Limewire - Right, now I have FINALLY got Limewire to work. If you've been here before, you would have seen that I wasn't able to get Limewire up and running due to the fact that there was this "Java 2 Runtime Environment v.1.3.1" or something that I had to install but couldn't as I ran into a problem with the installation freezing up. But anyways, I've switched to XP, and that seems to have done the trick. I still had to install that Java thingy anyway, and I guess for anyone on a 56k modem, this means extra time downloading, the installation this time ran fairly smoothly.

But anyways, better move on to the review. Limewire is yet another Gnutella client. Just by saying this, I can already state the facts that the network is decentralised (no central server) which means you have to connect to an IP which makes you a "node" in the network. Don't worry about what that all means, because Limewire automatically does this for you as soon as you start the program.

The first thing that struck me was the fact that the interface looked pretty slick (see screenshot below)- I could see why they used a Java Environment to set up the interface in this way. However, the program does seem to freeze a lot more then usual, and I can only think that on someone else's slower PC that this would cause the client to constantly slow down when switching between tabs and so forth. As I mentioned, Limewire does use the popular tabbed navigation system to switch windows. There are 3 tabs: Search (which speaks for itself), Monitor (in which you see what files are being uploaded from you and see what searches are being made by others, and Library (where you can see what files you are sharing etc. and make an MP3 playlist). It's pretty easy to get to grips with the layout.

Searching on Limewire is also pretty easy. You can search for various types of media (audio, video etc.) (see screenshot) but you can't search for the bitrate you want for MP3 files which sucks. The search results aren't that detailed either. It simply displays the filename, type etc. and not any other extra information such as bitrate or whatever, which Gnutella clients such as Bearshare have now began to do so. Still, the search results always are relevant to the query and are displayed fairly quickly. There is also a "Quality" and "Score" column which I'm guessing is something like what iMesh also use - it basically tells you how likely you are to get the file you're downloading judging by the amount of people that have that file. It's pretty pointless, but hey. A cool thing however is when you make new searches, a new tab appears in the search window below, meaning you can make multiple searches in one go (like that in XoloX).

The major feature of Limewire, aside from its slick interface, is the welcomed addition of Multi-Source downloads. This basically means that if one person has the same file that another person has when you are downloading it, you can connect to both these users (and more) to download and get the file, thus dramatically increasing the download speed. In theory that is anyways. It seems that Morpheus (or KaZaA) is the only program that this actually works properly in. With Morpheus, this feature of multi-source downloads allows me to hit speeds of 70k and beyond (on a cable modem) however, with Limewire, it doesn't work at all as well as this. I downloaded a file, and I was constantly cut off from various users. It seemed that I downloaded say, 65% of a file, but when I got cut off, the download went back to something like 11%. And that ain't good. This only happened to me once in, say, three downloads, but it definitely was noticeable enough to mention here.

A nice addition which I always welcome in file-sharing programs (but is by no means essential) is an internal audio player. Its small and nippy, and sits at the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. It's by no means powerful, but it nice to have just to preview the MP3s that your receiving. I do like the fact that they have a playlist feature on Limewire too.

But Limewire is buggy. I've had it crash and freeze my computer many times, and it just doesn't seem like its worth the hassle. Also, Limewire has had its fair share of problems in terms of spyware with recent versions, and does try to get you to install a couple of 3rd-party programs that we could do without. You'll see the screens come up during installation - just say no to each of them.

SUMMARY: So, a good program, but I've had too many troubles with it to be using it again myself. I found Limewire too unreliable in terms of the downloads as I rarely completed one. The speeds of the downloads did vary a lot too - sometimes you hit high speeds, sometimes low. Most of the time though, you'll find yourself deadlocked, not connecting at all to the person at the other end with the file you want. Also, Limewire was real buggy on my system, often freezing my PC and even sometimes crashing it. But its got a nice layout, and a few neat features. Can't say its my favourite Gnutella client, but check it out and see for yourself.

Pros : Nice interface - Multisource downloads - Neat Internal Audio and playlist feature

Cons : Buggy - Unreliable transfers - Poor use of multisource downloading - Spyware

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