I would like to recommend software I’m using to share music, books, screenshots of information I find useful, wallpapers and other stuff online.
The Soulseek network and application were released in 2001. I am too young to have experienced Limewire but I did grow up with thepiratebay and torrents. From what I understand, Soulseek is similar to Limewire and less like torrents, because the files are shared directly from uploader to downloader with no “seeding”/sharing of data from peer to peer.
The advantages of Soulseek include:
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being “underground” but not that underground. You don’t need an invite, there’s no secret club.
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most music is shared in lossless quality. You will find rips from private trackers and CDs.
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hidden from the RIAA and record labels, less chance of getting warnings from your ISP.
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FOSS client if you use Nicotine+ (the server software is not open source)
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chatroom and ability to direct message users you download from or share files with.
There is an official Soulseek client but I would recommend Nicotine+ for its stability, features and accessibility. Simply create a username and password, configure “shares” or folders to make available and let it run! It should automatically open ports on your router with uPNP but it depends on your router(configuration.) Note that this software requires your computer to be online to share files, so it is best used with a desktop, server or other computer that you can leave powered on. This isn’t mandatory and downloads will resume when possible, but I’m not sure if your files will be visible for download if you’re offline.
The program does not recommend content to you so it isn’t very good for discovery. There are filters you can apply to a text search and a watchlist but there are no thumbnails, images or album art previews so you will have to download media to inspect it.
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