There was a time when WinMX was the king of file-sharing. For a brief time, it was arguably larger than FastTrack (Kazaa, Grokster), eDonkey2000, and Gnutella. But that was a long time ago, when the P2P community actually meant something. When FrontCode Technologies, the company behind WinMX, received a “cease and desist” letter from the music industry in 2005, the entire project was abandoned.

The WinMX decentralized network, as it turned out, wasn’t so decentralized. The WinMX client depended on active IP addresses to connect to the network, which were stored on cache servers maintained by FrontCode Technologies. Once these servers went offline, it was impossible to connect, trade, or share files. Although WinMX had been in a slow state of decline for about a year, thanks to the unfulfilled promises of WinMX 4.0 and the arrival of BitTorrent, it remained an excellent resource for MP3s.

Once WinMX was taken offline, much of its population scattered. But the core community remained, and within days, third party cache servers were constructed in an attempt to resurrect the network. However, the resurrected WinMX network bore virtually no resemblance to the former community, as the population had been thoroughly depleted. The existing patch attempts at the time were frustratingly inefficient, and those who gave the network a chance were quickly discouraged and moved on. WinMX was, for all intentions, dead in the water.

But if you’re still longing for the days of high quality MP3s and a solid community to hang out with, it appears that 3 years of brooding have finally done the WinMX community some good. WinMXWorld.com, a leading WinMX community dedicated to reviving, maintaining, and furthering the network, has designed a very reliable method for connecting to the WinMX network. The method for reconnecting is rather simple: a redesigned DLL redirects the WinMX client to their own cache server farm, instead of WinMX.com. This is a virtually identical design as the initial WinMX resurrection attempts, however 3 years of community-building has changed the ballgame completely. The days of waiting, only to be followed by an unresourceful network, appear to be over.


It's alive!

It’s important to recognize what the resurrected WinMX network is, and what it is not. The resurrected network is not the same place we all remember back in the day. At its peak, WinMX had well over 1 million simultaneous users at any given time. Since FrontCode is long gone, it’s impossible to know the current population – but according to statistics gathered by WinMxWorld, WInMX has swelled to well over 200,000 individuals.

WinMX may not be the network it once was, however, that’s still a large number of individuals, and a considerable depository for MP3s. The network still has its problems, such as long queues for some MP3s, but looking at the overall picture, WinMX is a network on the rebound (considering it was at zero when FrontCode pulled the plug). If you’re expecting miracles, it’s probably best to look elsewhere. However, for the MP3 hungry populace, WinMX has once again become a viable resource, and might just help find the files you want.

This story is filed in these Slyck News categories
P2P Clients :: WinMX

You can discuss this article here - 36 replies