Limewire Gets More Serious About BitTorrent
Written by Ernesto on July 04, 2009Despite BitTorrent being the leading file-sharing protocol for several years already, Limewire is still the most installed P2P application on the market. Even though most of Limewire’s users only use the Gnutella network, the application has completely overhauled its BitTorrent implementation.
In 2008 LimeWire was the most installed P2P application with an impressive market-share of 37%, compared to 14% for runner-up uTorrent. Although Limewire is primarily a Gnutella-based client it also supports BitTorrent downloads.
Although we can safely say that most LimeWire users don’t use the application just for its BitTorrent support, LimeWire could not ignore the popularity of BitTorrent and had no other option than to implement the most used file-sharing protocol back in 2006.
Up until today, LimeWire’s BitTorrent functionality has been rather limited, especially compared to the full-featured BitTorrent clients such as uTorrent, Transmission and Vuze. However, this is all about to change according to the LimeWire team.
LimeWire’s lead developer Sam Berlin told TorrentFreak that they’ve done a complete overhaul of their BitTorrent implementation. The newest release is already available in Beta and now uses Arvid Norberg’s Libtorrent under the hood, which is a significant improvement.
With the implementation of Libtorrent – which is also used by BitTorrent clients such as Deluge, Halite and Miro – Limewire now supports Mainline DHT, UDP tracking, IPv6, HTTP seeding, local peer discovery and uTorrent’s peer exchange
With Libtorrent LimeWire definitely made a step in the right direction that will benefit those who use the application to occasionally download torrents. True to LimeWire’s “ease of use” standards there are very few BitTorrent options to configure, meaning that most new features are simply enabled and can’t be turned off.
Sam Berlin told TorrentFreak that the LimeWire team has no idea how many of their users use the application to download torrents. In a BitTorrent client survey we conducted of 137,797 peers across various swarms only 43 of them were using LimeWire. They must be delighted at the news.
Previously: Playing Whack-A-Mole With Data: The Pirate Bay Lives On
Next: P2P Collection Costs Man Huge Fine, Suspended Sentence
56 Responses
Open signups at pretome.net until tomorrow night!
i still am not gonna use limewire for bt. utorrent all the way!
limewire is by far thee worst app ever. i’ll never install that crap on any of my machines!!!
Limewire…Download a movie and get 2 virusses free of charge!
Also, in b4 [b]cool story bro :)]/b]
I prefer frostwire.
I signed up at pretome.net but haven’t received my confirmation email and it’s not in my spam folder either!!! I don’t like Limewire and prefer uTorrent!
@7 – Sign up again and use a gmail address
Expect nothing but uninformed, envious, dipshit comments. Like this.
uTorrent all the way. Limewire might be good for ocassional *.mp3 downloads when Google fails, but that’s also it.
And that it requires Java isn’t really adding to my desire to use it.
I have limewire for music but I’ll never again try to download movies with it. Got an assraping virus that it cost like $160 to remove and the computer is still slow as shit. I use bittorrent for everything bigger than individual songs. Plus Limewire’s new look is ugly as sin and horribly set up compared to the previous.
@11
$160? wow! If you get a virus the first thing to do is wipe the machine and start again. I’d start with Linux.
#12 – The virus (if nasty enough) could have made it near impossible to use the startup disk.
Or you could just use google… and remove it yourself…
cool story bro :)
People giving out about getting visus’ on limewire are just noobz, you can tell by the file size if its a virus or not………..and if you are using limewire for movies you are a noob anyway!!!!
Its good for single songs that pop into your head and that about it!!!!!
END////////
Ah, then FrostWire and Cabos who use the sourcecode of LimeWire will also use LibTorrent soon. :)
However, as a proud Shareaza user I have the experience that the MAFIAA use the LimeWire client to spam the Gnutella1 network. However, thanks to the Security filter of Shareaza, I don’t have problems with it at all :P
So if you don’t want to download viruses from the Gnutella1 network, use Shareaza and use a legal (and not a cracked version, because it could be infected) Anti-virus software.
azureus & debian ;)
Ewwww Limewire…well at least its going straight as far as standardizing. Vuze and uTorrent work fine though.
Are you people retarded? Serious here. It isn’t the client. It is the Gnutella network. Nothing but junk. Why put your computer at risk downloading anything off it.
As for Limewire. Who cares. Not one decent tracker out there will let you use it as your download client. it is currently banned and will stay banned.
Is Torrent freak the news blog for noobs and public trackers? If so disregard this post.
blessed are the retards
sorry but even limewire on linux is still sucky stopped using it like 4 years ago.
