Alright… last saturday the Gods of Bandwidth bestowed upon me a glorious Cable modem. I am a convert. I can never go back. I used to work in the DSL field so I know how wonderful it is… but never had it full time at home. I am now fully converted.
As with most of the “High Bandwidth Idols” (whom the “dial up commoners” bow and grovel to) I have become addicted to Napster. I can start a 6Meg download… go get a drink and come back to a finished file… its sooooo orgasmic.
NOW… I know how Napster works, I know about peer2peer file sharing. However, it was still quite a shock to start a download and see 3 OTHER people copying songs off of MY hard drive!!
In File menu–>Preferences, under the “Sharing” tab, set “Maximum simultaneuos uploads per user” to “0” (zero). It’s a dirty trick, and it tries to get you to undo it every time it starts up (just click “No” in the “Your fileserver is disabled…” popup when it starts up), but you can still stea…err, “share” from others, but they can’t get anything from you. AMHIK
Or, just don’t tell the bastards you have a cable modem. Put yourself down as having like a 14.4 or something. That way, you’ll deter strangers, while still leaving your files available to folks you know.
If you have an always on connection at home, it is quite easy to load P.C. Anywhere on your work machine and connect to your home machine. This way you can download songs all day… Sorry.
Back to the OP, load up zonealarm and uncheck “allow server” for Napster. The poor bastards get stuck on “waiting”.
Gunslinger, thanks for the tip! Thats a good one I wouldnt have noticed…
Lux… I had thought about that too… after seeing how MANY people claimed to be on 14.4 and knowing how outdated that was I thought that that couldnt be. I didn’t want to do that though because I didnt know if it would limit my download speed… now I know.
absoul, I get in enough trouble at work… your just tempting me more damnit!! L I can hardly wait.
I don’t really mind people sharing my songs… it just shocked me… It just seemed a little TOO close to home… you know? Like “somebodys in my computer!!!” AHHHHHH!! Security!!!
I downloaded/joined Napster a few weeks ago. When I was getting through all the sign-up stuff, I believe it asked me what folders to have “open” for other people to be able to access for file sharing. I wasn’t sure exactly what this would allow people to get from (or get ON) my computer, so I (I don’t remember how) set it up so that none of the folders on my hard drive are open. Poof, no one can share my files. No one even knows I exist. Ah, obscurity…
Now remember you also need to get napigator. Napster automatically logs you onto the next server that is available. This program lets you pick which server you want to connect to! You can log onto Napsters servers or any number of private servers listed on Napigators site. This way if Napster gets unplugged you can still download! Many of the private servers listed there have much better variety. Happy Hunting.
Ditto. If you start downloading from me and your user info says that you aren’t sharing many files or have a high download:upload ratio(eg 20:0), don’t plan on finishing that download.
If you won’t share, does it seem right(silly concept!) to take from others? You have plenty of bandwidth and only MP3s(not personal files) can be “stolen” from you; your concern isn’t just selfish, it’s illogical.
To reiterate, I present the above…
…and no I haven’t tried to block anyone… just felt funny when they were “using” my computer. I also believe in “equal time” regardless and DIDN’T close down napster when I wanted to for the express reason that someone wasn’t finished uploading a song from me.
I wouldn’t say Whammo’s indignant, so much, Anth, just a little skeeved out that these strange people are nabbing files off his hard drive. You’ll note that he has yet to implement any of the dastardly suggestions offered.
After reading this thread, I succumbed to tempation and signed up. (My username is “greenverdugo”, by the way.) But you probably won’t be rushing to download anything I have. It is almost all Jerry Goldsmith. And some Ennio Morricone. Oh yeah. They hit the top 40 all the time! (They are film composers - Goldsmith did “L.A. Confidential” and “The Omen”, Morricone did “The Mission” and “The Good Bad and the Ugly”.)
Anyway, I search for Jerry Goldsmith, and there is TONS of his stuff on Napster! COOL! But I have almost all of it. Except that some of the tracks I only have on LP. (Yes, I am old. But I started collecting when I was 14, OK?) So I downloaded some tracks from “Hoosiers”, since I haven’t played the LP in ages. And then I see someone is (gasp!) UPLOADING something!!! (It is a Goldsmith track from the score to the Alec Baldwin film “The Shadow”.) Someone took one of my files! I am no longer a Napster virgin. And you know? It’s OK to share “The Shadow”. It’s a fabulous score, and no longer in print. I don’t feel bad about sharing things that are no longer in print, dammit!
So, ooh. This is cool. Right now I am going to go look for “Saftey Dance” (by Men Without Hats. Yes, I am old.) I have the LP for that somewhere too.
I was going to go work on some of my pottery tonight, but instead I discovered Napster. I can already tell, it will be a corrupting influence.
Listing your high-speed connection as a 14.4 or 56 modem will not conceal your true bandwidth if people are pinging you.
That’s how my program is set-up. In preferences, chose to ping all results.
Looking for low ping times is a far better method for finding fast files than taking peoples word for it. I tell ya, those people on there are liars!
I see people all the time with incredibly low ping times listing their speed as a 14.4. I’ll download from them outta spite alone. I make it a mission.
Actually, if I’m interested in getting good files fast and reliable, and not tying up someone else’s connection, I typically look for the lowest ping time for the song or file and pick one that’s a couple notches above that.
I never seem to get bumped and try to limit the number of songs I get from the same user. It’s nice to be nice, to the nice
I don’t so much pay attention to the connection speed, as the bitrate of the song… I usually go for the top song with a bitrate of 160+, after I compare the song lengths, to make sure I’m not getting half a song…
Do you ever read the posts that are already here before you submit yours? Just two posts above your’s I mention the exact same thing.
Listing a 14.4 or simililarily bad time means squat on Napster. Looking at ping times is the key, it is the best speed gauge that site has to offer.
One further note, the ping time also takes into account whether or not that fast T-1 is currently being swamped with others getting files from them. Pings go up as they get more and more overwhelmed.
