Filetopia - Well, I've finally got around to reviewing this program. I have had delays due to various server problems that this app. was having, but now everything is up and running again.

So, here we go. On first look, this program seems quite smart in terms of its layout (see screenshot). There are large buttons at the top of the pane that are marked with things like "Home", "Chat", "Search" etc. The usual you'd find. This means its pretty easy to use and previous Napster or Morpheus users will feel right at home. However, there is actually an "Expert Mode" that you are able to go into so you can perform various tasks quicker then in the normal mode, however, it takes a little getting used to, and doesn't quite look as nice :) There is also a bar at the bottom which I liked quite a bit, which shows all the open windows in the program for easier navigation.............or something.

Connection to the main server begins as soon as you open the program, however, it can be slow. This can be pretty irritating too, as for the first couple of times in which I have opened the program, I had to manually connect to the server myself (by going to the menu File > Connect to Server).

But anyways, onto the stuff that matters. There are many features on the face of this program, which include a rather nifty "Hotlist" type thingy enabling you to see what friends are online, and what files they are sharing. If you look at the screenshot you'll see what it looks like. Also there are loads of chat channels you can join to request files or whatever. You'll notice by this fact, Filetopia is a very community-based program. I mean, you can even have voice conversations with each other, as well as send private messages and that.

Ok, I guess I've pretty much said all the good points about it. Now here's the rest...

What I noticed about Filetopia is that it was very buggy. The program has crashed on me when I started downloading files, and it just doesn't feel stable enough. Searches are pretty slow to get going, but the results are pretty relevant to the query. You can search for pretty much all types of media on this program, and say if you search for MP3s, the results will actually specify the bitrate and length of the file. Which is good. However, I also found it slow to get the downloads started. It seemed to take forever, but when they did, the download speeds were pretty good.

The main downfall of this program that makes it fail miserably in my books is the amount of users on it. When I logged on, there were only around 800 users logged on, which is simply too few. You can't find certain files easily, let alone rare ones. Which is disappointing.

SUMMARY: This program is pretty poor. It has a great interface, and is very easy to use, but the program is simply too buggy and there are not enough users on it. For that reason, it makes little use as a file-sharing app. for the moment. A few beta versions later, and a larger community of users will make this program much better to use, but at the moment I have little use for it. On the plus side, there is a really cool hotlist type feature on it, and good chat facilities, but it's simply not enough to keep me using the program.  

Pros : Great interface - Easy to use - Nice hotlist feature - Voice chatting!  - Good chatting facilities - Good download speeds

Cons : Too buggy - Not enough users - Not enough files - Searches can be slow - Takes too long for a download to begin

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