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What the heck is an eD2K ‘Hash Link’ ?

eD2k Hash Links are direct links to files being shared through P2P programs such as eMule and Shareaza. Think of them as a *.torrent file, or even a NZB (Usenet), or Direct Download Link (DDL). Grossly understated, a hash link is a unique keystring, or identifier, that is attached to a file that is being shared. Whether you know it or not, all files incorporate some form of hash link scheme to give them a uniqueness or specific digital fingerprint. All *.torrent files, all *.mp3s, *.ZIP/RAR files, movies, images - they all have some type of hash function used in identifying it. Think of it as an IP address - everyone has one and no two are alike.

Why are Hash Links so important?

As will all methods of P2P file sharing, the doors are wide open to scams, fake files, malicious code, anti-piracy groups bungling up the search results with bogus entries, blank movie files, mp3’s with no sound…the list goes on and on. Anti-P2P / Anti-Piracy groups are constantly evolving and ever-creative in finding new ways to fuck up the P2P networks. But with (eD2k) hash links, you’ll be sure to get exactly what you paid for (ha ha!) each and every time, with no surprises.

— “So, why use eD2k hash links, when you can just search eMule or Shareaza for a specific file by name? Isn’t that the same thing?“

Not at all. See, when you search for a specific file - for example “No Country for Old Men”, you’ll get search results that only match the name (or title) of the shared file. You’ll also get 42 results; when in all likelihood, there’s only one that is the proper desired file. Not only that, but the title is completely arbitrary - anyone can rename “Garfield.avi” to “No Country.avi” and share it among the eD2k network. You won’t know the difference, that is, until you download and play it! Using proper eD2k hash links solves the problem. Try to wrap your head around this: “Hash links treat files with identical content but different names as the same, and files with different contents but same name as different.” You can thank Wikipedia for that head-spin!

— “Does this make Shareaza better than Limewire?“.

Yes… but only when files are being downloaded & imported from reliable hash links. General in-program searching will yield the same amount of garbage in the results as Limewire. Being able to incorporate downloads from hash links makes Shareaza (i.e. ‘eD2K network’-compatible P2P programs) far superior to other P2P applications.

We’re not suggesting that you DON’T use eMule or Shareaza to search for files. We recommend that you search the eD2k hash link sites for it first. You’ll always get exactly what you want, time and time again.

— “WOW! With this novel innovation, you’d think that the anti-piracy groups would be attacking eD2K networks and hash link websites!”.

They did, and do. eDonkey2000 was an eD2k network that settled with the RIAA for $30 million back in 2006. But the point was moot; since eMule, aMule and Shareaza had all gained the majority of popularity among users on eD2k. You can kill the program (or network or two), but you can’t do anything about the ALL the networks and servers. eD2k hash link websites were also shut down (such as the enormously popular site sharetv.net). Anti-P2P agencies began to infiltrate the servers on the network in the grandiose idea of flooding it with fake and bogus files. While this worked (and still does) to some extent when doing in-program searching, it had a very little footprint on savvy eD2k users who are able to select the viable servers from which the files are being queried from.

Sounds Neat! How can I begin?

You’ll need an ‘eD2k’ compatible P2P program, and some websites to download the eD2k hash links.

eD2k P2P Clients

We recommend these 5 clients. (Shareaza being the easiest of them all). This is anything but an exhaustive list of eD2k-supporting clients; however, these are adware / spyware free. Use these official links to avoid any scams:

• Shareaza v2.3.1.0
• eMule v0.48a
• aMule v2.1.3
• eMule Plus v1.2c
• MLDonkey v2.9.3 (see here also)

For Shareaza, after installation it will ask you if you’d like to make it the default magnet handler. It’s a good idea to say YES - when you open an eD2k link it will automatically launch Shareaza, and begin the process of downloading. This will be the message you’ll get from Firefox:

How It Works:

Simple! Just browse eD2k indexing sites (below) and find a link for your file! Click it, it should open a window similar to the screenshot above. This will launch your eD2k network-compatible P2P client (i.e. Shareaza) and the connection / download will automatically begin.

NOTE: Some files will take some time to connect to other users in the network, this is normal. Other times you may be placed in a “queue” sequence for files that are less popular - this all depends on who’s sharing it (and how many).

eD2k link indexing Websites

Good eD2k links are similar to private BitTorrent sites - the files are hand-picked and sorted through manually. This takes a tremendous amount of work to keep a current listing, especially when adding new material daily. We tip our hats to the ones who do it well - it’s you guys who keep eD2k alive!

BAD eD2k sites (with POPUPS)

www.shareprovider.com - Sometimes all this work comes with a price, as in the case with shareprovider (someone suggested they should change their name to popup-provider, instead) - 2 popups per download? - they must be making a killing! We hate selling our souls for popups almost as much as we hate the RIAA. Well, not quite. But they’re still viciously annoying. Better to tolerate 2 popups than a movie file that won’t play, we suppose! They have a few sister sites such as ishareMUSICS.com, ishareVIDEOS.com and ishareGAMES.com. Keep reading - there are better alternatives to finding eD2k links…for shame…Next, please!…

http://www.shareheaven.net/ - Another site with criminally vulgar popups. Why we list these, I’ll never know. Oh yeah, so you’ll know where NOT to visit for your eD2k links.

tvunderground.org.ru/ - Another site with inane popups. Not bad content, though - and well categorized.

