imagine if you downloaded the first two songs from an album, left the computer idle, and then came back later and decided to look for the rest - only to find that they'd already been cached for you, and were almost instantly within your reach. or if you had five songs by an artist, and they released a new single, which was found, put into the program's recommendations list, and trickle-downloaded for you when you were idle, using your spare bandwidth and hard disk space, just in case you decide you want it later.
the thought of this happening is very disconcerting to me alphabeater...i do however see what you are suggesting or implying with this being a potentially useful and 'benevolent' feature to some....it also reminds me a lot of other caching software for webbrowsers which try to speed up your webbrowsing and surfing habits for you by downloading related links in the background as you are reading a current webpage.
Here looks like you've applied a similiar concept p2p and file-sharing only in this instance or case with songs...and while it does seem like a good idea....i just don't like it. I mean unless you have a low bandwidth connection I really don't see much advantage in having this caching mechanism employed. I just really, really like to KNOW what my computer is doing at ALL TIMES and I don't like the idea of it 'thinking for its self' no matter how intelligent or well programmed the intent...also disturbing is the fact that if it can do this...why would it also not be possible for it to other unwanted activity behind 'our backs'?
I think that having the ability to do that would be too much of a temptation for whomever makes the p2p application with that feature to abuse that feature...as it would appear or seem that most of the truly great P2P programs are going to be the ones that stand to make a profit from the development of the software.
A very good idea you had earlier...and one that I LIKED very much...was the idea of incoporating a p2p program with an application like MSN messenger. Let me first explain briefly how MSN messenger works (in a broader and more 'general context') Here goes:
Whenever someone logs into MSN messenger they are connected to a central server...their friends also connect to this central server...all instant messaging conversations are done through this server...so if you were chatting with your friend and you decided to do a Netstat -an in a dos box to see if you could find their ip address all you would see is the ip address for the central MSN server that you are currently connected to as well as your friends and all other users of the chat application.
The Msn server acts like a 'proxy-server' (a kind of a 'go-between' between your computer and your friends computer) so you send a message from your pc to the MSN server which then forwards your sent message to your friends pc and the same happens for all messages (they get passed through the proxy-server so that your ip address is never revealed to your friend or anyone else.)
Okay with that said...the way that the file transfer mechanism currently works in MSN messenger (I am using this for an example because its a very common p2p application and most likely many people have it on their pc's right now) is that when you decide to 'share a file' with a friend over the internet....a Direct link or connection is made between your pc and that of your friends...thereby Bypassing entirely the 'go between' or 'proxy-server' aka 'the msn server'. So now if netstat -an were to be applied you could get your friends ip address that way by sharing files.
Okay here is something else that interests me. proxy-servers for those that don't know a proxy-server is designed for a couple of things...one it can act as a go-between between your computer and the internet...meaning that it can protect the identity of your true ip address (that is if the proxy is an 'anonymous' proxy and does not pass that information along to other websites that you connect to through tcp packets and 'headers')
Secondly a proxy server can SPEED UP your webbrowsing and or surfing. Example say you are using a proxy for the first time and you download and mp3 file using the proxy...well let's say that its the first time you've used this proxy and its also the first time that anyone's downloaded this particuliar mp3 file while using the proxy...now let's say that the webserver that is hosting the mp3 file is VERY slow...so your download piddles along at an 3.5 kilobytes per second...taking you approximately 20minutes to download a 5mb mp3 file....okay say 'joe blow' logs on next to the proxy server and wants the very same song that you just got....well because a proxy server caches the content of what is downloaded (meaning it archives things) 'joeblow' doesn't have to wait as long as you do to download the mp3 song..it zips along at a blazing 5.6kbs (this is just an example people using a dialup modem for reference...cable speeds and dsl would vary greatly but would still see significant and improved results).
So you see there are two main advantages to a proxy-server:
a)relative anonymity (not always completely unknown...depends on the proxy-server being used)
and
b)faster downloading due to cached content.
Okay so here is where my idea takes shape....and also something I don't understand so I hope that anyone who does understand this will please take the time to explain it to me and to 'us' as well. I have heard that most Internet Service Providers have or provide a service called 'Newsgroups' many of them have what they refer to as binary newsgroups which to me means that you can upload and download appz and music and movies to these servers....now the thing that I don't understand is WHY and HOW is this LEGAL?
How do the big ISP's avoid the wrath of the RIAA and MPAA by allowing the distribution of 'illegal' and in many cases 'pirated' materials own THEIR OWN SERVERS? where is the accountability?
Okay with that said...and that is assuming that someone can give me a reasonable and good definition or explanation of how ISP's are able to 'skirt' drawing the wraith of digital millenium copyright protection act upon its self...why then can't some site like MSN messenger which already employs the use of a proxy-server to act as a go between between your computer and the internet..why can't they also set up a proxy-server type setting that would allow for the caching of music files and movies and appz that you download off the internet?
It seems to me this would be the PERFECT and ideal solution...that way with all the TON's of thousands of users that use their program we could have a HUGE mofo pool of good choices to choose from and with all our favourite appz/movies/music being cached on a FAST proxy server...we can or should be able to get 'our files' much more quickly.
SPRINGER AFTERTHOUGHT:
why doesn't someone come up with something like this? (or have they and i just didn't know about it?) That would allow you to basically what I have suggested above:
a)chat
b)cache downloaded files to a central server and protected under the same rules/regulations that govern the Isp's newsgroups servers.
One last added touch...needing to have an legitamit email address to log in to the service per MSN's .NET architecture can provide for you that VERIFIABLE peer 2 peer identity that you were seeking TankGirl as you would then know that if you were downloading from ted@msn.com that there could not be another 'ted@msn.com' it is 'your ted@msn'.com that you are downloading from (if the file isn't already cached on the proxy server...which most likely it will be....and will probably eliminate the need for direct connectivity....which is what I like as you are never in contact with any other website or p2p client anywhere DIRECTLY as all the communication is taking place through the centralised server.
HILARY ROSEN note:
Put a generalised 'broadband' or filesharing tax on ISP's nationally (in all countries wherever our laws have reach) maybe $10.00 a month higher internet charge for Broadband users with UNlimited filesharing and bandwidth upload and download...this will be a form of a 'sin tax' on a vice (filesharing) from which the 'artists' and or 'their labels' can be compensated for any perceived losses due to filesharing affecting record sales.
Seems like most ISP's know that filesharing is the driving force behind the desire for broadband...why not make it profitable for everyone and solve this mess once and for all.
-butterfly_kisses