LimeWire File Sharing Resurrected by 'Developers'

Two weeks ago it looked like the file-sharing peer-to-peer (p2p) favorite LimeWire had been quashed for good. Not surprisingly, however, a new "Pirate Edition" of the software has arisen from the ashes and released to the public, and it's likely to once again arouse the attention of the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA).

RIAA Fights Multi-Year, Multi-Million Court Battle

Back in late October it appeared that the RIAA, a copyright protection agency, had been successful in closing down LimeWire for the near and distant future. After a four-year, multi-million dollar legal fight, the RIAA succeeded in getting an injunction passed ordering LimeWire's owners to stop all searching, downloading, and uploading, by users of the file-sharing protocol.

At the time, LimeWire's CEO, George Searle, promised his company would overcome the injunction, promising a "completely new music service that puts you back at the center of your digital music experience." Presumably, that meant the service would be legal.

Pirate Edition Sans Adware, Other Annoyances

That's not the case when it comes to this most recent release of LimeWire ("Pirate Edition"), which strips the service of its annoying adware, separates the software from LimeWire LLC servers, and unbundles the Ask.com toolbar. Put together by a group of developers describing themselves as a "horde of piratical monkeys," it would appear the RIAA has a new challenge ahead. (Source: dmwmedia.com)

The new service is based on the LimeWire 5.6 beta, but already users are claiming it's actually much better than the official software since so many of the adware and toolbar annoyances have been cut.

"For the Benefit of the Community"

Said one of the unnamed pirates: "LimeWire Pirate Edition should work better than the last functioning version of LimeWire (5.5.10), and it should keep working for longer. There's no adware or spyware: the piratical monkeys are doing this for the benefit of the community." (Source: zeropaid.com)

Features for the new LimeWire include all of the options found in LimeWire Pro, including "Turbo-charged downloads", "optimized search results" and "AVG Anti-Virus". The developers also say the official version's connection problems have been ironed out, and that a new built-in torrent search feature has been added.

Software Pirates Risk Financial Ruin

If you insist on using the illicit software, be warned that using such services may financially ruin you, if caught. Take Jammie Thomas-Rasset, for example: the single mom who was at one time fined $1.92 million for illegally downloading a handful of music files using a service like Limewire. As of November 3rd, 2010, the latest ruling has her coughing up $1.5 million in favor of the RIAA. (Source: cnet.com)