Kazaa Lite shut down by Sharman Networks

December 6, 2003 12:31 PM

Kazaa Lite K++, the spyware-free version of the popular file-sharing application, was ordered offline yesterday by Kazaa's owner Sharman Networks. On what grounds? Ironically, for copyright infringement. (The K++ downloads are gone from the official site, but the latest version is still mirrored here.)
posted by waxpancake (43 comments total)

Interesting. I wonder if this means no more updates for Kazaa Lite.
posted by Keyser Soze at 12:54 PM on December 6, 2003

I wouldn't worry about it, K++ will be released over the Kazaa network, just like it was when it started. It won't die until Kazaa itself is shut down.
posted by Grod at 1:12 PM on December 6, 2003

Irony is alive and well on the Web.
posted by wendell at 1:33 PM on December 6, 2003

I fail to see the irony; hasn't everyone expected this to happen for a long time now? If I understand correctly, Kazaa Lite originated as a hacked version of the original Kazaa client. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that Sharman Networks never gave the K-Lite authors permission to distribute the software.

On Preview: I refer to waxpancake's irony, not wendell's irony.
posted by Galvatron at 1:37 PM on December 6, 2003

K++ will be released over the Kazaa network

Well, I'm screwed then. My K-lite version is so old it won't let me connect anymore.
posted by CunningLinguist at 2:10 PM on December 6, 2003

Diet Kazaa, when installed and run on top of the official Kazaa, removes the adware/spyware and allows you to download in peace.
posted by shinnin at 2:14 PM on December 6, 2003

To make matters worse, I just heard a stat on TechTV that claims that usage of sharing apps such as Kazaa is down 58% since the RIAA started suing filesharers.
posted by crunchland at 2:26 PM on December 6, 2003

Largely because people are turning off sharing to avoid prosecution, which reduces the usefulness of the network dramatically for everyone, which leads to people leaving Kazaa for private file sharing networks, and so on. It's a downward spiral.
posted by waxpancake at 4:16 PM on December 6, 2003

*cough*bittorrent*cough*
posted by Espoo2 at 4:28 PM on December 6, 2003

*cough*newsgroups*cough*
posted by machaus at 4:55 PM on December 6, 2003

*cough*Ftp's*cough*
posted by Keyser Soze at 5:47 PM on December 6, 2003

*cough*microfiche*cough*
posted by PigAlien at 5:53 PM on December 6, 2003

*cough*


anyone got any Robitussin?
posted by angry modem at 5:54 PM on December 6, 2003

hasn't everyone expected this to happen for a long time now?

I'm surprised. I had figured since Kazaa was so far outside U.S. law to begin with, being located on some secret island somewhere, they wouldn't be able to sue anyone for ripping off their program.

btw, google works pretty well for torrents:
matrix filetype:torrent
... newsgroups are a little sparatic (it's common for something to be split into 200 parts, three of which are missing) and ftp is usually only good if you know someone with a good ftp. WASTE and Direct Connect look are okay. Then there's always sneakernet.
posted by bobo123 at 5:57 PM on December 6, 2003

i find that breaking into cars usually allows me to get at least six or seven albums for free!
posted by akmonday at 6:04 PM on December 6, 2003

Avoid the extra-strength Robitussin. It tastes worse than awful.

XNews, alt.binaries.sounds.ogg and sounds.[etc].
posted by five fresh fish at 6:14 PM on December 6, 2003

"turn your head"
*cough*
posted by Trik at 6:36 PM on December 6, 2003

Whoa! That's quite the lump you've got there, Trik. We're going to have to book a biopsy.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:45 PM on December 6, 2003

*cough*

Is Tecwen Whittock in the audience or something?

*cough*
posted by Fofer at 7:35 PM on December 6, 2003

What is a torrent? Someone, please?
posted by tr33hggr at 8:43 PM on December 6, 2003

I, for one, welcome our new coughing overlords.

*cough*
posted by oaf at 9:11 PM on December 6, 2003

This is classic MeFi, in a good way. Cough.

A torrent is a reference to BitTorrent, a program that lets you download stuff and also serve it to other downloaders even before you have the whole thing. I've gotten some amazingly quick downloads with it before.

The Diebold election scam was distributed via Bittorrent, and I'm sure the Paris Hilton video was too.

We received a letter at our school from Hollywood lawyers claiming that someone on campus was serving up "The Italian Job" via BitTorrEnT. So you are just as identifiable as Kazaa--I think.

Lately I've been mailing mix cds to friends. Ok, I haven't actually mailed it yet.

http://irate.com is nifty, and legal (for now).
posted by mecran01 at 9:45 PM on December 6, 2003

Irate rules. If someone figures out a micropayment system for it, I think it'll be the future. Thoroughly kicks ass.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:55 PM on December 6, 2003

*cough* Irate may rule, but the site certainly doesn't. Is this what you meant?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:52 AM on December 7, 2003

Someone clear something up for me.

