Content creators can easily share their work for free on two popular torrent platforms called FrostWire and LimeWire. It helps them to connect with people by not paying a single amount of money. They were very popular when they were released for the first time. They were legal sites as they gave good security to users. But due to some issues, they were closed.
FrostWire vs LimeWire
The main difference between FrostWire and LimeWire is that FrostWire is an open-source and free BitTorrent client. LimeWire is used by people for sharing files related to music, videos, and images. The advantage of using FrostWire is content creators can easily share their work in FrostWire without paying anything. Whereas in LimeWire, users can search for their desired content from other users’ computers, and it allows them to download that content.
FrostWire is a native android based BitTorrent client. It comes with additional support downloading music and videos from YouTube. It is one of the perfect sites to download from music to everything. It allows individuals to share their content right from their computer without spending any amount of money. For content creators they help to level the playfield of content distribution.
LimeWire allows users to share any type of file related to music, videos, and images. It is very legal, and there is no prohibition of distributing the content or having those content on your computer or laptop. But it has been shut down after it was found guilty of committing copyright infringement. They did it on a massive scale by breaking their user’s trust.
Comparison Table Between FrostWire and LimeWire
| Parameters of Comparison | FrostWire | LimeWire |
| Evolution | 2004 | 2000 |
| Stable release | 2020 | 2010 |
| File size | 23.0 MB | 18.87 MB |
| Developed by | LimeWire’s open source | Lime Wire LLC |
| Advantages | Content creators don’t have to pay anything to release their work | Users can search for desired content from another user’s computer and can directly download that |
What is FrostWire?
It is an open-source and free BitTorrent client. It was launched as a fork of LimeWire. It is very similar to LimeWire when it comes to functionality and appearance. Later, developers added some extra features into it that include support for BitTorrent protocol. The size of Frostwire is 23.0 MB. This was written in Java programming language. During 2018, it went down for a few days. But later it came back with brand new features. It works well with many people but is not the best option for everyone.
But Google removed the FrostWire app from the Google play store. It is very bad because 80% of users still opt for FrostWire, and Google’s decision to remove this app from the play store has been considered as a big blow to the company. Even though the app is not available in the play store, users can still download it from Google Chrome or any other web browser. The 7 best alternatives for FrostWire are BitTorrent, uTorrent, Flud, aTorrent, TorrDroid, CatTorrent, and WeTorrent.
The best part about using Frostwire is you can preview and play the songs while you download. You can download the single file, or you can download the entire package in one go. Both these options are available on their site. It has some in-built features called In-app file search, preview/ play while downloading, media player, BitTorrent, and media library. Their mission is to let the content creators willingly distribute their work on their site.
What is LimeWire?
It is a discontinued free software. It has both the Gnutella network and BitTorrent protocol. This is available in 32 languages. Mark Howard Gorton started LimeWire. He was the chief executive of the Lime group. It included bundled software as part of their installation. It had a legal battle with the US Music industry. Later it became obsolete. Then, it was forgotten by many people when FrostWire came.
They don’t have any centralized servers for storing files. Because it directly transfers files from one user’s hard disk to another user’s disk. That is why it is called peer-to-peer learning. It was shut down in 2011 due to copyright issues. But it has got 24 alternatives called uTorrent, Transmission, QBiTorrent, Deluge, Soulseek, Tixati, eMule, LuckyWire, rTorrent, Shareaza, KTorrent, WireShare, BeeMP3, GigaTribe, MuWire, GTK-Gnutella, Acqlite, Bit Tornado, Transdroid, Vuze, Miro, Tribler, BitComet, Rocket Torrents, and Bottom Line. When LimeWire was operating, it got its revenue from several sources.
First, it offered a legitimate way of music purchase. Second, they sold their premium version, which got various improvements over their free version. LimeWire was misused by cybercriminals for distributing malware. It gave a new way where it infected PCs without relying on social media content.
Main Differences Between FrostWire and LimeWire
- FrostWire was released in the year 2004. On the other hand, LimeWire was released in the year 2000.
- The stable release of FrostWire was in the year 2020. On the other hand, the stable release of LimeWire was in the year 2010.
- The file size of FrostWire is 23.0 MB. On the other hand, the file size of LimeWire is 18.87 MB.
- FrostWire was developed by LimeWire’s open source. On the other hand, LimeWire was developed by Lime Wire LLC.
- The advantage of using FrostWire is content creators can easily release their work in their work for free. On the other hand, the advantage of using LimeWire is users can search for their desired content from other users’ computers.
Conclusion
Both FrostWire and LimeWire were considered to be good for downloading video and music. They were very good during their release time, but after some copyright infringement issues, LimeWire was removed. But FrostWire still existed. Later some years, Google play store removed that app from the play store. This devastated many people as 80% of users used FrostWire for downloading music and videos.
Even though it has been removed from Google Play Store, it is still available as a website on the internet. If people want, they can download songs or contribute their music videos to their site. But it has got some competitor apps in recent years.
References
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1742287612000862
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1742287608000443