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LimeWire is Dead: What Are the Alternatives?

2010-10-28 10:48:42

Chloe Albanesius - PC Magazine Chloe Albanesius - Pc Magazine Wed Oct 27, 12:49 pm ET

The legal battles plaguing the LimeWire P2P service finally took their toll Tuesday when Lime Wire announced that it has blocked the LimeWire service from the Gnutella peer-to-peer network.

Lime Wire was orderd by the court to disable the searching, downloading, uploading, file trading and/or file distribution functionality, and/or all functionality of LimeWire's P2P file-sharing software. Visitors to the site are now met with a legal notice that notifies them of the shutdown.

The move has left many users in search of an alternative to LimeWire. What other P2P sites are available? While there are countless options available, we polled the PCMag staff and put together a list of several alternatives for BitTorrent, Gnutella, and beyond. All of these services should be used for legal downloads, of course; PCMag does not condone the download of copyrighted or illegal material. With that in mind, here are few sites that might help with the LimeWire withdrawal.

FrostWire

Ever since Lime Wire made its Tuesday announcement, the name FrostWire has been floating around the Web as a viable alternative. FrostWire, which touts itself as "open source and completely free," is a P2P file-sharing program for BitTorrent and Gnutella. It dates back to 2004, and version 4.21.1 is available now for download on frostwire.com. The interface looks a lot like LimeWire; a YouTube user posted an instructional video detailing how to get set up. On Tuesday, the company also released an Android app for $4.99, though based on a PCMag hands on with the app, it leaves a little something to be desired.

Vuze

Vuze, formerly known as Azureus, bills itself as the "most powerful BitTorrent app on earth." Earlier this month, it rolled out support for the new Apple TV, BlackBerry devices, and a wider range of Android devices in addition to existing support for various game consoles, TiVo, and Samsung TVs. A paid option, Vuze Plus, offers unlimited DVD burns and built-in antivirus for $24.99 per year. Version 4.5 is available for download now. PCMag reviewed version 4.2 about a year ago, and found it to be good choice for novices that may not want to learn file-sharing-related terminology before getting started.

uTorrent

uTorrent is a small BitTorrent client that bills itself as "a powerhouse with a tiny appetite"; the latest Windows version is just 320KB. PCMag reviewed version 1.8.4 in October 2009 and found it to be a basic, effective client. Since then, uTorrent has added an alpha Linux download and a stable version for Mac. Last month, uTorrent also unveiled a the Featured Artist program, which offers musicians and filmmakers the ability to submit their work for consideration in special promotions.

Shareaza

Shareaza is a P2P client for Windows available for download at shareaza.sourceforge.net. You can upload/download from EDonkey2000, Gnutella, BitTorrent, and Gnutella2, Shareaza said. As PCMag outlined two years ago, it's not the same as Shareaza.com, a copycat site that tries to trick you into downloading software you don't want. The real Shareaza released version 2.5.3.0 in June 2010, while Shareaza.com is currently promoting version 7. PCMag hasn't reviewed Shareaza since 2004, but at the time it earned a 4 out of 5 rating.

Ares

Ares is another sourceforge.net file-sharing site. An updated version - Ares 2.1.7 - was just released on Wednesday, which supports the BitTorrent protocol and Shoutcast radio stations via the built-in audio/video player, Ares said.

RapidShare

RapidShare is not a P2P site, but it lets you upload files and then send a download link to people with whom you want to share the file. Users of the free service can upload files up to 500MB, though there is a 15-minute wait time between downloads. A RapidPro service, which runs about $8 per month, will give you 50GB of storage, 2GB uploads, and no wait times. The only drawback to RapidShare is that you can't search directly for files stored on the service, though numerous RapidShare search sites are in existence.