- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP
- Date added: November 21, 2005
- Total Downloads: 3,841,310
- Downloads last week: 2,891
- See full specifications
A newer version of Shareaza is available.
(Download doesn't provide access to previous versions of this program.)
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 565 votes
See all user reviews
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: CNET Staff
Although the bigger names in the P2P world still maintain the lion's share of users, several smaller entities have popped up. These programs appeal to those fed up with the fluff and third-party software often found in the more popular applications.
Shareaza is focused and lean, with a gorgeous interface and connections to the Gnutella2, Gnutella, eDonkey, and BitTorrent networks. It's also handsome and easy to use; we had no trouble quickly figuring out how to search, check our network status, and customize the interface through a healthy choice of skins. Search results were extremely fast, although we wish each new search automatically spawned a new tab. Shareaza also has a decent built-in media player for common audio and video formats. Other features include a chat client and the ability to schedule transfers.
The file-management system, with a slew of folders divided and subdivided into all sorts of categories, may overwhelm novices, though seasoned file-sharers probably won't have that much trouble. Overall, though, Shareaza's design, performance, and trim size provide make it a nice choice for peer-to-peer users.
Publisher's description
From Shareaza :Shareaza has unique features, including ghost ratings, a completely user-configurable queue area, and multinetwork support. The program started as a Gnutella client but recently branched out and developed Gnutella2, a completely open and documented network. Shareaza's interface is easy to use, yet powerful and fully skinnable. Shareaza's download core was built to provide optimum performance from any number of sources. Shareaza can manage your download queue automatically, or you can take charge and modify the status of files or even individual physical transfers and sources.
Version 2.2.1 has multiple fixes on all supported networks, providing vastly improved multi-network, peer-to-peer file-sharing capabilities. There also are several new features, including a scheduler, a review viewer, enhanced translations, and improved metadata support. Help facilities and documentation have been improved to make the application easier to use.
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User reviews of Shareaza 2.2.1
- Average user rating: 3.6 stars out of 565 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 134 user reviewsSee all 134 user reviews
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55 out of 62 people found this review helpful
Version: Shareaza 2.2.1
"The BEST P2P Shareware Out There...Trust me..."
Pros: I was one of the original Napster users back in the day. I watched the demise of that centralized system. I then switched to Kazaa and noticed it began to get flooded with corrupt and blank files from corporations catching onto the success of the sharing system.
I used kazaalite and it was still pretty bogus. I switched to Ares and it was okay, but it had a load of spyware/adware and a few viruses here and there.
I then switched to Limewire and was amazed by the speed of the downloads. It returned excellent searches and found rare files I couldn't find elsewhere. But it says that it's spyware free...yet after I downloaded it...I had so many problems with my computer. It infected drivers, it screwed up my internet explorer and disabled cookies PERMANENTLY for IE...So I switched to Mozilla Firefox which is infinitely better than IE, so I guess something good came out of limewire.
I wiped out limewire off my system and switched to eDonkey2000. While it was pretty decent, it seemed to slow my PC down. So I switched to Gnutella...which had even more problems.
Talked to a friend REALLY big on computers and he told me of Shareaza. While it didn't have many recommendations online, I still trusted my friend and downloaded it.
I've been marveled by the success of the system. I can connect to multiple networks, download speeds are phenomenal, (I used to be really excited by the appearance of all the different filesharing systems.) So I changed around the skins and it looks brand new almost daily. The settings and user-interface are simplistic and the forums online are more than adequate for the system. I haven't downloaded a corrupted audio or visual file yet. It allows you to comment on corrupt files or files of poor quality, etc. It labels questionable sources and possibly corrupt files. There's a five star rating system that you can base your download decisions off of. The built-in media player is really good quality and reminds me of Kazaa's...without the problems. I can't recommend this program enough.
Cons: Scan your files before you open them.
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13 out of 15 people found this review helpful
Version: Shareaza 2.2.1
"One of the best P2P programs around"
Pros: Shareaza is a comprehensive P2P file sharing program that incorporates a detailed search of the Gnutella2 host system. It features a simple file sharing interface with clear tabs at the top of the app. The search system is also comprehensive and easy to use, with multiple categories not found in other P2P programs (categories include searching by 'book' 'video' 'audio' etc.)
This version of Shareaza improves the screening procedure by adding a review viewer, where sharers can see if a file is a dud download (a major problem with P2P in my opinion). The new version also has a more comprehensive help file which would be useful to people new to P2P.
Superficially, Shareaza is easily customizable and skinnable with easy ways to set the max upload/download speed and how much priority to use on a download.
At just over three megabytes, Shareaza is a small freeware download and is definitely a worthwhile download. As the app functions of a wide range of OS (from Win 95 to XP), running it is also no problem for older PCs.
All in all, I would highly recommend Shareaza for any file sharer.
Cons: it would perhaps be better if Shareaza could connect to more than the Gnutella network.
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3 out of 4 people found this review helpful
Version: Shareaza 2.2.1
Pros: This was the first P2P client I used, the media player was nice (quite similar to Windows Media Player, even has it's own visualization screen) and all the downloaded files are easy to find and it even comes with a subinstaller which means you can still reinstall it if you or someone else removed it accidentaly
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3 out of 5 people found this review helpful
Version: Shareaza 2.2.1
Pros: You can obtain harder to get files that other peer to peer programs users might not have. Only reason I use it at all.
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16 out of 23 people found this review helpful
Version: Shareaza 2.2.1
Pros: you can take a journey between 3 different networks (eDonkey2000-Gnutella1-Gnutella2) &...that's amazin'!Funny & efficient option "REMOTE CONTROLLER"from Shareaza URL . A lot of files comin' from 3 networks & ,obviously, from all the world .
Cons: ...unfortunately it can connect to a few servers from Edonkey2000,also Gnutella1 users don't appear so often on Shareaza.Not complete search ,unstable,infinite queue for Edonkey2000 files,many fakes from Gnutella2
- See all 134 user reviews Write review
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