anyone havin problems with morpheus?

I've had the same problem under 98. Under 2k it gives me a 'upgrade to a newer version' message, as though Kazaa might have upgraded their network?

 

Mine is working ok except for a few lame connections.

 

KaZaa got nailed in Europe for copyright infringement (Belgium, I believe) so Morpheus is headed down the same sad road as Napster... a shame, really.

Oh well... that just means the party moves somewhere else.

 

Do you have RoadRunner?

I went through the same problems about 2 weeks ago. I could connect, but any search I did would show no results. It started working again after I turned my share folder off.

 

Tue Feb 26,11:58 PM ET
John Borland CNET News.com

StreamCast Networks' Morpheus--a file-swapping service that many have said would be impossible for courts to shut down—-shut out most of its users Tuesday, citing "technical problems."

Computer users trying to log on to the service were greeted with a message telling them to upgrade their software to connect, although no newer version of the software was available. The outage immediately sparked a huge increase in traffic on alternative file-swapping services, such as Gnutella (news - web sites).

In a statement, StreamCast blamed Kazaa, another file-swapping company that had provided the basic software that served as the foundation of the Morpheus program. Kazaa, along with fellow software licensee Grokster, have recently issued upgraded their software, while StreamCast has not.

"Unfortunately, Kazaa's recent upgrade has made Kazaa's and Grokster's new versions incompatible with Morpheus," the company said in its statement. "As a result, we are accelerating the release of our new Morpheus software and within days expect Morpheus users to enjoy the Morpheus Preview Edition."

That new software, the company said, would operate using an "open protocol" network. That typically means that different software companies can write pieces of software that talk to each other. The network used by Kazaa, Grokster and until now by Morpheus, is a "closed protocol" network in which each company has to license the software from the owners.

StreamCast has previously said it would add support for the open-source Gnutella network in future versions of its software. Streamcast executives could not immediately be reached to provide details on the new software.

A Streamcast move entirely to Gnutella or another "open protocol" network would send a shock wave through the file-swapping community.

Together, Kazaa, Morpheus and Grokster had created a joint network that neared or even exceeded the size of Napster (news - web sites) at its peak. Anyone using any of the three programs could search other users' computers.

The Morpheus software appeared to be the most popular of the three, however. According to Download.com, which keeps a count of people downloading the software, Morpheus has been downloaded more than 51 million times.

Kazaa has seen more than 37 million downloads, while Grokster has seen just over 1 million, according to the site. Download.com is a division of CNET Networks, the publisher of News.com.

Moving Morpheus users to a Gnutella-based network could also prove technically difficult. The open-source Gnutella technology has had difficulties with large numbers of user in the past, and has stumbled when large influxes of users overloaded the network. Some of those problems have been addressed in more modern versions of Gnutella software.

Gnutella software was one benefit of the Morpheus outage, however. According to statistics kept by Limewire, a distributor of Gnutella software, the number of people using Gnutella at the same time jumped by well over 50 percent, to more than 100,000 people, by the end of the day Tuesday.

StreamCast, along with Kazaa and Grokster, is being sued in Los Angeles federal court by the big record labels and movie studios, which contend the services are contributing to widespread copyright infringement. The two sides are scheduled to meet in court March 4

 

Maybe you need the latest version of morpheus. Mu computer gave me an erro rmessage saying that the version I had was too old to download.

 

I switched too. For some reason my downloads are now going a lot faster. I ain't complaining though.

 

Dammit, and Morpheus has always worked perfectly. Doesn't Kazaa have 'spyware', or whatever?

 

I was just about to ask the same question Rokkit.

 

I had lots of problems with Kazaa, spyware, and system resource issues. Morpheus has been great up to now.

 

This is from http://www.musiccity.com/


We understand that some of you are having difficulties connecting to your Morpheus User Network. As you know from recent newsletters, Morpheus has been preparing to substantially upgrade the Morpheus software. Unexpectedly, one of our software providers made a significant upgrade to their technology that is currently incompatible with Morpheus.

We share our Morpheus users' frustration with this action and are committed to getting you back up on the network as soon as possible. As a result, we are accelerating the release of our new Morpheus software and within days expect Morpheus users to enjoy the Morpheus Preview Edition. The Morpheus Preview Edition will provide enhanced capabilities, a new, easy-to-use interface and most importantly, will provide access to more search results. In addition, we want to assure our users that, unlike other peer-to-peer networks, we remain committed to a free software product without spy ware.

We appreciate our users' loyalty to the Morpheus product and are committed to providing you with the best peer-to-peer network in the world. We appreciate your patience during this short transition. Please check back for exact availability to download the new Morpheus Preview Edition....

 

I've also heard that kazaa may contain spyware.

I highly recommend Ad-aware by Lavasoft for finding and getting rid of spyware.I've used it for about a year.I usually run it about once a month and it always finds something.Very easy to install and use.

http://www.lsfileserv.com/index.html

 

Will Gnutella get Morpheus back on track?
By John Borland
Special to ZDNet News

February 28, 2002, 4:30 AM PT

URL: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-847274.html

A glitch this week that locked millions of people out of the most popular file-trading network since Napster's fall is raising new questions about the future of the Net's free-music bonanza.

Beginning early Tuesday, a message on Morpheus--a file-trading service from StreamCast Networks-- told visitors to upgrade their software to connect to the network. However, no newer version of the software was available.

