Shadowhawk
09-26-2002, 04:38 AM
Well, I just DL'ed & installed the new 2.0 version of kazaa today, and I've gotta say, I AIN'T happy.
It does have a few nice features. Web searches as well as Kazaa network searches can now be done for example. It also has built in Anti-Virus software. That's a pretty big bottleneck to your DL speed though.
The BIG gripe I have though is their new "Participation Level" rating. It's a goofy sliding scale that's supposed to indicate how much they feel you're sharing your files with others & such. Based on that, they apparently bottleneck your DL performance.
Right from Kazaa's website:
Summary:
The higher your participation level, the better your KMD's downloading performance will be.
The more of your integrity rated files (measured in megabytes) you share, the higher your participation level.
In order to support the philosophy and principles upon which peer-to-peer technology is based, Kazaa Media Desktop now includes a Participation Level. This is a title or index assigned to each user based on the way in which they use the software. Basically, the more integrity rated files you share, the better your downloading performance will be.
They contradict themselves later on that same page & say this only acts as a tie breaker when more than one person is after the same file for downloading...
Anyway, on the surface, I could probably agree with punishing the people who won't share any files.
BUT
The scale they use is totally whack!!! I'm currently sharing 1686 files, and don't bump any uploaders off my machine. I do limit uploads to 4 at a time though. BUT, I only have a 41 (on a scale of 1 to 100) rating??? That's considered low BTW. They also punish you for having a good DL speed. I actually watched my rating drop from 50 to 41 when I got a 36k DL speed on one file.:mad: My rating suffers because I pay $45 a month for a DSL connection to make using kazaa practical in the first place?
I guess they're not totally communist though, since they want to punish the poor & rural dwellers also. From their FAQ section on that same web page:
But I'm on a modem and sharing has too much impact on speed - that is OK, you will still be able to download, but someone who shares (who you might be getting files from) deserves priority if you ever go head to head.
But I pay for bandwidth when other users download from me - again, that's OK, do what you can. It will only impact you when you come up against another user who wants exactly the same file at exactly the same time.
Don't you love that last part? It's alright that we're screwing with the bandwidth you're paying for. Just bend over and take it.:rolleyes:
Gettig back to the dail-up/modem thing, I can understand somebody who's on dial-up not wanting to share much if any of their files. It takes a 1/2 hour just to DL 1 lousy 3 meg song if you don't have to fight for your own bandwidth.
I don't know if they're enforcing this retroactively on their servers with the old versions by creating a bottleneck there, but I doubt it. SO, I'd definately stay clear of the new version & stick with 1.7 or whatever the last version was.
Screw this you're not entitled to the bandwidth you're paying for crap:mad:
It does have a few nice features. Web searches as well as Kazaa network searches can now be done for example. It also has built in Anti-Virus software. That's a pretty big bottleneck to your DL speed though.
The BIG gripe I have though is their new "Participation Level" rating. It's a goofy sliding scale that's supposed to indicate how much they feel you're sharing your files with others & such. Based on that, they apparently bottleneck your DL performance.
Right from Kazaa's website:
Summary:
The higher your participation level, the better your KMD's downloading performance will be.
The more of your integrity rated files (measured in megabytes) you share, the higher your participation level.
In order to support the philosophy and principles upon which peer-to-peer technology is based, Kazaa Media Desktop now includes a Participation Level. This is a title or index assigned to each user based on the way in which they use the software. Basically, the more integrity rated files you share, the better your downloading performance will be.
They contradict themselves later on that same page & say this only acts as a tie breaker when more than one person is after the same file for downloading...
Anyway, on the surface, I could probably agree with punishing the people who won't share any files.
BUT
The scale they use is totally whack!!! I'm currently sharing 1686 files, and don't bump any uploaders off my machine. I do limit uploads to 4 at a time though. BUT, I only have a 41 (on a scale of 1 to 100) rating??? That's considered low BTW. They also punish you for having a good DL speed. I actually watched my rating drop from 50 to 41 when I got a 36k DL speed on one file.:mad: My rating suffers because I pay $45 a month for a DSL connection to make using kazaa practical in the first place?
I guess they're not totally communist though, since they want to punish the poor & rural dwellers also. From their FAQ section on that same web page:
But I'm on a modem and sharing has too much impact on speed - that is OK, you will still be able to download, but someone who shares (who you might be getting files from) deserves priority if you ever go head to head.
But I pay for bandwidth when other users download from me - again, that's OK, do what you can. It will only impact you when you come up against another user who wants exactly the same file at exactly the same time.
Don't you love that last part? It's alright that we're screwing with the bandwidth you're paying for. Just bend over and take it.:rolleyes:
Gettig back to the dail-up/modem thing, I can understand somebody who's on dial-up not wanting to share much if any of their files. It takes a 1/2 hour just to DL 1 lousy 3 meg song if you don't have to fight for your own bandwidth.
I don't know if they're enforcing this retroactively on their servers with the old versions by creating a bottleneck there, but I doubt it. SO, I'd definately stay clear of the new version & stick with 1.7 or whatever the last version was.
Screw this you're not entitled to the bandwidth you're paying for crap:mad: