I have come to find Audiogalaxy a decent enough last option alternative when MP3 browsing the web. It is certainly not the "NEW NAPSTER" that many seem to be shouting in their reviews. Napster is one of a kind and with the right tweaks, may not be perfect, but is pretty damn close. Audiogalaxy is just not my cup of tea in many ways.

The Concept

The Concept of Audiogalaxy is innovative at least. Some of the problems with Napster include failure of the download when the uploader gets offline and the downloader has to start anew. The concept of the Audiogalaxy File Agent is to stop this problem and even search for files from users offline (which increases the search zone).

With Audiogalaxy File Agent the download will resume where it left off when the uploader gets online for the next time. It is for this reason that Audiogalaxy may be worth the download.

There are a few problems with this concept. In a perfect world everyone who signed up for Audiogalaxy had a zillion files and always got back online right when you were. However, in this world that doesnt happen. In all probability you will start downloading or sign up to download from someone who will never again use their AG File Agent. In my use of AG I have never started a download from someone and then found them to finish it, but most of the time my download completes.

How To Get It And Make It Work

In order to use Audiogalaxy you have to download the file agent software from their site. By simply visiting www.audiogalaxy.com you can click on the "download software" link and then choose your version (unix or windows).

After you have downloaded and setup your file agent software you need to sign up for an audiogalaxy account and username. This username and password should automatically log in everytime that you open your file agent.

In order to use AG for mp3 browsing you must open your file agent then hit go, or go to www.audiogalaxy.com. Both your browser and file agent have to be open in order for this to work. Search for the MP3 that you want through the browser and the file agent will get you the status of any active downloads. The file agent has to be open in order for you to download. It is a relatively small program (~700kb) so you can leave it running while you go on to other tasks.

The Nitty Gritty

One of the things that can be said about Audiogalaxy is that it is very user friendly. If you can work an internet browser then you will be able to make this program work. That is the best part of this program, that even those youngens and the computer challenged can download some good tunes. We need as many people (computer challenged or not) to share files and increase MP3 libraries if we want to beat the RIAA.

If I had to think up a similar program, I would have to say this is most similar to how mp3.com use to be. Recently I have not been able to actually download any files off of mp3.com and I don't think its just me experiencing this problem. Instead of downloading as the files use to, they just play. However, mp3.com use to allow you to use your browser to search for an MP3 and then you could download it using your own software. The difference, of course, being that with the AG file agent, known as the Satellite, you can resume old downloads when they fail due to a disconnection.

It Ain't Perfect Folks, It Ain't Even Napster

The first problem I found with this program was that it requires two programs to run at the same time. It boasts a small resourced program that only requires 720kb of space to fit in, but this "tiny" program won't even do the searching for you. So you have to use your internet browser to actually locate the file you want (which uses substantial system resources) and then the file agent will download for you.

The Audiogalaxy website must be on unstable servers because I have never seen a site down so much of the time... and then there are all of those fault errors. You know a site has problems when they have a zillion different fault errors that they rotate displaying. The AG site is running on inflow.net servers, so I wouldn't recommend their services to a friend.

The other problem with Audiogalaxy is that it just doesnt have the support that Napster does. Because the population of users is so much smaller there is less of a library of music to select from.

Audiogalaxy V. Competition

When it comes to choosing an MP3 browser I will probably always recommend Napster, right now with the addition of Napigator. However, with the decadence of the "Original Napster" I have tried out pretty much every MP3 program that I have gotten my hands on.

One of the other options in MP3 software is the gnutella clients. I have not found any of these user friendly or even a good option. By visiting www.gnutelliums.com you can download some of the gnutella clients, like bearshare or gnucleus (neither do I recommend). If you have tried these clients and they didn't work out for you, then you may want to try out Audiogalaxy. I will always recommend Napster first, but this program isn't that bad when it all comes down. It is for this reason and a couple others that I choose Audiogalaxy as my number 2 MP3 tool!

Audiogalaxy Background Information

Audiogalaxy is owned by a man named Micheal Merhej who lives out in Austin, Texas. It has some sort of connection to a company by the name of Blue Ribbon Enterprises, which appears to be a non-existent company according to most intelligent sources. But hey, anything that comes out of Texas is all right by me.

Overall Advice On This Program

I would have to say that Napster, as a company and a program, is a far superior tool to use in your MP3 searching. So, get yourself Napster and Napigator software and use this as a backup if you can't find something on Napster servers.

Recommended: No