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

Page 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15
We have found the next Napster, and its name is KaZaA. Deemed "Europe's most promising peer-to-peer service" by Zeropaid, KaZaA is attracting file-sharers worldwide. KaZaA has been sold to Australia's Sharman Networks and is up and running. Read our story for more information.

KaZaA has taken steps to avoid Napster-style legal woes. The company is working out a subscription payment plan through which KaZaA members will be able to pay a flat monthly subscription fee to share and download music from commercial artists legitimately and at full CD-quality.

Users can swap all types of media files -- audio, video, images, documents, and software -- with KaZaA, and it uses no central servers. The technology behind it eliminates the annoying aspects of file-sharing and connects users to the fastest downloads. Search options are very specific. When the results appear, the download time is listed. There is also a special Winamp plug-in available that allows you to search for and play music directly from KaZaA via your Winamp player.

KaZaA installs quickly, and the interface is similar to a Microsoft Outlook folder, a set-up familiar to many. "Traffic" is KaZaA's equivalent to Napster's "transfer" area (where files are downloaded). "My KaZaA" is the Napster "library" (where the files are stored). Unlike Napster, the files are automatically sorted and placed in folders. More details on songs, such as full title, artist, album, category, length, and year, plus Web links to more information on the artist, are standard. Napster fans will enjoy the "instant messaging" feature, but will miss the "Hot List" option.

Download report

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

  • 12,000-15,000 users online on average sharing approximately 1180K files

  • Downloads speedy, easy-to-use

  • Number of Apples in Stereo songs found: 9

  • Number of Radiohead songs found: 61 spanning the group's entire career

  • Number of results for harder-to-find songs: The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine": 5; Dr. Dre's "The Watcher": 2; Metallica's "Enter Sandman": 10


For more information, visit KaZaA's FAQs.

Page 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15