GOOD eD2k sites with NO POPUPS

mpc-donkey.ert.pl - This site is deathly slow and doesn’t have a search (just an alphabetical browsing scenario). Also contains only music - but there are many! (and the eD2k links are by album, not song - which we enjoy). It’s likely you’ll find something here that you can’t anywhere else.

www.dead-donkey.com - Contains a big list of horror movies only. Good list, though! They also have a sister site for SCI-FI movies - scifi.dead-donkey.com.

forum.phantomp2p.co.uk/portal.php - Phantom P2P is an eD2k link indexing site, and a pretty darn good one at that! Requires registration before you can access the links. After signing up, you’ll immediately be able to login (at the bottom of their homepage).

www.sharevirus.com - (Closing soon?) Great forum-style website with constantly updated content. No account required, just browse the forums by topic and select a file. (TIP: eD2K links are at the bottom of the posts). Most of the movies are proper “scene” releases (and they leave in the release group name to verify - a nice touch!). These guys have a high alexa ranking, with little surprise!

www.hanger.org.uk - Another forum-style website for eD2k links. Requires registration to access the links.

www.p2ptv.co.uk - Just an INSANE amount of television shows here! (Although most of the content is not current, give it a shot if you’re looking for something not found on BitTorrent sites). TV shows are available for download in series’, not episodes!

www.findhash.com/ - Good site for eD2k movie links! Findhash rocks! The links are a little tricky - browse through the movie categories and click your desired movie - the links will appear to the right in a box called “Quicklinks”. Select the eD2k link to import it to your client. Even supports sig2dat files for KaZaA, if you can believe that!

forum.hell-spawn-inc.com/ - Yet another fabulous eD2k site. Requires registration before any of the links are accessible. The total number of topics in the forum is over 30,000 which gives a rough idea of how many links there are!

www.overnetworld.com - 1000’s upon 1000’s of eD2k movie links, including 988 full DVD-R movies! Requires registration.

www.shareforce.org - Amazingly fabulous eD2k site in forum-style (requires registration). Thousands of links in every conceivable category, including Hi-Def movies, Lossless audio, ebooks, audiobooks, console games and other specialties.

eD2k-it Forums - And another great eD2k site. Dozens of categories from which to choose (including lossless music, HD movies, PC & console games, apps, TV shows, eBooks, audiobooks - to name a few); many are “proper” scene releases that include the official NFO file.

sharethefiles.com/forum/ - GREAT eD2k indexing website! Thousands of eD2k movie links wonderfully broken down into categories, including over 1,500 High-Definition / HD / Blue-Ray movies! Films are just the beginning of the action on sharethefiles - it’s a vast EMPIRE of just about everything in every category of copyrighted content! Go! Go NOW!

eD2k link Search Engines

These websites are Search Engines for eD2k links. In our opinion, we prefer to use the above ‘private’ forums in the above list for obtaining eD2k links, but these can also be resourceful for finding obscure items. If you’re serious about getting the latest movies, games etc. - stick to a proper eD2k forum with hand-picked content.

NOTE: As is the case with most search engines, the sites listed below are normally unable to index files found in ‘private’ or ‘registered-access’ forums (where the actual GOOD eD2k links are) so search results are limited to public domains.

www.emugle.com - eMugle is a Google-style search engine for eD2k hash links. If you’re searching for movies or large files, it’s a good idea to try to use the advanced search options to narrow down the results by size. In our tests, this did little to help find particular (English) movie files that existed on many of the good eD2k indexing sites above. On a sidenote, you can import their eD2k serverlist into your eMule / aMule program for your own searching. Just enter the path of their serverlist into eMule, and click the ‘add servers‘ button to the left (see below):

www.peerates.net - Another good source for google-style eD2k searching. Also has a nice list of eD2k servers. Probably has the best eD2k search engine around - some results were shown from eD2k-it.com.

www.figator.com - no popups, no-frills, just generic searches with more than 75 million files in the database. For this site, enter a search and click on the [details...] link, then the [CACHE] link, then the [URI] link - this should now launch your eD2k /magnet handling P2P client (Shareaza). NOTE: For search results, we found it to be very scarce in the movie department, but great for music. We searched for “Rambo IV” and it came back with only ONE movie result, and it was in French.

And here’s an eD2k link to the database list from the now-defunct sharetv.net website.

Honorable Mention:

http://xtrememule.com/forum/ - Offers a GOOD list of viable eD2k servers that can be instantly imported (and connected to) within Shareaza. Simply click the link - it will launch Shareaza (or your default eD2k/magnet handler) and automatically connect. This improves search results immensely. Click your Networks icon to view your connections.

NOTE: We’re aware that certain eMule releases already contain the same serverlists (so this is basically the same thing), but this is a good, easy alternative to add eDonkey servers to Shareaza without any fuss.

ADVANCED: If you prefer, you can disconnect from the Gnutella2 and Gnutella1 after you import an eDonkey server into Shareaza. While this will limit your search queries in Shareaza, it will also give you BETTER results. Enabling only a viable eDonkey server will drastically improve the results and filter out most of the garbage that floats around decentralized P2P networks such as G1 and G2. Try it both ways, and see which way you prefer - you can always turn them back on with a click!

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• Date Saturday, 23 Feb 08 at 12:25 am
• Under Advanced Searching
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