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

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MusicCity, once known for its far-reaching Open Nap network and client, has crossed over to the proprietary world with Morpheus, its new downloadable file-sharing client. To some, it's the best thing since KaZaA. To others, it's a nod to the "dark side."

There's a reason why Morpheus looks and functions exactly like KaZaA. The makers of the Europe-based KaZaA have licensed its proprietary peer-to-peer technology to the Nashville-based MusicCity. Hardcore file sharers remember that MusicCity's Open Nap servers numbered in the dozens and brokered millions of files (it was a default server for WinMX). Now, the Morpheus-KaZaA network brings an average of 45,000 users together sharing over four million music, video, and image files -- among others.

Unlike Open Nap or Gnutella protocols, the KaZaA technology can easily accommodate throngs of new users. It's scalable because it designates the more powerful computers on its network as SuperNodes. These "alpha-PCs" serve as search portals for the rest of the community. The user can check off a box in preferences if they don't want to act as a SuperNode. This may be beneficial to some because word on the street is that the KaZaA client can be a drain on system resources. So far, we haven't felt the drain.

Users like Morpheus for its intuitive user interface and its relatively quick search results. For most searches, results pop up on the screen in a couple of seconds. For instance, our search of everything Radiohead (including audio, video, images, documents and software) resulted in 106 files.

Of course, the Morpheus interface allows sorting by Title, Artist, Media Type, Category, Download Time, Size, etc. - an integral part of searching for say, the shortest download (many results' download times are in hours!).

Fast and hearty results speak volumes and with over forty thousand users, it's easy to find almost anything. Highlighting the interface is the "My Shared Folder" tab. It breaks down all your files by type so it's easy to view or play images, music or video in the built-in Theater media player. Only problem is that some files have a difficult time playing in the theater.

Other features include a Napster-like traffic window where right-clicking on the mouse will help play, cancel, clear or resume a download, and the default placement of a My Shared Folder shortcut on the desktop.

Many file sharing purists shrug at the notion of the new MusicCity. Some users have experienced bugginess in the client; others don't appreciate the drain on system resources.

We gave KaZaA four stars for its technology. Morpheus isn't anything new although it has a dense content and user base. We give it three stars.

Download report

We used these search terms with other Napster clones. 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.

  • 45,000-50,000 users online on average sharing approximately 4,500,000 files
  • Results: 2-30 seconds depending on file popularity
  • Number of Apples in Stereo songs found using four servers: 120 (maximum 100 results)
  • Number of Radiohead songs found on four servers: 106 spanning the group's entire career
  • Number of results for harder-to-find songs on four servers: The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine": 121; Dr. Dre's "The Watcher": 113; Metallica's "Enter Sandman": 118

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