Although the nature of the problem remains unclear, the shutdown has led StreamCast to consider dropping its current software. Such a move could create the biggest rift in the file-swapping world since a federal judge effectively shut down Napster last year.

In an interview, StreamCast Chairman Steve Griffin said the company in the next few days plans to release a new version of Morpheus based on Gnutella, an earlier open-source peer-to-peer alternative that has so far trailed in popularity.

The problem may point to deeper trouble for several file-swapping services, which face a copyright-infringement lawsuit from major media companies aimed at shutting them down.

StreamCast (formerly known as MusicCity), Kazaa and Grokster--all of which originally licensed software known as FastTrack--have argued that they have no control over the network of people who trade files using the software they distribute. Analysts say that claim could be hurt by Tuesday's near-total shutdown of the Morpheus network.

"It looks like good news for the record labels," said Jupiter Media Metrix analyst Aram Sinnreich. "It looks like some of these so-called uncentralized, unpoliceable networks are more policeable and more centralized than they seem."

The bulletproof network closes
Since Napster first burst onto the scene, file swapping has emerged as one of the Net's "killer apps," vigorously embraced by millions of consumers in search of free music, video and software. But it has been challenged with equal vigor in the courts by media companies, which fear a vast expansion of piracy that could gut their businesses.

The record labels successfully shuttered Napster last year only to see alternatives quickly step in and allow the free-for-all to continue unabated. In a setback for the record labels and Hollywood studios, this new generation of products tapped into "peer-to-peer" technology, which allows individuals to create vast networks that leave copyright holders with no single switch to shut down.

Such pure networks, however, have been hard to assemble. Early versions of Gnutella, for example, were dogged by network problems that made the system all but unusable for large numbers of people.

Distributed as an open-source technology--software that can be freely modified by independent programmers--Gnutella has since inspired derivatives that offer significant improvements, such as LimeWire and BearShare. But none has proven as successful as Kazaa, which recently sold most of its assets to Australia's Sharman Networks, or Morpheus.

By sharing the same technology, Kazaa, Morpheus and Grokster formed a network that rivaled Napster's in size, since people using any one of the three pieces of software could search each other's computers. The Morpheus software appeared to be the most popular of the three, however. According to CNET Download.com, which keeps a count of people downloading the software, Morpheus has been downloaded more than 51 million times.

Kazaa has seen more than 37 million downloads, while Grokster has seen just over 1 million, according to the site. (Download.com is a division of CNET Networks, publisher of News.com.)

Since the beginning, the companies have claimed the network couldn't be shut down because it didn't operate the same kind of central servers that ran the Napster system.

In Napster's file-swapping system, a central switching station linked the millions of file swappers' computers together. In the system used by Kazaa, Morpheus and Grokster, this process was allegedly handled on the fly by the individuals' computers, without company intervention.

But early Tuesday morning, Morpheus users found themselves locked out of this network. Something in the network was telling their software to shut itself down.

StreamCast's Griffin said Wednesday that it wasn't his company's fault. That message was coming from somewhere else in the network--apparently, he says, from computers running a new version of the software distributed by Kazaa earlier this month.

As a software licensee, StreamCast has never seen the inner workings of the file-swapping technology it uses, Griffin said. Nobody contacted him about upgrading to the new version of the software that Kazaa and Grokster are using, and he said he doesn't even know whether the original Dutch creators or the new Australian parent company owns the software.

But StreamCast has a new version of Morpheus nearly set for release. That will be ready in a few days and will run on Gnutella technology, Griffin said. This means that the millions of people who use Kazaa or Grokster will no longer be able to search Morpheus computers, and vice versa.

"It was not our intention to separate the networks," Griffin said. But "I'm not sure how you get back into compatibility with someone that seems to be able to turn you off."

Representatives for Kazaa could not be reached for comment.

Peer-to-peer power play
The move of millions of people onto the Gnutella network would represent a dramatic shift in the peer-to-peer world.

Gnutella has gained substantial press since its creation and release by America Online programmer Justin Frankel two years ago. But despite the efforts of Gnutella developers such as LimeWire and BearShare, the technology has never gained the traction of Napster, Morpheus or Kazaa.

Developers say the technology's early problems with handling large numbers of people have been solved. StreamCast's Griffin said his developers have also worked out the initial troubles in connecting numerous people within Gnutella.

Gnutella developers are watching StreamCast with interest, seeing the changes as a potential boost to their community's size.

"Our whole goal has been to evangelize that Gnutella is good," said Greg Bildson, LimeWire's chief technology officer. "If Gnutella gets bigger, that's a good thing in general."

Other groups are closely watching the skirmishing among the file-swapping companies--particularly the record and movie industries, whose legal case against the services is about to reach a head.

StreamCast is scheduled to meet attorneys for the Record Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America in a Los Angeles federal court March 4, less than a week after Morpheus' shutdown.

The closure of the network is likely to play a role in that case. The record companies and studios have long contended that the companies providing file-swapping services have the ability to control their networks to some degree.

"We have been saying all along that they control the system, and this proves it," RIAA Senior Vice President Matt Oppenheim said in a statement Wednesday.

Analysts say that if StreamCast moves to Gnutella, it could help the record and movie companies keep a lid on file swapping's growth.

"There will always be a new gray-market network somewhere," Jupiter Media Metrix's Sinnreich said. "But it's a good thing for the legitimate industry if every six months people have to find a new (file-swapping) community."