KaZaA's gotten a lot of bad press lately for ethically dubious software bundling schemes. Is the application behind the furore worth checking out?

If you've been following tech news lately, you've already heard of KaZaA, an application that's infamous even in the Wild West world of peer-to-peer file swapping. KaZaA bundles piggyback software that could allow third parties to use your computer to distribute their own content.

Even if you're savvy enough to disable the extra software, you can't opt out of installing it, and we can't endorse any application that abuses the trust of its users. If you're after file sharing, stick with Audiogalaxy or LimeWire.

Making headlines
Granted, peer-to-peer file-swapping applications, including previous versions of KaZaA, have long pushed the boundaries of tolerability. Take iMesh, for example, which includes software that reports your site visits to a central server, and BearShare, which installs software that displays pop-up ads even when the primary app isn't running.

But KaZaA 1.6 one-ups them all. It installs software from Brilliant Digital Entertainment that allows Brilliant to use your computer as a node in a giant network, distributing software for other companies or aiding with complicated computing tasks. It's hard to get too outraged. KaZaA is, after all, a free app designed to let you download files that are also free. However, you can't opt out of Brilliant Digital's piggyback app. That's simply wrong.

You won't have any trouble downloading and installing KaZaA unless you're on a Macintosh--KaZaA works with Windows only--but you should be careful. The install wizard lists four optional pieces of software that don't have anything to do with KaZaA but that do deliver ads. You can't opt out of Brilliant Digital's app, so if you brave the installation, be sure to follow these instructions to disable that software. We followed the instructions on our Windows 98 test machine and were able to remove the app and related files without a hitch--as far as we know.

Smooth searching; bumpy downloads
Once you've navigated the treacherous installation, you will find some likable changes. KaZaA 1.6 presents an attractive, easy-to-navigate Windows XP -like interface, which we found a particularly nice touch. Just right-click a filename and search for other clips from that artist or album.

As with the previous version, KaZaA's search function takes the cake, letting you hunt for any kind of file or target your quest for music, video, software, images, or documents. Our results came up slightly faster than they did in competing apps and included a wide variety of tags and information, such as how long the download would take. KaZaA also offers a functional Family Filter, which gets rid of X-rated options.

Unfortunately, despite its stable performance--it didn't crash once in our tests--and pleasantly broad range of files, we didn't get speedy or reliable downloads from KaZaA's FastTrack-powered network. KaZaA claims that 90 percent of attempted downloads are successful, but our tests yielded only 60 percent, which is on a par with most file-swapping applications.

Dubious claims; skimpy support
The new version includes a vaguely titled Recommendation Engine, but this feature, as far as we could tell, simply lets you place songs that you like in a particular folder; we couldn't determine how to get such recommendations from other users. In addition, the new Intelligent Alerts, which supposedly offer search tips when you get a bad set of results, didn't come up with even one helpful tidbit. Worse, if you have trouble with KaZaA, you won't find much help at its Web site's FAQ--not even minimum requirements for installation.

On your guard
KaZaA does its file-swapping job as well as, if not better than, the other P2P apps we've tried, but it's simply not worth the included risks. Instead, look at Audiogalaxy or LimeWire for quality results and relative peace of mind.

Sharman Networks KaZaA Media Desktop 1.6
Company: Sharman Networks
Price: Free

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