File sharing is alive and kicking with these 15 Napster alternatives.

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Is Audiogalaxy, as its tagline states, "The Web's Best Music Search"? Perhaps.

We received countless emails from viewers questioning the lack of an Audiogalaxy review in the Ultimate Napster Clone Guide.

The raves rolled in:

  • DJ Bob: "Audiogalaxy makes BearShare look like a blue-light special."
  • Robert: "I can get any song I choose on Audiogalaxy -- they have everything!"
  • Dan: "I have tried all the ones listed on your site, and none even comes close to Audiogalaxy."


We decided to put Audiogalaxy to the test.

Beware of spyware. Audiogalaxy is reported to be loaded with it.

Audiogalaxy offers direct downloads that are not copyright protected. If the song is copyright protected, you need to sort through the results and pinpoint one with a satellite symbol next to it, meaning you download it from another user via the satellite. This screen has one general message board at the bottom.

Audiogalaxy is all about turning users on to new music. You can conduct searches by genre: We searched for "rock" and the page had a featured artist with an MP3 and link to buy. It also showcased recommended artists, top 10 lists, and a "what goes on" category featuring a list of "bands carrying on the spirit of Joey Ramone." You create a user profile and add bands to your list of favorites to help find file sharers with similar tastes.

The downloads were neither fast nor slow. You can have between one and 10 downloads in progress simultaneously, but only if you have more than 25 files in your shared folder. Otherwise, only one MP3 will download at a time. One slight catch: You must remove a file before downloading another version with the same name.

In the end, all files were full-length and crisp and play through your default player. The big, obvious buttons make it easy to remove a file or quit a download. In addition to allowing you to see the number of users online any given time, Audiogalaxy sorts file traders by country. At the time of the "AudioFile" test, there were 9,531 file-swappers in the United States, 28 in Pakistan, and 286 in Chile. Even though it was the middle of night in most hemispheres, every corner of the globe had representation.

Is file-sharing really having a detrimental affect on album sales? A search on Audiogalaxy for megapopular boy band 'N Sync yielded a generous 3,897 downloadable files.

Audiogalaxy may be the Web's best music search -- for now. The minimalist AG satellite appears to be the cleanest, most efficient method. However, in the rapidly expanding universe of file swapping, a new star could be discovered at any time.

Download report

We used these search terms with other Napster clones such as KaZaA. The purpose of this search was to get a feel for the availability of widely used search terms, as well as more obscure bands and song titles.

  • Apples in Stereo -- 291 matches
  • Radiohead -- 3,196 matches
  • Metallica, "Enter Sandman" -- 1,175 (+ a techno remix!)
  • The Beatles, "Yellow Submarine" -- 448 matches
  • Dr. Dre, "The Watcher" -- 242 matches
  • 'N Sync -- 3,897 matches

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