February 4, 2002

11:35 AM

Kazaa asks users to accept new terms and conditionswhen logging on. Anyone know of any hidden pitfalls to the t&c's? Am I going to get visits from the police?
posted by wibbler (15 comments total)

I'm not a lawyer, but I read the new T&C's thoroughly (I was sweatin' a bit, too), and it seemed to me like they were just trying to cover their collective ass. Didn't see anything on there about IP logging, if that's what you're worried about. The thrust of it was "Don't violate copyright laws in your country, whatever those may be, mmm'kay?"
posted by Optamystic at 11:41 AM on February 4, 2002

if you've already got kazaa, just wait for the server to connect and click on search just like you always have.

you don't actually have to agree to the new terms.
posted by ronv at 12:04 PM on February 4, 2002

At this point I don't know why anyone is bothering using Kazaa with its built in spyware. Even if you use ad aware to remove the spyware you'll find that Kazaa convientely won't boot up until you reinstall it. Morpheus on the other hand obeys you when you say you don't want any spyware. Morpheus is like the sweetheart of the internet. It only loads ads, but you can block most of them using a hosts file.
posted by skallas at 12:07 PM on February 4, 2002

Skallas, I just went through that experience the other day. If you think you have spyware in windows, ad-aware is your friend. Personally I use this hosts file with some success, but I can't quite remember where I got it ;0)
posted by walrus at 12:33 PM on February 4, 2002

i'm on a mac and am saddened to hear of the newfound difficulties my PC-brethren are encountering using Morpheus and Kazaa. but i'm even more saddened by the fact that since Napster died, no mac client has emerged that comes even close to providing me the good old fashioned filesharing fun i'd grown accustomed to. if you think i'm whining, i suggest you wast some time with Aimster and see how it adjusts your attitude...
posted by subpixel at 12:50 PM on February 4, 2002

I've noticed some sneaky stuff going on when I use either Morpheus or Kazaa. For one, the program creates a dat file in your shared folder for every download. In that dat file, there are lots of details about my system that don't seem to relate to the media file downloaded (such as mirc, IE and registry settings, my name, etc). Also, I noticed that at certain intervals, the client will open a small IE window, send some data and immedietly close the window. Anybody know what that's all about?
posted by tomorama at 12:59 PM on February 4, 2002

I can't use Morpheus or those port-clients here at UGA when they closed the ports to them (well, i COULD, but i'm too lazy to figure out a way around it). I now use LimeWire or Gnucleus...i lke my Gnutella agents.
posted by jmd82 at 1:15 PM on February 4, 2002

Subpixel, try Virtual PC, the PC emulator. It allows you to run Kazaa no problems.
posted by skylar at 1:19 PM on February 4, 2002

subpixel: LimeWire is nice.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:38 PM on February 4, 2002

tomorama: I think the IE window symptoms are likely to be related to Cydoor, which Kazaa uses to deliver ads to your client. God knows what's in those DLL's.

The .DAT files should just contain the downloaded segments of your file. Kazaa needs to rebuild these into a consistent target file at the end (which doesn't always happen like it should). I can't understand why your registry settings would be in there.

Have to say though, that I'm a little worried since the sale of the protocol to a new company, that they're going to try pushing loads more crap into the product. I know there's quite a lot of scumware in there at the moment, but at least it's manageable with the right tools. We really need for some open source product to come along with the same sort of functionality. And then, most important, for everyone to start using it.

There was a project called ShadowFT which had an interesting idea - to piggyback a new, open network on top of the Kazaa one. When the desired "critical mass" had been acheived, they could drop Kazaa and carry on with their own network.

(talking of spyware - as I speak my firewall's just called me on RealPlayer's "Dynamic App" something or other. I'm not even running Real. Anyone know what that's about?)
posted by dlewis at 1:49 PM on February 4, 2002

subpixel: Try Drumbeat. It blows Aimster and Limewire away.
posted by KLAX at 2:20 PM on February 4, 2002

dlewis: It must be Real One's message centre crap, it works in the background and checks for new messages from Real.
posted by riffola at 4:18 PM on February 4, 2002

but i'm even more saddened by the fact that since Napster died...

Napster the company may be more or less dead, but Napster the protocol is alive and well. There are dozens of independent servers up and running. Go download a copy of Mapigator, fire up your old Napster client, and have fun. Same as it ever was.

if you think i'm whining, i suggest you wast some time with Aimster and see how it adjusts your attitude...

Well, yeah, but isn't that because Aimster as we know it pretty much died a week or so ago? My client no longer connects at all; apparantly it now locks out everyone that doesn't pay $4.95 a month.

posted by aaron at 4:29 PM on February 4, 2002

Nice to see ya, aaron!
posted by Optamystic at 10:17 PM on February 4, 2002

thanks friends
posted by subpixel at 1:31 PM on February 8, 2002