Kazaa Lite

Kazaa Lite can refer to one of many third-party modifications of Kazaa, a peer-to-peer file-sharing computer program. These clients are unauthorized modifications of the Kazaa Media Desktop (KMD) application, which typically exclude malware and may provide additional features.

Background

The first unofficial modification of Kazaa became available in April 2002 and was downloadable free of charge. It was created by third party programmers by modifying the binary of the original Kazaa application. Third-party modifications of Kazaa became wildly popular, as they connected to the same FastTrack network as Kazaa Media Desktop, but didn't include bundled spyware or adware.

Timeline

Kazaa Lite

Kazaa Lite was originally created by Random Nut, Rocko, and Paul. It was shut down by Sharman Networks on December 7, 2003. The final version is v2.4.3.

• Based on Kazaa Media Desktop 2.0.2
• No bundled spyware or adware.

Kazaa Lite K++

K++ was a memory patch / extension manager that was a part of the original Kazaa Lite made by Random Nut^[2]

K++ and nsane versions include:

• Based on Kazaa Media Desktop 2.0.2
• No bundled spyware or adware.
• No search limit restrictions or multisource limits.
• Participation level locked to 1000 (maximum).
• Better multi-source downloading.
• Unreachable sources are no longer stored in the .dat files

K-Lite

K-Lite was based on the newest modified core of KMD, v2.7.2. Latest version is K-Lite v2.7.2a

• Based on Kazaa Media Desktop 2.7.2
• No bundled spyware or adware.
• Unlimited "search more" and automatic "search more".
• Participation level locked to 1000 (maximum).
• Utilizes intelligent download accelerator.
• Anti-spam search features.

Reaction from Sharman Networks

Sharman Networks considers Kazaa Lite to be a copyright violation. On August 11, 2003, they sent a letter to Google requesting that all links to the Kazaa Lite application be removed from their database. During December 2003 Sharman emailed the owners of all sites hosting a copy of Kazaa Lite, threatening legal action if it was not removed. Because of this, the program was for a while difficult to find on the web, and development of it stopped. As of early 2007, the program is again widely available. It also remains available on the FastTrack network itself, where it can be downloaded with Kazaa or any other FastTrack client. There are rumours that new versions of KMD will prevent Kazaa Lite from connecting to the FastTrack network. In March 2005 Sharman Networks again sent a letter to Google requesting that all links to the Kazaa Lite application be removed from their database.

As owner of the Kazaa Intellectual property and copyright, Sharman eventually sued Kazaa Lite's developers and forced the shutdown of any mirror website containing the file.

Network status

Kazaa Lite still remains widely available, but with a very limited userbase and the inability to run on modern Windows operating systems, the network is effectively end-of-life.

Confusion

The confusion over the status of Kazaa Lite was exploited by some to sell subscriptions to a music download service unrelated to the Kazaa Lite application. Many other websites have also attempted to scam people into paying for something that sounds like Kazaa Lite but this is actually some other service which is already free. Others have used the confusion in phishing attempts.

External links

Software

• Kazaa Lite (KazaaLite.tk @ archive.org) - Original Home of Kazaa Lite
• K-Lite (nsanedown.com) Unofficial home of K-Lite 2.7.2 (mirror of former official home www.my-k-lite.com, which is now defunct)
• KLT K++ (Kazaa Lite Tools K++) - Official Home of Kazaa Lite Tools K++ 2.7.1
• Kazaa Lite K++ (nsanedown.com) - Official Home of Kazaa Lite K++ 2.4.5.9

Media

• Old Versions - Old Versions of Kazaa Lite
• Wired review
• German Kazaa Lite FAQ

References