The Ares open-source filesharing system is a favorite of 30 million users around the world. Why? Here are 4 reasons:
1. Because they love music. Ares has over a million songs in its database. There's a good chance you'll find what you're looking for here. If you don't, you can always ask someone in the Ares chat rooms and see if they will seed a file for you.
2. Because they value their privacy. Ares is one of the few systems that offers free downloads without adware. Most P2P networks that offer the same thing monetize their networks with advertisements.
While the need to monetize is certainly understandable, this has a negative consequence for users. Advertisements are usually displayed based on the websites a user visits and sometimes even the words and phrases he or she types into a search engine.
Spyware records these addresses and search phrases and delivers the information to a server. The server then chooses which ads to display, based on this information. It's not as bad as having your credit card number stolen, but it is still a creepy violation of online privacy.
3. Because they believe in the open-source ethic. Ares is open-source software, which means that its inner workings are available for anyone to study and modify. The software is not copy-protected or proprietary.
The open-source ethic is one of openness and sharing. This ethic mixes perfectly with the peer-to-peer filesharing ethic of free music downloads (and other kinds of downloads as well). The open-source ethic encourages transparency and community.
4. And finally, Ares users enjoy community. The software supports network chat rooms. This is vital to file-sharing; the software's 30 million users can get on chat rooms and request files that are not currently available on the system.
These chat rooms also provide a forum for lovers of specific genres of music or video. It also provides a space for a band's fans to congregate and share their love for the music online.
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