A free tool that allows you to find and download your favorite music
A free tool that allows you to find and download your favorite music
Vote (359 votes)
Program license Free
Developer PronetSharing
Version 4.6.0
Works under Windows
Vote
(359 votes)
Developer
PronetSharing
Works under
Windows
Program license
Free
Version
4.6.0
Pros
- Tons and tons of songs that you can download from the site.
- Everyone across the globe has made use out of LimeWire.
- It's free to use, and it doesn't cost you anything.
Cons
- The search function seems dysfunctional and confusing.
Less than one month after what they called, "A permanent shut down," LimeWire has made a quiet return thanks to the help from an anonymous development team. In fact, you will see all the features before, but it has become new and improved since. This file-sharing software has held a loyal fan following, and they have remained loyal up to a fault. Copyright law has done its best to interfere with LimeWire, but even after the company had been closed down, one of the people said that a horde of piratical monkeys leaped aboard the abandoned ship, polished the cannons and mended the sails so that it's back up and free to the community at large.
Use of the Gnutella Network
Both LimeWire and BearShare have made use out of the Gnutella network, and they bloomed and had a heyday during the days of Napster. However, the popularity of these file-sharing sites has been drastically reduced ever since. In fact, in November, BearShare had only 700,000 users while those on LimeWire had even less than that. Unfortunately, they haven't been able to compete with the likes of WinMX and Morpheus.
How LimeWire Has Responded to Dying
In response to its slow decay, LimeWire has released a new beta client in an effort to attract more customers. Gnutella has a traditional architecture for the peer-to-peer sharing. That has not always been good because society continues to move forward leaving the outdated behind. Instead, the company has now created what's known as ultrapeers. With this new shift, it could be possible that LimeWire will compete with some of the bigger names like FastTrack and WinMX.
The Search Engine of LimeWire
Unfortunately, we have a highly unattractive search engine through LimeWire. It can make scanning through the programs almost tedious. The search engine doesn't really have anything clever about it. Meanwhile, the application does offer you a built-in MP3 player. In both of the programs, you will be swarmed with downloading, and the system will sometimes interrupt you automatically.
A lot of Good Music
What separates LimeWire from some of the other choices is how you have a lot of good music available to you. With some of the other choices, it seems like all they want is your money, but LimeWire is different. With most of the songs you want to hear, you will be able to find them. All you have to do is sign on and start downloading music. LimeWire has always had a cool style on their site. People share the music with others online, and it gets spread so that more people can listen. It has been at the center of controversy in the music world, but the system continues.
Pros
- Tons and tons of songs that you can download from the site.
- Everyone across the globe has made use out of LimeWire.
- It's free to use, and it doesn't cost you anything.
Cons
- The search function seems dysfunctional and confusing.
Pros
- Puts thousands of audio and video files right at your fingertips
- Can search for music by artist, song or album title
- Shows you the estimated download time for each file
- Lets you select where all your downloads go
- Informs users of leechers and seeders to help them decide which files to download
Cons
- Fewer users mean longer download times and less content
- FBI monitors users for the spread of copyrighted content
- Requires that you turn off sharing to block the access others have to your computer
- Clunky interface cannot compare with modern programs
If you love listening to music while away from home but have a limited budget to spend on those tunes, consider downloading LimeWire to find new music and share music with others.
Anyone who came of age during the late 1990s and early 2000s will likely remember the name LimeWire. LimeWire was one of the original peer-to-peer file sharing networks. This essentially means that you can share the music on your computer with others at the same time that you download music from their own computers. Though some assume that LimeWire went the way of the dinosaur, the program is still alive and kicking with millions of users registered around the world.
After downloading the program, which usually only takes a few minutes, you can open it and search for the content you want. The search box lets you search by album name, song title or artist name. Unlike other P2P programs that limit your searches to just music, this program lets you search for videos too. It's a great way to find free copies of some of your favorite flips and video clips that you cannot find anywhere else.
When you do a search, LimeWire will tell you how many seeders and leechers are on each file found. Leechers refer to the number of people downloading that same file, while seeders refer to the number of people who have that file available for download. If the file has more seeders, it will download faster, but a larger number of leechers may slow down the process.
Once you select a file, LimeWire gives you the option of selecting where that file goes. This makes it easy to find all your downloaded content later. It also lets you know when your file finishes downloading. You'll appreciate that the program gives you an estimate as to how long it will take to download each file.
Despite being one of the more popular P2P sharing programs, the number of people using this program dropped significantly over the years. That limits the amount of content you can find and increases the average download time. The FBI now monitors the network closely to ensure that users do not share copyrighted content. Though you won't find as many files available now as there were in the past, LimeWire is still a solid P2P sharing program.
Pros
- Puts thousands of audio and video files right at your fingertips
- Can search for music by artist, song or album title
- Shows you the estimated download time for each file
- Lets you select where all your downloads go
- Informs users of leechers and seeders to help them decide which files to download
Cons
- Fewer users mean longer download times and less content
- FBI monitors users for the spread of copyrighted content
- Requires that you turn off sharing to block the access others have to your computer
- Clunky interface cannot compare with modern programs