| From: | Jay Cornwall |
| Date: | 14 Aug 2001 at 18:17:01 |
| Subject: | Re: AudioGalaxy |
On 13-Aug-01, Databug wrote:
>> Of course, you could always wait for my Gnutella client.
>> (http://amignut.sourceforge.net) ;)
> I havn't' looked at the site yet as my ISP is out of action tonight (13th)
> But I will happily welcome any client that will make it possible for me to
> get some mp3's. BTW is Gnutella anything to do with the napigator
> networks. I don't know much about Gnutela.
Gnutella has nothing in common with Napster, Napigator or its OpenNap
servers.
Napster is based around a centralised, high powered server, which clients
connect to in order to find MP3s. Once the desired MP3 is found, the server
gives the client details of the user (IP address, port, etc.) who has the
MP3. The download then takes place out of network.
This system has several disadvantages. Firstly, as has already been seen, it
is very easy to shut down (only the single server needs to be disabled, and
the whole network is dead). Secondly, if the central server malfunctions in
some way, it brings down the whole network with it.
Gnutella is very different. The network uses a P2P (peer to peer) system, in
which clients do not connect to a central server, but instead connect to
each other. In doing so, they have to act as miniature servers as well as
clients. This gives rise to the network's only real disadvantage: some of
your bandwidth is needed for server purposes, mainly message routing.
OTOH, the network also has several advantages. It is almost impossible to
shut down, because there is no central server to target. Even if you could
disable each system on the network (the number rises into tens of
thousands), you would have a hard time finding them due to the network's
high level of anonymity.
Also, even if a significant number of systems on the network malfunction,
there will always been enough other systems available to keep the network
running.
Obviously this doesn't benefit the end-user all that much, apart from seeing
a worrying increase in bandwidth being used (usually about 0.5-1 KB/s on 56k
systems), and longer connect times (averaging about 20s, ATM). What will
benefit the user, however, is seeing the large number of files available. I
can say from first-hand experience (I have an almost fully-functioning
client written), this is better than even the largest Napster servers.
Well, that should have just about explained everything. ;)
Regards
Jay
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