The spyware included with regular Kazaa can be removed with AdAware and such, can't it? Or is it (they) tied to the main program somehow (ie: main prog won't run if foo.exe is missing).
posted by RavinDave at 1:54 AM on December 7, 2003

... newsgroups are a little sparatic (it's common for something to be split into 200 parts, three of which are missing)

True. Luckily NewsBin will pull needed segments from different servers into a single download action.
posted by HTuttle at 1:58 AM on December 7, 2003

cough

* soulseek *

which should get it's own metafilter thread, but for reasons of longevity, i refrain from posting.
posted by iamck at 2:12 AM on December 7, 2003

*cough*printing mp3s in binary format at your local kinkos*cough*
posted by Keyser Soze at 2:47 AM on December 7, 2003

The spyware included with regular Kazaa can be removed with AdAware and such, can't it? Or is it (they) tied to the main program somehow (ie: main prog won't run if foo.exe is missing).

Correct.
posted by Orange Goblin at 3:35 AM on December 7, 2003

Um ... which is correct? It can be removed entirely or it's ties to the master program?

(I know, I phrased my original question lousily).
posted by RavinDave at 5:10 AM on December 7, 2003

It can't be removed. Sorry, should have been more specific.
posted by Orange Goblin at 5:36 AM on December 7, 2003

http://irate.sourceforge.net
posted by mecran01 at 6:58 AM on December 7, 2003

I have to give props to soulseek as well. It sucks in that you can only download one file per-person at a time, making some downloads impossible. Yet it is sooo organized (ie. people usually have their files neatly labeled), and it actually can feel like a community sometimes.

Plus, it is the only file sharing program that I can access due to my University lisp blocking out the rest, so I am kind of stuck with it.
posted by Quartermass at 7:15 AM on December 7, 2003

sloppy spell check there. lisp should read ISP.
posted by Quartermass at 7:16 AM on December 7, 2003

"The spyware included with regular Kazaa can be removed with AdAware and such, can't it? Or is it (they) tied to the main program somehow (ie: main prog won't run if foo.exe is missing)."

The chief trick of Kazaa Lite/K++, is a dummy .dll, which, I believe, allows for the spyware/adware/crud, to be removed without anything kicking up a fuss.

As the poeple who made Kazaa Lite, said and readily admitted in their modification of the EULA of Kazaa, Kazaa Lite was illegal. (Despite being morally superior to Kazaa itself.)

Thanks for the links to the mirrors, waxpancake.
posted by Blue Stone at 7:42 AM on December 7, 2003

What is up with the coughing? USians seems to use them as some sort of bracket for sarcastic comments. Why not just say what you mean? Why do so many feel they have to flag their speech? Are these the same people who use emoticons?
posted by meehawl at 5:18 PM on December 7, 2003

The chief trick of Kazaa Lite/K++

Hardly. There are literally dozens of enhancements, not the least of which are an autosearch function, unlimited sources, a whole swiss army knife of tools, and so on. The spyware-free thing is great, of course, but K-lite is just a way better client, too, despite the fact that it looks basically the same (I think - I haven't used the official client for a long, long time now).
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:42 PM on December 7, 2003

Also : What is up with the coughing? USians seems to use them as some sort of bracket for sarcastic comments. Why not just say what you mean? Why do so many feel they have to flag their speech? Are these the same people who use emoticons?

It was a spontaneous running joke, meehawl, based on a common popular culture comedy convention (CPCCC), omnipresent in western culture. *cough*Jeez, you must be fun at parties. *cough*

But just because you seem to be more clueless than sarcastic there, I'll explain.

It's a device that's been used since (I don't know when, but a hell of a long time ago) to humourously achieve the same sort of effect as an [aside] would in a play; in other words to say something in some way inappropriate or unpleasant or dodgy in some way (as in : *cough*asshole*cough*) and cover it up a bit (or for risible effect only pretend to cover it up, as in its texty manifestation here) with a cough.

See also : literally hundreds of teen coming-of-age movies and television shows.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:48 PM on December 7, 2003

Did it originate with Wayne's World?
posted by inksyndicate at 9:14 AM on December 8, 2003

meehawl, inksyndicate:
*cough*Animal House.*cough*
posted by *burp* at 10:46 AM on December 8, 2003

I wanna hear more about Quartermass's University Lisp.

"GO DOGTH!!"
posted by BobFrapples at 11:09 AM on December 8, 2003

you seem to be more clueless than sarcastic there

Actually I was being disingenuous, there is a difference.

The coughing thing seems to be a very white USian-specific cultural thing. It might work well in audio, but its effectiveness in writing seems debatable. I am curious about its origins. Is Animal House really the first extant use of this mannerism? The truth needs to be known. Surely there's a Straight Dope on this? I think I will go check Alltheweb and Google.

I have noticed a definite tendency for White USians to bracket their speech using explicit markers more than many other English speaking cultural groups. Sometimes they use these parenthetical inserts, sometimes crude approximations of code or markup. Often I have watched amused as USians use gestural language to indicate quotations or declamations.

But then the USian English accent is generally flatter than many I have heard so there seems to be less room for tonal indicators within everyday speech. There are regional variations, of course, but the atonality is pronounced throughout most of the US. Except, of course, for the California innovation of using an upward inflection at the end of a sentence to indicate an interrogative, or to flag possible uncertainty of the speaker or to plead for assent.
posted by meehawl at 2:29 PM on December 8, 2003

Disengenuous -1

USian English intonation tends to rise on yes/no questions (and fall on information questions) to more or less the same degree as most other English versions, I've found. Nonetheless, point taken. Apologies for the snarkiness.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:00 AM on December 9, 2003