eMule

So everyone got an iPod for Christmas and they have suddenly been introduced to the world of downloading music. Perhaps you have been augmenting your digital music collection since the days of Napster, or just began paying 99 cents per song on iTunes. Either way, I thought I would publicly incriminate myself and share with the world how I have been gathering mp3's for the past few years.

The big secret is a program called eMule. Its a totally free shareware program that is great for downloading most anything you can think of. I use it primarily to download entire albums of music. But you can also access great programs and software that is typically overpriced in any computer store. It takes a small amount of computer savvy to get it to working for you properly, but most people who know just a little about computers can probably handle it.

eMule can be downloaded here, just click on the installer, pick a mirror, download the program to your desktop, and run it. Follow their directions and you can be downloading music in no time.

The great thing about eMule is that unlike Napster or other fire sharing software, you can interrupt a download. You essentially download little bits and pieces of a file from many different people. If you download a large file, you may get pieces of it from different computers all over the world. It typically takes a day or two to download a whole album, but its really nice to have albums in their entirity.

eMule also likely has a lot of files and music that iTunes does not have. I've found some amazing bootlegs, recordings of concerts, and even discovered new artists and albums with it.

You'll probably also need a decrompression program to access some of the goods. Many of the files (especially whole albums) come in .zip's or .rar's. Most Windows users can access .zip's, but cannot open .rar's. There are dozens of programs, but I use Unzip them all. Its also pretty user friendly. Once you get eMule up and running, I also reccommend only searching archives if you want to download albums (just change the Type of file you are searching for under the search bar).

Finally, I should say that I know stealing music is wrong. I am a pretty ethical guy, except when it comes to this. But its just so damn easy, convenient, and cheap. Despite the admission that I am essentially committing a crime, I will likely keep downloading music as long as I can. At least until I make enough money to buy CD's in an actual store.

Feel free to contact me with any questions. That is of course, unless you work for the FBI or the FCC, in which case, this is all a joke and simply a poorly executed publicity stunt. I dont really even know what an mp3 is.