Downloads

Ever since Napster's downfall, Web users have been searching for alternatives. One of the most popular is AudioGalaxy Satellite, which similarly lets you download music tracks. You can search for artists, tracks, and albums.

This program uses a Web-based interface along with a "satellite" application on your PC to handle uploads and downloads. The benefit of the satellite applet is that AudioGalaxy can schedule downloads to happen in the background. The service tells you all the songs available, even if the owner is not online at the time. When the file becomes available, AudioGalaxy will download it as long as you leave the satellite application running.

The downside of AudioGalaxy Satellite is that the system might have grown too big too fast: Pages refresh slowly and sometimes not at all. However, the program has a lot of useful features to address this: You can stop downloads in midstream and resume them at a later time. And you can make requests for programs that aren't currently available, so that once a person comes online with that file, you can automatically download it from them. Finally, because the program is Web-based, it consumes little by the way of CPU power or memory, so you can always keep it open--and check throughout the day to see if the program you're looking for is available.