eMule "waiting" problem.
 

I recently started using emule. I opened the ports I needed to on my router and unblocked it from windows firewall so I can connect perfectly to servers KAD and I have a high id. I also used their "test ports" option to make sure that I can connect correctly. However I have a problem downloading files from sources.

Ex. I see 10 sources, but only 1 is sending me the file.

A majority of the time though, I will see 10 sources and not connect to any, and the file just stays in "waiting" mode. I've left emule running for one day and still no change. Do you guys know what I can do to fix this?

Usually you can't "fix" that, because the system is working just fine. You need to wait your turn before the people who have the file can send it to you. They only have a certain number of upload slots, so if other people are requesting stuff as well, you just need to wait.

This is why eMule sucks.

True. But in the end if you cant find it anywhere, its probably in emule. :D

Saying Emule sucks because *some* files are slow to get is like saying BitTorrent sucks because some torrents aren't seeded. <_<

In my experience, every file on eMule requires an enormous wait time to download, even when there are a huge number of available sources. Compare the download time of a well-sourced file on eMule and a well-seeded file on bittorrent of a similar size. I'd be prepared to bet you spend more time just waiting for the download to begin on eMule than the whole download would even take on bittorent.

I suppose I should have said that wait times are just one of the plethora of reasons why eMule sucks. Another good reason is the huge number of fake files and fake servers. Also, in absolute terms, I would say bittorent does suck. It just sucks less than eMule. The easiest downloads to snag are those on IRC.

If you guys get a good experience out of eMule, that's great. I didn't, and I won't ever bother using it again. It just doesn't seem like a very convenient kind of system. Torrents are much easier, as long as they are seeded.

It really depends on what you're looking for. Personally, I download a bunch of stuff that you'd never find on torrent, and you would *maybe* find after hours of search on DC or Soulseek. What makes Emule slow is also what makes it so great: it's centralized. You have a constant access to everything everyone connected to your server or the KAD network is sharing. This explains the long waiting queues for poorly available things. However, from my personal experience, without ever being as fast as super popular torrents, Emule has always been pretty fast for largely shared files.

I know this is a bit late, but I want to respond. There are only two categories of file that I can imagine you might find on eMule that you would never find a torrent for, and I want to know if I've hit the nail on the head with regards to your download needs. If I'm wrong, then I think there's a chance you might be able to find some private torrent sites that have what you're looking for.

The only things eMule seems to have an advantage over torrents for are:

1) Obscure music. You either look on DC, Soulseek, or eMule for rare and obscure music. Torrents for music seem to be mainly mainstream artists.

2) Anime in languages other than Japanese or English. I've found French, Spanish, Italian and Chinese fansubs on eMule, and never available on torrents.

If not those things, would you might telling me (in general term) what you do find eMule best for? I'm not trying to get confontational and suggest that torrents are always better, I'm just genuinely intrigued.

haha, no actually you've got it right. I download tons of music off emule, although I also rely on DC for this. And yes, movies, cartoons, animes subbed or dubbed in french, heh. :thumbsup: for the logical thinking. ^_^

I always thought eMule was full of spyware. That's why I didn't try it. Maybe I'm wrong. . .

Could it be that you're thinking of LimeWire? That particular P2P app is almost guaranteed to do bad things to your computer.

I may as well have been.

FrostWire is a open source fork of LimeWire and it seems to be much better.

Yeah probably. There's nothing wrong with the Limewire concept, since it's simply a client for the open source Gnutella P2P network. Pretty much any other client (and there are others) would make the Gnutella network safe and convenient to use.