I think it would be great if it was possible to choose what formats to look for. But only for advanced users. Since applying choices like that would probably alienate newbies to P2P sharing.

but an advanced tab in the searchcatagory would be nice, not only for Mac-users but also for for example people that are tired of the albumwrap, and would like zip and rar files to show up while searching for music.

As for defining specific codecs used, I am affraid that the gnutella people would have to rewrite the way the files are hashed. I may be wrong here, as I do not have the insight of how hashes work really, but I am pretty sure I am on the right path.

Also I think that it's a terrible idea that people should encode files in a way that isn't the optimum codec (performance and size) just so they can play in iPods. I have tried recoding mp3 of good quality (192 kbps and above) into mp3Pro and do not notice any loss of quality at all. I do have good audio equipment to play it back, I would notice loss in quality. As for lower bitrates I'm not sure, since I don't bother to download anything that isn't worth listening to. Anything under 128 kbps doesn't deserve to be on the network. iTunes should instead make a plug-in for mp3Pro playback.

I much better idea I think regarding video formats is, if all people (newbies and experts alike, this includes programme manufacturers) would get into their thick skulls that DivX is the way to go. Even the Ahead people (Nero) are trying this Nero Digital format, which is the only real dissapointment in their new program, instead of buying the rights to include a DivX converter and developing it even further. By this I mean like the ImTOO ripper and the WinAVI video converter which are lossless with the right settings. They (Nero) at least got the mp3Pro converter, even though it is an add-on that they charge extra for . Don't think those programs support Mac-platform

Since Macs and iPods are so popular I am pretty sure that if software isn't allready out there that is able to do lossless conversion, it will be soon.

Windows users can do this, so why shouldn't Mac/iPod-users be able to as well.

If not. Then there is a unused opportunity to make lots and lots of $ for some programmer. hint hint !!! Should maybe get into programming instead of waisting my time in business school

All mpeg formats are "lossy" formats. DivX (patented), uses lossy MPEG-4 Part 2 compression, XviD (open source & uses elements of H.263), 3ivx are examples of some makers of MPeg4 formats.

H.264 (ITU-T H.264 standard) is mpeg4 part 10 & from what I've read is one of the very best mpeg4 formats now being commonly used. According to that link HD-DVD format of the DVD Forum & The Blu-ray Disc are considering using H.264 instead of the present mpeg2 format which is used for DVD's. ie: the higher the mpeg version, the more efficient it is at converting with size & quality the factors. H.264 is better than DivX.

Yes mac has lossless formats for video. QuickTime has a no. of options for lossless. It's own & the animation format being ones I'm aware of.

I'm not sure why someone would want to convert an mp3 to mp3pro. Mp3Pro's abilities are aimed at files between 50-100 kbps, so anything larger is not as efficient as other converters. Even iTunes mp3 codec surpasses it at bitrates higher than about 140. And Lame of course is the best of them all at anything larger than 128 kbps (I'll leave m4a out of this discussion.) For iTunes, there are 3rd party plug-ins for both Lame & Ogg Vorbis. In the very earlier days of mp3, there were no converters around for anything above 128 kbps but times have changed. And of course, mp2 was originally used in file sharing but that's totally gone by the wayside now.

Your reference to "Newbies" which generally means windows users who have what comes with their systems. Which is wmp & its formats; What you should know about WMA/WMV Files Not the greatest of audio or video formats to say the least. Forgive them ! for they know not what they do. lol These people are also often attracted by realplayer & its very highly patented formats. Don't we just love trying to convert or use rp files. I don't believe it's safe to downld zipped or rar files at present. Since the equivalent of Overpeer loves to pollute the network with such files. Oh & newbies also generally use the default settings for conversion which are generally around the 128 kbps for audio, etc. Audiophile people look with disgust. lol
Time to stop my rambling & back to the point. A better definition of multimedia files, particularly video files would be beneficial for "most" people. So they know exactly what it is they have found in their search results. Not a vague description like avi or mpeg or mov.

