A history of file sharing

I am compiling a history of my own file-sharing in the past. I no longer do these things and do not condone them in any way. I do not know whether the school would find this appropriate writing material, but all of this is true

First there was FTP sites. This was well before my time and I cannot speak about these with any clarity. As with anything server-based, this was iffy at best... of course file-sharing didn't hit the national spotlight until Napster.

Napster was based on centralized servers, and was easy to shut down. Despite some clamouring for the glory days of Napster, they simply weren't that great. You could only download from one user at a time, one file at a time, and it had to be a music file of usually poor quality. There were hardware limitations involved, but still, they were not glory days.

Then I used KaZaA. KaZaA offered the ability to download from multiple users at once, as well as several different filetypes. KaZaA was decentralized, therefore it was hard to get caught despite the RIAA's publicity stunts. I loved it for what programs I could get, but that was also the reason I stopped using it. KaZaA had malware all over the network, and lots of it made it to my machine. Fortunately, most of the time I had the right software in place to stop it. Then came eDonkey.

eDonkey was a smoother version of KaZaA, with more options and no malware. The networks were hybrids, running on the users and servers. Most of the servers were based in Europe, making them harder to shut down by the RIAA. After I left for college I stopped using eDonkey and began to simply borrow CDs from friends who are music buffs.

What is the buzz now? Bit Torrent of course. Bit Torrent is completely decentralized and can be used to sent practically anything anywhere. Plus, some Bit Torrent hosts, called trackers, function in private communities and are nearly impossible to track.

Bit Torrent, and every evolution in file-sharing, remains one step ahead of those looking to shut it down. Bit Torrent will be their hardest case yet.