![]() Voila, you’re ready to access the community! 2. We can only recommend to do this, because some users block people that don’t contribute to the network, so feel free to add some stuff if you have something valuable on your hard drive (be aware of the copyright laws in your country of course). You will be asked to add a folder to share. Next, you will be asked to enter a username and password, just choose something and remember it, as you will need it if you to use your nickname on a different computer. The software then runs by clicking on the desktop icon, simple enough. After downloading the installer, you run it and click a few buttons, and you’re done. Soulseek is available for both PC and Mac, and even a version for Linux can be found, and installation is as easy as we’re all used to these days. It’s time to change that: here is our review of Soulseek, the old-school file sharing program you never heard about but should have! 1. Up to this day, Soulseek remains an insider tip, a “niche” network of music addicts few people know about. The result: Loads of rare music, shared by avid music fans. Soulseek, on the other hand, is exactly like in the old days: Downloads occur directly from one person to the other, and it is designed to let people form personal relationships, featuring direct contact per chat, social features such as friendlists and also larger chatrooms for all kinds of music genres. (Napster, the first, now defunct P2P network, was very much like Soulseek) ![]() However, this quickly died down because people rushed in, avid to download without actually sharing anything. In the old days, many people didn’t just download but actively shared files between each other, not just on the technical side of things, but they were loads of people that actually converted their CDs and tapes to MP3, and made them available for people just because they wanted to participate in the whole thing. Soulseek – a real community, not just a downloading program But while these are long gone, either sued to cease and decist by the courts, or have become riddled with fake files, viruses and contantly surveilled by the copyright industry, Soulseek is still alive and rolling. The bottom line: Just give it a try and tell us what you think! Our Detailed Review:Īre you a fan of bootlegs, alternative or other, more exotic music genres or groups that you can’t find anywhere else? Do you not mind to take a half hour to really get things, with the reward being tons of rare music and being part of a unique community of music lovers? Then you might want to take a closer look to Soulseek, one of the last remaining veterans of what we like to call the “personal P2P area”.įirst presented in 2001, just two years after Napster started the file sharing craze, it gained some popularity among with the Gnutella network (Limewire etc.) and KaZaA, Grokster and other clients. The copyright industry has not bothered to spy on this network for over a decade, but some might still want to hide their tracks, “just in case”.Īlso, some people will require you to actively share music yourself, so don’t clear your download folder right away and consider contributing something yourself. ![]() Using the network anonymously behind a VPN is a tad more difficult than with torrents, but we have an article on that too ( see here). On the downside, in order to max out the potential of the software you might have to spend some time to properly set up port forwarding, especially if you want to fully anonymize everything, because otherwise some users files might not be accessible for you. The software itself is quite easy to understand, with a simple-to-use search engine, and if you play around a little bit, you will quickly learn to use its full potential, as there is more to discover than meets the eye. Soulseek not only has loads of free music, but also a pretty cool community of music lovers, often not only sharing random titles but whole album collections, which can sometimes be browsed through directly via the “view shared files” feature.īrowsing around other users files and chatting with the community either via private, direct chat or on the large chat rooms (each dedicated to a music genre) will not only let you find new music you never heard or maybe even thought of, but you might also meet new friends, who knows? If you are into more rare music that can’t be easily found on most places online, love a more personal approach to sharing files, and have no problem with taking a little time to make everything work to its full potential, then Soulseek might be just the place for you. Download The Software Here Quick Overview:
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