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Audiogalaxy Satellite 0.609

Audiogalaxy, formerly located at http://www.audiogalaxy.com/, was a file sharing system that indexed MP3 files. Originally created by Michael Merhej as an FTP site index called The Borg Search, Audiogalaxy evolved into a robust peer-to-peer system with client software (the Audiogalaxy "Satellite"), a web-based search engine, always-on searching for requested files, auto-resume and low system impact. It quickly gained ground among file sharers abandoning Napster in 2001. Some observing the previous downfall of Napster via lawsuit were shocked at the design of Audiogalaxy, which was in some ways more centralized than Napster. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Image File history File links AGSatellite609. ... Image File history File links AGSatellite609. ... File sharing is the activity of making files available to other users for download over the Internet, but also over smaller networks. ... For other uses, see MP3 (disambiguation). ... A peer-to-peer (or P2P) computer network is a network that relies on the computing power and bandwidth of the participants in the network rather than concentrating it in a relatively few servers. ... A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. ... Napster was a file sharing service that paved the way for decentralized P2P file-sharing programs such as Kazaa, Limewire, iMesh, Morpheus, and BearShare, which are now used for many of the same reasons and can download music, pictures, and other files. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ...

• In May of 2001, Audiogalaxy implemented "groups" which allowed group members to send songs to everyone in the group. Clever hackers used this backdoor to circumvent the "blocked songs" restriction, where Audiogalaxy could deny transfer of specific copyrighted songs.

• On May 9, 2002, Audiogalaxy required songs to be in the sender's shared folder to be sent. Previously, one could send any song to anyone by editing the CGI parameters. This protection was quickly defeated by creating a "dummy" file in one's shared folder, and sending a song with the same name -- due to Audiogalaxy's checksum hashing, the correct file was always sent despite the dummy. Some of the users could bypass this setting too, but instead of CGI editing there was a less sophisticated solution. A simple .bat file in sharing folder (with a line "move *.mp3 x:something" for example) was scheduled at desired time moving all of the MP3 files into desired folder.

• Even though Audiogalaxy claimed that they were trying to cooperate with the music industry and block copyrighted songs from their network, they continued to offer illegal MP3s and were sued by RIAA, on May 24, 2002. On this day, Audiogalaxy blocked sending of all blocked songs.

• On June 17, 2002, Audiogalaxy reached an out-of-court settlement with the RIAA. The settlement reached would allow Audiogalaxy to operate a "filter-in" system, which required that for any music available, the songwriter, music publisher, and/or recording company must first consent to the use and sharing of the work.

Zach displaying the now infamous AG tattoo

• On September 8, 2002, Audiogalaxy licensed and re-branded a for-pay streaming service called Rhapsody from Listen.com and discontinued its famous web-based P2P service.

• On December 25, 2002, Martin Rieder wrote a preliminary form of a database-backed backwards-compatible Audiogalaxy server, dubbed OpenAG Server.

• On April 5, 2007, user "zach_who_jack" received a tattoo of the Audiogalaxy logo to fulfill a wager proposed on the site's message boards.^[1]

Audiogalaxy's stated mission was to facilitate sharing of music, though much more appears to have grown from its legacy. It was notable for its strong community due to such features as chat-enabled groups and per-artist internet forums. This strong community also facilitated a very broad reach of content across many genres, particular those that tend to remain under-developed in more modern systems. is the 129th day of the year (130th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... The Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is a standard protocol for interfacing external application software with an information server, commonly a web server. ... A checksum is a form of redundancy check, a simple way to protect the integrity of data by detecting errors in data that are sent through space (telecommunications) or time (storage). ... A hash function is a reproducible method of turning some kind of data into a (relatively) small number that may serve as a digital fingerprint of the data. ... The music industry is the industry that creates, performs, promotes, and preserves music. ... Not to be confused with copywriting. ... The RIAA Logo. ... is the 144th day of the year (145th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... is the 168th day of the year (169th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (1,024 × 768 pixels, file size: 284 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)AG Tattoo File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (1,024 × 768 pixels, file size: 284 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)AG Tattoo File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Rhapsody is an online music service run by RealNetworks. ... is the 359th day of the year (360th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... is the 95th day of the year (96th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... For other uses, see Tattoo (disambiguation). ... A typical Internet forum discussion, with common elements such as quotes and spoiler brackets A page from a forum showcasing emoticons and Internet slang An Internet forum is a web application for holding discussions and posting user generated content. ...

Although music is no longer shared, some message boards are still moderately active.

Files of any type could easily be shared via Audiogalaxy by renaming a file in a certain way. For example, myvid.avi would be shared by renaming it to myvid<space>avi<space>.mp3

External links

• RIAA, NMPA Reach Settlement With Audiogalaxy.com
• Audiogalaxy's Rhapsody service:
• R.I.P Audiogalaxy - Kennon Ballou's story of Audiogalaxy (an Audiogalaxy programmer)

References