I use ImTOO ripper personaly and a 5 GB DVDfile will come out perfect at 800 - 1000 MB the DivX files you download on Gnutella almost all have been ripped or repacked to fit a CD-ROM or are earlier versions of DivX

With a DivX rip that has been allowed infinite filesize, you will have trouble distinguishing between the DVD and the DivX. With DivX I mean 5.2.1 and above not 3ivX or those earlier formats and X-vid needs to much space for a good rip. I am not familiar with the h. 263 and h. 264 formats. But if they are better then everyone should use them. We need to standardize in some way or this formatproblem will go on forever.

The only reason I recoded an mp3 to mp3Pro was that WMP couldn't play the original. and there was no loss of quality

If you know of any better mediaplayer for windows please let me know. It has to many limitations. I have tried both iTunes and WinAmp, but I prefer WMP to them.
I have tried looking for one but can't find any with as good a medialibrary as WMP which could have even more options if it was up to me

Add an option to re-prioritize entries in queue based on the current sort order, ie you sort the queue by size, name, status, etc, then choose a menu option or button, and all the priority numbers are automatically resequenced to match the current order.

The option to choose which program opens when I preview or launch a file. ie: that it doesn't necessarily have to be the default program as it is now. An option in LW prefs options of 1st & 2nd options/prefs to open a program to do the job. I had a request about something similar today. And it's been on my mind for over a year also. Setting options to choose which program opens what would be beneficial to a lot of people (with the default being the system default.) Obviously this won't apply to a lot of people who don't know much about what when it comes to multimedia files, but for those who do, it makes a big difference.

- Prevention of multiple identical error messages at one time.

When I leave limewire and my ISP has shut off it's connection, I come back to a buildup of 'Not Responding' error messages that sap all the memory out of my computer.

Bittorrent side feature

I would really like to see something napster like, and what I mean is the user has to create a username and not just use one's IP address. I download a lot of hard to find, rare files, and I've had incomplete files in my incomplete folder for like two months and it ticks me off that I can only find this certain user like once every 5 months. If you create a hotlist option it would make it easy for users to connect to friends or people who have the same tastes in music.

Also have an open nap feature where once you connect to the network you have to automtically share files since I get alot of leechers who download off me. This is why napster was so successful was because you can get millions of files anytime you wanted and all these new P2P apps allow you to share or not share which is stupid because the more you share the better the network is.

These are some features I'd like to see

1. Hotlist option
2. Terminate IP browsing and create a mandatory username (again relates to option 1)
3. Chatroom - for discussion purposes and more convienent support. Wuith the message you have to create a username, get an email and activate account, it takes quite a bit of time and a chatroom will solve the time issue for support
4. No more behind firewall crap to prevent downloads.
5. Open Nap meaning once you connect you have to share prevents leechers

I'll think of some new things as it comes.

Add a window selection to the View menu or have a window menu. I mean this in regards to chat. If you have chat window open (or several), sometimes it gets hidden behind the LW interface. That issue has bothered me since I 1st used LW (v2). Also, on odd occasions error messages can get hidden behind LW (this might be a M$ Windows issue I can't remember.)

Playlist: It would be nice to have the option to have more than one playlist open. And you can swap between the playlists. At present, you can only have one open. If you create a new one but then open a saved one, then the new playlist is lost unless it's been saved. Also, it has come to my attention that playlists can only be "Saved As ..." & cannot be saved using the same name as the older saved playlist. If it is, the playlist becomes corrupted & a blank playlist results. eg: I have a saved playlist called "A". I then open A & add more songs to it. I then save as "A". I open playlist B. Then I reopen A & all the playlist is blank; corrupted! Reference to this finding HERE (click on link)

Is there any such thing as an m4a playlist? Or a combined playlist that has more than one audio format? I noticed m4a files cannot be added to a playlist within LW. I presume they can be in some other audio programs.

limewire.props option to start in background, i.e. not disable my computer (and blank my screen) with useless splash windows

Been suggested by me and others