Alternatives to Soulseek?

[beesonthewhatnow]

I still dont get it.

Soulseek and other P2P seemed limited to me. I have very rarely failed to find anything I want on torrents, and with a client like Utorrent, it is just like P2P+.

And I cant understand how they are difficult to use. You literally just click a link.

So what's all the stuff people keep going on about like "seeding" and "ratios", and why do you need "invites" to do it?

 

[Disjecta Membra]

slsk's definitely better for chat, finding people interested in the same stuff etc
with torrents you have to search for forums with torrent links to find like minded souls.

but theres no harm in being a member of torrents and various p2p's (eggs in one basket and that)

 

[El Jefe]

So what's all the stuff people keep going on about like "seeding" and "ratios", and why do you need "invites" to do it?

You need invites to certain sites where the torrent trackers are hosted - these are what you download to enable you to collect the bits of the file you're after from different users.

Seeding means sharing - unlike with say soulseek where you share a whole folder, in torrents you share the specific file till you stop.

Once you've shared as much as you've downloaded (eg, you've downloaded a file 1gb in size and you've allowed others to upload 1gb of the same file) you'll have a ratio of 1. Half a gb, you'll have a ratio of 0.5. Course, if you download more than one torrent from one site, your ratio becomes cumulative rather than based on any one file

 

[Stig]

So what's all the stuff people keep going on about like "seeding" and "ratios", and why do you need "invites" to do it?

You don't need invites, they're just for exclusive sites. I use bogstandard ones and never had trouble.

Seeding is where you have the whole thing completed, but leave it on there anyway for others, cos you're nice. (it's not like p2p where people can browse your folders. They can only download what you have currently dragged into the window of the software.)

Ratios (of upload to download) keep track of who's not sharing, and can slow your download rates, but only count for one session until you start joining the exclusive sites.

eta: bit late eh? Working and posting, never works.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

I use soulseek all day, every day, and it works fine for me. Very rare I can't find what I want eventually

Me too. It's the same as it always used to be.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Because there's lots of stuff you can't find on torrent, even Oink when it was still around.

Yup. The way I kept a good Oink ratio was by finding stuff on soulseek that wasn't on oink, and uploading it on oink.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Sorry, I completely disagree. I've got in excess of 250gb of mp3s, I've been using torrents and soulseek (and before that napster etc) for years. Whilst torrents are good for albums -mainly mainstream ones at that - they will never match the vast range of obscurities, bootlegs, remixes, one-off tracks etc you'll find on soulseek. I'm almost tempted to state that as an incontrovertible fact, to be honest.

I completely agree. I can't imagine that, on the mainstream/public torrent sites, it's easy to find stuff like Trail of Dead (the older stuff), Jesus Lizard, God Machine, Sonic Youth, Mudhoney (although the recent one is probably there), etc...

 

[DJ Bigga]

I completely agree. I can't imagine that, on the mainstream/public torrent sites, it's easy to find stuff like Trail of Dead (the older stuff), Jesus Lizard, God Machine, Sonic Youth, Mudhoney (although the recent one is probably there), etc...

yep, forget about dancehall reggae too (by torrent).

 

[mitochondria]

Me too. It's the same as it always used to be.

same here. but i so rarely use general search that i don't know if it is quick or not. userlist buddies have what i need 90% of the time.
and i ban for not sharing. it is quite ironic, when people don't share and whine about not getting search results.

torrents are good for movies.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

You need invites to certain sites where the torrent trackers are hosted - these are what you download to enable you to collect the bits of the file you're after from different users.

Seeding means sharing - unlike with say soulseek where you share a whole folder, in torrents you share the specific file till you stop.

Once you've shared as much as you've downloaded (eg, you've downloaded a file 1gb in size and you've allowed others to upload 1gb of the same file) you'll have a ratio of 1. Half a gb, you'll have a ratio of 0.5. Course, if you download more than one torrent from one site, your ratio becomes cumulative rather than based on any one file

<reads>

<reads again>

<still dosen't get it and goes back to soulseek>

 

[El Jefe]

<reads>

<reads again>

<still dosen't get it and goes back to soulseek>

I know what you mean, but it's honestly dead easy. I don't know how it works, I just know how to use it. But yes, I honestly think torrents are pointless for music so you're probably fine as you are

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I like my technology simple, with big buttons

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

It's quite simple bees.

You download utorrent from www.utorrent.com

Then you go to a torrent site - I mostly just use isohunt at the moment

http://isohunt.com/

You search for the film you're after.

Then you open the torrent file and it should open in utorrent for you and tell you to choose which folder to save it in.

With the public sites you don't need to worry about the ratio business, as they have no such demands, and usually the speeds are fine anyway, although the quality isn't always good.

Some of the private ones the ratio business can indeed be irritating; you spend more time thinking about how to improve your ratio thatn actually enjoying the stuff you've doenloaded

 

[Blagsta]

I like my technology simple, with big buttons

You're in luck - utorrent has big buttons!

 

[lunatrick]

anyone here use what.cd? I do but I can't seem to open the torrent files with utorrent....if I click download I get an IE page saying it cannot be displayed, and if I click save as I also get an error.....

Also their FAQ pages don't seem to work...

eta - I've sorted it - cookie problem.....

 

[jugularvein]

slsk was crap for me too but it's just a question of uninstalling it and then re-installing the latest version as i think they update it pretty much all the time. mine works much better now but of course there are problems. dl speeds change unexplicably and the tracks i look for invariably have a queue.

it depends on what sort of music you're looking for when it comes to choosing where to download it. for obsure stuff that will drive you mad unless you find it, then slsk is a godsend. most of what i look for is only available on slsk. italodisco, balearic, cosmic bollocks etc

as has been said torrents are alright but i'm always back on slsk looking for some weird shit by alexander robotnick