on grokster/kazaa...which it eventually always will...when it is wide spread i have gotten both parts, maybe about 250kb in 30-45minutes...you might spend that long getting in all the queues at winmx...i plan on trying wm3 beta 5. >>you still have leeches on winmx and have to monitor them unless there are bots to do that?

controlling leeches on grok/kaz:
(most common problem: you cancel them and they jump right back on sometimes)

1. open another upload slot until you find someone who is also sharing. i recommend trying "find more from same user" *twice* as i have, a few times, got nothing the first time, and did get results the second time. but most that are sharing show up right away. (sometimes i even check if they are only sharing fakes/renamed files and IM them to correct them)

2.then bring the number of uploads slots back down and cancel the leech...leaving the sharer on and giving him/her more speed.

why? leech is slowing down the upload to the sharer.
why not? if your upload speed is so fast that it isn't all being used anyway...no problem.

just my opinion.

sorry so long.......

or...

1). reduce the number of allowed uploads by one.

2). cut off leech.

3). increase allowed u/l amount sometime later when the coast clears.

same thing essentially.

since i reach for grokster first when i need a file, i guess i'd call it the best for me too.

- js.

These are what I mostly use:

Audiognome
WinMX
eDonkey(w/bot)
Gnucleus
Clean Limewire

No spyware, or no messin' with the registry needed.

I mostly use Grokster and WinMX, sometimes bearshare. I would use BS more often if didn't eat so much of my bandwith.

I use Winmx for music mainly because the file quality is MUCH better than fastrack. Bypass the limit or not in Fastrack not everyone does it and Winmx gives a ton results at 192+ bitrate and no search limit. Opennap is not dead either!! Audiognome is still the best opennap client and gives very good results for music. Plus Audiognome remembers search strings for those hard to find files when you have to try several different names to get results.

If it is apps/movies I use fastrack "Kazaa lite"

WinMX+NapMX and fill missing tracks (matching signature ecording/mode/rate/tags etc.) with audiogalaxy and Groksta.
Just you have to be patient

Since January 2001 I have used only WinMX, save for an ill-fated brief look at Morpheus last summer. Recently I've entertained thoughts of perhaps using Audiogalaxy or Grokster, just to see what they're like. I hope WinMX 3 is final soon, but isn't too much like Morpheus, which really yielded too little information on songs for me and was generally unreliable. One problem with WinMX, though, besides queues, is the fact that sometimes one can be listed as sharing 0 files when in fact they have sharing turned on and have dozens or more files shared. Back when I was sharing 800-900 files oftentimes I wold find myself listed as sharing no files on a server. The problem isn't as big today, but it can still get one banned from certain servers. Speaking of which, banning users with 0 files can be a pain, as everyone has to start somewhere, I would think. I basically had to start over in February, and was dismayed at the anti-leech measures which can grab others up in its effects.