Free p2p Software: p2p Fileshare

How Does p2p Work: Free p2p Software & Free p2p Fileshare

How does p2p work? Once you have installed the free p2p software (not really free), it connects you to other users of the same p2p software. With peer-to-peer technology used by many download providers, individual users are connected directly to one another. It is not really free p2p fileshare software because, though the files you download are free of charge, there is normally a monthly or annually registration fee. p2p Fileshare programs can range from 99p or $1 a month to $39.99 a month or more, equivalent to Ł23.50. So your free p2p software does cost you. However, these are small charges to pay for the range of free music, movies and games you can download.

The term is really 'free file-sharing software', rather than free p2p software, because that’s exactly what it is. It allows you to share the content of your computer’s hard drive with other computers connected to the internet. The p2p fileshare software makes contact with a centralised server which uploads a list of files available on your hard drive. If anyone connected to the same server (i.e. logged on to the software) searches for a specific file or name of a specific song which is on your list, the server provides them with your computer address and their computer connects directly with yours and copies the file through the internet. The file does not pass through the central server – the p2p software directs it directly to your computer.

Once you have downloaded it, the file is marked as available to anyone on internet using the same p2p software, so any other registered user can download a copy of this file from your hard disk whenever you are logged on.

Some p2p fileshare software dispenses with the central server. It searches for others online using the same free p2p software package as you and informs you of all the computers with the piece of music you are searching for. You then decided whether or not to download the file. You don’t actually get computer addresses – you are given a list of titles with the same name as, or similar to, that you are seeking, or the same artist’s name as you are seeking, then you click to choose what you want. In this way a network is built up and many thousands of files are available to everyone connected in the network.

Free p2p fileshare is a very efficient way of distributing files, and while you are paying for the provision of the service, you are not paying for the files you download. They are therefore considered to be ‘free’.

The most common file types shared are music (.mp3, .wma files), pictures (.jpg, .gif, .png, .bmp files) and films (.avi, .mpg, .mpeg, .divx, .mov, formats).

The major problem with the p2p fileshare system is that of copyright. The major music companies are right now pursuing a selection of ordinary people, aged from 12 upwards, through the courts for illegal downloads.

When you receive the list of files which fit your search terms you cannot tell if they are copyrighted or if permission has been given for free distribution. If the music is chart stuff you can be pretty certain that it is under copyright, and it is internationally illegal to download it.