Man, the whole Limewire thing is always going to be an extremely handy tool for people to grab certain files on the fly, only if they make sure they have some decent internet security installed and all that, and do what they can to be anonymous. I dont see Limewire’s move into BitTorrent to be widely accepted, last time I checked, at nearly all trackers, it is not allowed for BitTorrent use, and I cant see it as being allowed to be honest. Time for all the Limewire users to move up to Bit Torrent or Newsgroups I reckon…
uTorrent to download a Limewire Pro torrent, and while you are at it download a load of films games and music albums, then install your new copy of Limewire Pro, and download a few singles, but nothing exept .mp3 files. And completely ignore the torrenting feature.
At least… Thats how I do it XD
@20
why would it be banned? its definitely not sophisticated enough to even attempt to be a “cheating” client. especially not anymore now that it has libtorrent.
although i agree that it sux and anyone who uses it is a moron.
limewire sucks…use beemp3;
Beemp3.com – MP3 Search & Free MP3 Downloads
or;
SkreemR.com Mp3 Search – World’s Greatest Mp3 Search Engine – Find music, podcasts, ringtones, interviews and speeches.
1000000 times better than limewire or frostwire…
limewire died a long time ago…
Limewire’s made for noobs and the technologically retarded. That’s why “most new features are simply enabled and can’t be turned off.”
MEGA Cool Story Sister
you dont get it guys …they want to eliminate the torrent world ! its not about limewire …its about the torrent users…US
wow, the responses on torrent freak are becoming so predictable….
’such-and-such a service now provides a torrent feature’
”Boo, i was using xyz since it was first released, anyone who uses said torrent client is a noob/retard”
I don’t use torrents anymore, but i do like to know about torrent-related news. This article is exactly that – torrent related news.
Torrent freak isn’t about giving away accounts to uber-leet private trackers, and not every article needs to be ‘the-biggest-thing-to-happen-to-torrents-since-xyz’.
It’s a news site. This is interesting news. That’s it.
All these people act like this article is so un-interesting to them because they are so important, and they have wasted there time reading (and then commenting..?) on it need to stop wasting MY time because i have to read through that crap to find the interesting and informed responses.
..besides. Does another torrent client simply mean more people in the swarm? Isn’t that a good thing – even if you don’t approve of there choice in client?
Limewire sucks. Their client has numerous flaws and exploits and often downloads files without users knowing.
It seems like their trying to emulate uTorrent, but their doing it all wrong. BitTorrent settings are much different for every person. A lot of routers drop connection due to too many connections and/or DHT.
^ Dipshit here is a case in point.
[b]cool story bro :)[/b]
cool story bro :)
@2 – uTorrent sucks. At least for Mac/Linux. Transmission is my client of choice! :D
(b)cool story bro :)(/b)
frostwire + Utorrent = My sorta combo.
I thought I was at TorrentFreak until I scrolled down into the comments. Now, I am convinced that this is YouTube.
Limewire, Just hurry up and die already.
eeewwww Slimewire
utorrent an WinMx
all the way!!!
below-average temperature lots of words put together cohesively to make a string of happenings, son of my parents (who isn’t me)!
yeah i DEF prefer utorrent ALL the way, i CANNOT stand limewire ur frostwire, since frost n lime r always n will always be filled with viruses, BUT on a VERY rare occasion i’ll use frostwire, IF that
No thanks on the LimeWire, but at least they are giving the Gnutella users a better start on BitTorrent
well i use to use limewire but its hard as hell to use it on dial up
Sorry guys but I have used limewire for years and have over 700 films stored because of it.
I’ve never had a virus from it. The occasional mis-description yes, but no viruses. If that makes me a noob or a moron, fine i’m a moronic noob.
IMHO LimeWire is a great app, especially with its new social file sharing features. Sure, you’ll need to use your brain a bit to avoid fake files since Gnutella is decentralized, but is that so hard? Also, nobody can sell out, censor or shut down Gnutella.
If you get a virus from Limewire, you’re an idiot. Simple as that.
It’s like blaming the bar owner when you start messing with the regulars and get yourself punched in the face.
As for trackers banning Limewire…does anyone actually have a reason why? No, “Limewire sucks” isn’t a reason. Seriously, I’m curious.
frostwire ftw, when they do the major releases they remove a lot of evil stuff from the limewire code
As long as LW is Java based and takes a full minute to start up, it will be FAIL.
No matter what.
Dam torrent freak, Exorcise your right to close the comments section
I like napster
:P
I gave up Limewire years ago. I dont know, I guess I just thought the whole network and app was filled up with useless crap. I might try that frostwire out though :)
Dear TF, please start IP banning people from the comments section. Thank you.
bicth ass hoe
i have used limewire before but after installing u torrent i can see how slow limewire is i have tried frostwire and find that very slow aswell plus alot of the stuff wont download
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