eDonkey Review

edonkey-reviewUpdate: Since the crusades against file sharing (individuals, networks, sites and applications), many have fallen – unfortunate eDonkey is one of them. This is what the site currently reads:

“The eDonkey2000 Network is no longer available. If you steal music or movies, you are breaking the law.

Courts around the world — including the United States Supreme Court –
have ruled that businesses and individuals can be prosecuted for illegal
downloading.”

We suggest checking out eMule instead.

eDonkey was initially called eDonkey2000 and was at the start a server-based network. Later on, the founder created a p2p network called OverNet and then merged the two networks, providing access to both from a single client. Though both networks use the same protocols when it comes to file sharing, compared to eDonkey2000 which is server-based, OverNet is serverless.

Thus Donkey is a p2p program that lets you share and download files with millions of other people worldwide.

This file sharing application is 100% decentralized p2p (peer-to-peer) network and supports Windows, Mac OS X, and also Linux.

The eDonkey software comes with a plug-in that enables expansion of your search through the BitTorrent network. However, the plug-in is not as flawlessly integrated or offering ease of use as the BitTorrent support included into Shareaza. The eDonkey forums will direct you to use plug-ins for the FastTrack and Gnutella networks as well.

Although eDonkey has the ability to download different pieces of a file at once from various systems (even if those systems are in the process of downloading the file themselves) sometimes, getting the file you want might require patience as it can be a slow process.

To make file searching easier, some websites list the checksums of ‘wanted’ files in the form of an ED2K link. Some of the websites in question also offer lists of active servers for users to update.

Strong Points:

Many features, million of users.

Weak Points:

At times, downloading can be slow.

Overall:

A good p2p client with lots of sources to find what you’re looking for but speed doesn’t qualify as its best attribute.

Features included in eDonkey:

- When searching on the server based network (eDonkey2000), it doesn’t rely on one central server yet searches are still quick and your client doesn’t get bogged down with endless search requests. You have the ability to search all the files being shared anywhere on the eDonkey2000 network.- No central server. Servers can be located anywhere at any IP address.
- It allows you to transfer any type of file. It automatically resumes interrupted transfers from alternate sources. It even introduces ways to share a whole collection of files together so you can be sure to get all the songs in an album or all pieces of a movie. Users will be able to download a file from multiple sources at the same time thus insuring that transfers will be as fast as possible.
- Files can be uploaded while being downloaded. This insures that a rare file that is wanted by many people will be distributed as quickly as possible.
- Downloads are automatically continued from session to session.
- Dynamic ports. The donkey can be configured to run over any port.
- The server and client are both distributed for free. There are Linux, Windows, and Mac versions

Screenshots of eDonkey:

edonkey-screenshot-searchedonkey-screenshot-optionsedonkey-screenshot-main-tabs