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A Visit to Ares Galaxy
July 15, 2004
For a few months now, there have been murmurs in the file sharing community about a great file sharing application called Ares. Inevitably, any discussion is quickly transformed into a seemingly endless stream of praise for the spoken program.The figures speak for themselves. Statistics compiled by Slyck show how Ares is quickly approaching double the users of Gnutella, which ironically hosted the infant Ares.
That is all great, but what really matters is the user experience. It is time to try Ares.
There is a small chose of clients to join the Ares network, but the decision is relatively straight forward. Warez P2P can be excluded as it contains adverts, but does not offer any compensating features.
This leaves the option of Ares, or Ares Lite. Ares Lite has fewer features than Ares, but has a smaller footprint as a result. The Ares homepage recommends Ares Lite for Windows 98 users, so this analysis is of Ares, which Windows XP users are instructed to use.
The setup files are a shaving above 1 MB, resulting in a 3 MB installation, which inspires confidence of efficient programming.
Carefully avoiding installation of NavHelper by ensuring the box is not ticked, the whole installation process only took a few seconds. NavHelper is a crapware client, but at least those who install it accidentally can eradicate it using Add/Remove Programs.
Upon the client loading, I felt a twinge of fear that there would be nothing to report. My first impression really was nothing more than, “hmmm.”
Before realising the absence of a menu bar, I sat staring, trying to fathom what was missing. A window then popped up requesting a username. Not wanting to be “anon#####,” I filled it out.
That may be an irrelevant paragraph, but there really is not much else to report. All the usual buttons ran along the top – Library, Screen, Search and Transfer. Feeling like I had installed a Kazaa Lite spin-off, I started to click around.
The Library screen showed that Ares was already busy hashing files. Unlike Kazaa, Ares fully hashes all files. This makes the network more resilient to deliberately corrupted downloads by anti-file sharing organisations such as BayTSB. This, however, means that hashing takes a long time, or is heavy on resources. A slider bar to tell Ares the amount of resources it can use is a nice touch.
Looking through the files to be hashed, it was curious to see each MP3 file listed twice. Apparently this occurs if the download folder is also a separately defined shared folder. Not exactly Armageddon, but a niggling bug all the same. Strangely, hidden files such as AlbumArt images were also in the queue to be hashed.
There is nothing more exciting to report on the search screen. Users can do a universal search for one or more keywords, or can specify the media type. If media type is specified, a list of other search criteria is offered. For example, when searching for a video file, length can be specified.
The search gave fast results, ordered by availability. A strong base of users with tidy ID tags means that results can be achieved, even without broad search terms.
Using the options to specify file qualities, such as resolution or file size, produced mixed results. Often, instead of filtering out unwanted files, Ares simple orders the files. For example, a search with a bitrate request will result in the search findings being ordered by bitrate, rather than availability.
After a short wait for downloads to begin, Ares achieves some phenomenal speeds on popular files. A wide range of music is available, from chart pop to Euro dance music. The focus of Ares users is apparently music, but file types are not limited. Films, television episodes and games are all available. As with BitTorrent and Ed2k, Ares has the ability to upload files still being downloaded. This helps the distribution of new files. However, for non-music files, Ares does not match BitTorrent for speed.
Hash link sites such as Peerweb.org (requires registration) are on hand to provide better quality results. Hash link sites can now also provide hash information for a bundled group of files, so albums can be downloaded with one click.
Ares really begins to shine as its own network upon visiting the chat. Ignoring some less tasteful sounding rooms, there is a wide selection for all preferences, many also offering file sharing help.
Specific rooms can be searched, rather than searching the entire network. Users can also browse each others files, give each other upload slots on the main transfer screen, or send files directly*. The final option is useful for friends meeting each other online to transfer large files.
Chatters can talk in a public room, send each other private messages within a room, or talk directly*. After configuring my NAT, setting up a chat room was only a few clicks away. Chat room hosts are given full control over their room, from kicking trolls to limiting file types.
Some file sharers are put off Ares, viewing it as a refugee camp for less desirable Kazaa users. Ares, or more likely Warez P2P, will be attractive to Kazaa users, who will move networks complete with their shared folder filled with fake files. However, this has yet to become a problem and may never materialise into a major drawback. After all, many switch to Ares because of fake file problems on Fasttrack. All networks suffer from fakes, Ares is no exception. However, Ares does not suffer any more than the other major networks.
So that is Ares. Clean, sleek and simple. Ares proves that more bolts do not mean a better program. Ares does what it sets out to do, making it an excellent meeting point for new and experienced users alike. With the addition of chat, Ares is a community.
Other than a few niggling bugs, this is how file sharing should be. My only concern is how well it would stand up against a Fasttrack style attack from the music industry. As the network rapidly grows in numbers, it also grows in profile, making it more likely to be the next victim.
* = NAT Permitting.
The search gave fast results, ordered by availability. A strong base of users with tidy ID tags means that results can be achieved, even without broad search terms.
Using the options to specify file qualities, such as resolution or file size, produced mixed results. Often, instead of filtering out unwanted files, Ares simple orders the files. For example, a search with a bitrate request will result in the search findings being ordered by bitrate, rather than availability.
After a short wait for downloads to begin, Ares achieves some phenomenal speeds on popular files. A wide range of music is available, from chart pop to Euro dance music. The focus of Ares users is apparently music, but file types are not limited. Films, television episodes and games are all available. As with BitTorrent and Ed2k, Ares has the ability to upload files still being downloaded. This helps the distribution of new files. However, for non-music files, Ares does not match BitTorrent for speed.
Hash link sites such as Peerweb.org (requires registration) are on hand to provide better quality results. Hash link sites can now also provide hash information for a bundled group of files, so albums can be downloaded with one click.
Ares really begins to shine as its own network upon visiting the chat. Ignoring some less tasteful sounding rooms, there is a wide selection for all preferences, many also offering file sharing help.
Specific rooms can be searched, rather than searching the entire network. Users can also browse each others files, give each other upload slots on the main transfer screen, or send files directly*. The final option is useful for friends meeting each other online to transfer large files.
Chatters can talk in a public room, send each other private messages within a room, or talk directly*. After configuring my NAT, setting up a chat room was only a few clicks away. Chat room hosts are given full control over their room, from kicking trolls to limiting file types.
Some file sharers are put off Ares, viewing it as a refugee camp for less desirable Kazaa users. Ares, or more likely Warez P2P, will be attractive to Kazaa users, who will move networks complete with their shared folder filled with fake files. However, this has yet to become a problem and may never materialise into a major drawback. After all, many switch to Ares because of fake file problems on Fasttrack. All networks suffer from fakes, Ares is no exception. However, Ares does not suffer any more than the other major networks.
So that is Ares. Clean, sleek and simple. Ares proves that more bolts do not mean a better program. Ares does what it sets out to do, making it an excellent meeting point for new and experienced users alike. With the addition of chat, Ares is a community.
Other than a few niggling bugs, this is how file sharing should be. My only concern is how well it would stand up against a Fasttrack style attack from the music industry. As the network rapidly grows in numbers, it also grows in profile, making it more likely to be the next victim.
* = NAT Permitting.
This story is filed in these Slyck News categories
P2P Clients :: Ares Galaxy
File-Sharing/P2P Related :: Reviews
Ares Homepage
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