What Is Bearshare?
At one time, BearShare was a p2p file-sharing application
that ran on the Gnutella network. However, a June 2005 Supreme
Court decision caused the closing of the popular BearShare
support forums, and a redesign of the entire application.
BearShare v6 is totally unrelated to the original, and runs
on the same network with the iMesh application. Subsequent
versions added better video download support (BearFlix), and
iPod compatibility.
Over the past couple of years BearShare has become a very
well-known p2p client, on a level with Limewire and eMule.
The latest version of BearShare, 7.0, expands on the social
networking aspect of file sharing. The social features and
the overall feel of BearShare are what makes it different.
Much like MySpace, you can create a profile page, invite friends,
send messages, leave comments and so on. And, being the music
site that it is, you can browse and download from other users’
music collections.
The new design of BearShare is a big improvement, with a
feel that any iTunes user would recognize. There’s a fully-featured
music player, as well. BearShare’s user base is made up of
younger people, which would explain why the social networking
side is so popular. It’s also quite easy to find great new
music by being able to see and download from friends’ libraries.
The program’s search, download and sharing functions work
in the usual way, being no faster or slower than before, and
you cannot download anything but images, music and video.
There are a few system requirements for BearShare to run
on your computer. It only works on Windows operating systems
(XP and higher), and you should have a minimum of 128mb of
RAM and a 233 MHz processor. You will also need Windows Media
Player, version 9 or higher.Once you’ve made sure that your
PC meets the requirements, and downloaded the software, you
will need to create a free account before you can start downloading
music.
Using the search tool, you can look for music and videos
by song title and artist name. When you find what you want,
begin downloading by double-clicking on the chosen file. To
play back what you’ve just downloaded, click on the “My Library”
tool. That will bring up a list of all the songs you’ve downloaded.
Click on the one you want to hear, and your Windows Media
Player will take care of the rest.
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