2 - 0 for the American Musical Industry...

[Maestro]

Today, after being "off-WinMX" for a while (yeah, just got a new game ) I decided to log-in to see if there was anything new in the P2P community.

As weird as it seems, the program didn't wanted to connect my computer to the server. I closed the program and re-opened it but I got the same problem. So I decided to "investigate" the problem.

First of all, I went on the official WinMX web site ( www.winmx.com ). All I found was a white page with the following sentence on it : "The WinMX software is no longer availible."

After looking for some informations on Google, I found the following on a French web site ( http://www.01net.com/article/289252.html ) :

"P2P lose WinMX
The official web site of file sharing WinMX is unavailible since Wednesday. That's the result, according to the P2P community, of the American Musical Industry's attacks.

WinMX no longer answer. That's the agency Reuters that first told about it on Wednesday September 21st. Since then, the official web site of Frontcode (WinMX's editor) is unavailible. For sure, that P2P program is not as famous as Kazaa or BitTorrent. It would have less than 10% of the whole file sharing.

But this is enough to piss off the P2P community. We must add to this that the agency Reuters was also saying in the same article that the eDonkey's office in New-York, one of the most popular P2P program, was no longer availible by phone. [...]"

But don't despair ! I found the following on an other web site ( http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=925 ) :

"Resurrecting WinMX
September 23, 2005
Thomas Mennecke


WinMX fans awoke Wednesday to disturbing news. However before realizing this news, the WinMX population was faced with the inability to connect to this community. Finally news reports began circulating that individuals were not alone and indeed the entire community had collapsed including the WinMX.com website.

Although the demise of FrontCode Technologies along with its WinMX.com homepage would not have been the end of the world, WinMX.com provided the all-important host cache server. This server provided the IP addresses to WinMX supernodes, thereby allowing clients entry to the network. With the WinMX.com domain eliminated, the network collapsed. That is unless of course someone establishes a new method of connecting to WinMX hosts.

A WinMX group named TheSourceCode has created a hosts file that allows clients to connect to the WinMX network. The instructions are currently being distributed through a collaborative effort with P2Pzone.net, a popular Italian P2P news site. The combined effort to resurrect the WinMX network also includes individuals named "SABre'911", "Polini" and "Ramna."

The method is quite simple. Those involved in the effort have indexed over 200 functioning WinMX hosts readily available to incoming WinMX connections. It requires the user to download a new host list provided from P2PZone.net, which redirects the WinMX client to the functioning hosts. From P2Pzone.net:

This is the procedure to configure your pc to connect with WinMx:

1) Download a new host file from this URL: http://www.p2pzone.net/download/goodies/hosts.zip

2) After downloading the "hosts" file (is a windows file included in the system) we can proceed.

3) Now paste the new file "hosts" in the Windows directory respective to its version:

For Windows 95/98/Me the directory is c:\windows\hosts

For Windows NT/2000/XP Pro the directory is c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

For Windows XP Home the directory is c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Now we can replace the "hosts" file.

4) For Win2k XP users, sometimes may be necessary use the command "ipconfig /flushdns" from the command prompt.

5) Now, open WinMx and try to connect with primary connection!

Luca, the administrator of P2Pzone.net, tells Slyck.com this is a temporary fix and the developers are working on a more permanent solution. From public reaction so far and from our own testing, this method works exceedingly well. WinMX fans will certainly have a place to call home once again.

Update: Also try fixes available on the following websites:

Vladd44's resource page.
Winmxworld.com.
WinmxGroup.com.
Winmxunlimited."

 

[evangilder]

Unfortunately, until the recording industry pulls it's collective head out of it's ass, it will keep happening this way. Napster was the first, others have followed. The recording industry tears them down, and they get started somewhere else. The RIAA is attacking the symptom, not the disease.

A word of caution with your hosts file. If using a computer that you have for work and home, replacing your hosts file could cause you to lose your connectivity at the office! Better to edit your file and add the info for winmx to your current file.

 

[Maestro]

Thanks for the tip, Evan.

However, I don't really thrust the "temporary changes" those hackers want to do. I think I'll rather find an other P2P program. It could be long though. Kazaa is full of spywares and eMule and eDonkey are way too slow... Being queued for more than 24 hours without downloading a single Ko is quite frustrating.

Looks like you got the same problems in USA... You got the RIAA, we got the Adisq. However, there is a slight difference between the American Industry and the Québec one...

The Adisq (Québec's equivalent of RIAA) also complained to the Gouvernment and CRTC about the illegal mp3 file sharing on Napster and (lately) on Kazaa.

The problem with the Adisq, though, is that they are killing themselves (I don't know if it's the case with the RIAA).

First, they forced the gouvernment to vote a law to force radio stations all across the Province of Québec to play at least 70% of French/French-Canadian songs... The law was voted in the 90s.

Then, they asked the government to vote a law to put in jail anyone having illegal mp3 files on his hard drive. That law was not voted... yet !

Recently, they were part of the group of companies/politicians/artists that complained in front of the CRTC against CHOI-FM. Why ? Because that rogue radio station was playing "underground" rock music like Fear Zero (group from Vancouver but has some French songs), Exterio, Eric Panic and more famous (but English) groups like System Of A Down, Nickleback, Seether and Evanescence instead of the Adisq's pop sh*t.

**EDIT** : I forgot that point : I think Adisq is killing itself because if each time you turn on the radio, you hear the same God damned fagish music, subsidied by the Adisq, no one will ever buy those crappy CDs and will rather buy CDs of American groups instead.

For the ones of you who might be interrested, the list of companies/politicians/artists who complained against CHOI also include :

- Jean-Paul Lallier (Québec City's mayor)
- La Ligue des Noires du Québec (an organisation to defend Black poeples' rights within the Province of Québec)
- Sophie Chiasson (a weather "reporter")
- Robert Gillet (the same that was charged during the Scorpion Investigation)

As well as competitors like :

- Québécor
- Astral Media