Viewers give Martin alternatives to his top Napster clone choices.

Recently I did a top five list about free Napster alternatives, most of which work on the Gnutella network. The list was based on the five most popular file sharing clients downloaded from CNET's Download.com.

Well, an incredible number of people wrote to me, not understanding that I'd taken the picks from a concrete popularity list and not from my own preferences, and pointed out that I'd recommended some bad or at least second-rate software. These people suggested some great alternatives, and here they are.

  1. Direct Connect

    If I understand Direct Connect correctly, you directly connect to various public hubs, many of which won't let you connect unless you're sharing a minimum number of media files from your hard drive. Based on their names, most of the hubs specialize in movie files, especially porn. I was able to find Al Green music files, but it was more of a struggle than with some of the other file-sharing clients in this list. (I use this test because lots of other artists, songs, and albums contain the word "green.") Direct Connect claims to have 12,206 users sharing 149.1TB.

  2. TekNap

    Here's a baffling file sharing client that I'm apparently not smart enough to use. Written in BSD, TekNap is clearly targeted toward Unix/Linux aficionados, though it should also work in, among other OSes, 32-bit Windows platforms. I'm just too big of a dummy to get anything out of it.

  3. AudioGnome

    Not entirely intuitive, but once you get the hang of it audioGnome will become a dear little friend. Search results for "Al Green" were right on target, filtering out Green Day and all the other green music I don't want. This audioGnome has no association with our very own Chris Pirillo.

  4. Gnucleus

    Another Gnutella clone that's easy to use, speedy, and generally satisfying. Using Gnucleus, a search for "Al Green" yielded 1,279 results. Many of these were for the Rev. Al Green, however I also got loads of Green Day, Weird Al's "Green Eggs and Ham," and many others.

  5. WinMX

    More people wrote to me about WinMX than any other file sharing client. People claim it's as easy to use as Napster and just as satisfying. I've used it, and I agree that it's one of the best. There's no learning curve, thanks to a simple interface, and you get the results you crave. I received an abundance of Al Green titles -- and only Al Green titles -- in no time flat. Download it now, especially if you were a Napster nut. It'll feel very similar.