dkBooster - a new, innovative ED2K method

I recently noticed a certain application called dkBooster being spammed in several P2P-related forums, including this one. Although I normally tend to this type of guerrilla marketing, dkBooster seemed like a truly innovative new concept for P2P, so I decided to try it out for myself. Traditional peer2peer involves the direct connection of uploaders to downloaders, but what makes dkBooster truly innovative is its use of a remote-controlled central server that essentially runs the ED2k application instead the ED2K client being located on the user's computer.

When running dkBooster, the user is never connected directly to the ED2k network, and the dkBooster satellite client that runs on the user's PC is not a ED2K client - instead it basically acts as a remote control for instructing the server to interact with the ED2K network. Basically, the central server grabs the file from the P2P network, and then the user downloads from this server.


Simple to Learn, but bug infested

I must first warn any potential users that I encountered LOTS of bugs - some of them real show-stoppers. Anyone who feels adventurous enough to try dkBooster should consider him/herself a beta tester. After all, this is a new, largely untested release.

DkBooster requires users to activate membership by entering an email address in their buggy signup page. After many unsuccessful attempts using different combinations of web browsers, settings, and email domains, I finally received a password.

The dkBooster client is very user-friendly and comes with a well-written and detailed help file - though even without reading the manual, any existing eMule or eDonkey user should have no trouble figuring out how to use dkBooster. Because unlike 'normal' P2P applications, the action takes place between the server and the network; there is no need for the client to have an abundance of (often confusing) settings to tweak.

To download files, you can either search the entire network (no single-server search is offered) or paste an ED2K link into the window. A bar graph shows the percent file completion as it downloads. When the file is complete, you should be able to download it from their server. However, there currently is a major bug here: all my completed downloads disappeared into the ether without a trace - so I was not able to retrieve a single one of them.

dkBooster's central server also shares files that you choose to upload to your personal account. I uploaded a few files to my account and then turned on file sharing. This is a feature that I think needs to be turned on by default, to reduce any chance of inadvertent leeching.

Although the service is still full of bugs, the concept behind dkBooster is excellent (I must wonder why no one ever thought of it sooner). Instead of firing up eMule or eDonkey and logging onto the ED2K network, it is dkBooster's central server that actually connects to the network and downloads files for you. When the files are complete, you download the cached files from their server to your computer at your full line speed.


Advantages over 'ordinary' ED2K:

Security

Because dkBooster's central server acts as a kind of proxy server (with full file caching) your IP address is not visible to any peer you download from or upload to. Although so far the ED2K network has been virtually immune from the ongoing RIAA lawsuits, this proxy feature does at least offer some peace of mind in knowing that your IP address cannot be harvested by anti-P2P forces for whatever nefarious purposes th
ey might someday embark on.

Convenience

Since dkBooster performs the actually downloading from the network, users do not have to stay online waiting in long queues. Dialup users especially will love this, since most are limited to short online sessions which are often less than the time required to move up the queues to reach a download slot. Probably the biggest shortcoming of both eDonkey and eMule is that downloading a small, rare file can take days or even weeks of remaining online continuously and waiting in queue. This is especially true with old files - since they are more likely to only exist on the computers of 'packrat' downloaders who share many gigabytes of files and have enormous queues. With dkBooster, a dialup user can simply check into the server occasionally to see if the file appears on his account.

Defeat Restrictive Firewalls

Corporate and university firewalls as well as the use of network traffic-shaping devices can be a major impediment to P2P filesharing. Even home-computer firewalls and routers can be a challenge for some users unfamiliar with port forwarding, resulting in low-ID assignments and poor performance. dkBooster should be able to work around all of these obstacles since it simplifies the file sharing process into something more similar to uploading and downloading from a website.


Although dkBooster is free, and has no spyware or adware in the application - or even any advertising on their website - I must wonder how long this situation will last. Running a caching server entails considerable expense, and so far dkBooster appears to have (as yet) no business model to raise revenue. I'd expect that as membership increases, at some point they will eventually need to limit bandwidth and server space for free users, and perhaps offer premium paid accounts for wide-open access. (However, YouSendit.com has been offering a free file-caching transfer service for about a year, although YouSendit's apparent business plan is to use their free service to generate publicity for their for-pay business services.)


ED2K's first Peer-2-Server-2-Peer system

Although dkBooster has enough bugs to render it essentially inoperable at the moment, when these problems get worked out this promises to be an excellent file sharing tool - a real must-have item for any eDonkey/eMule user who is unable to remain online for long stretches at a time, or is behind a tough firewall. DkBooster may be the best new idea to be introduced to the file-sharing community in a long time.

http://www.dkbooster.com

PS: WARNING: files sometimes deleted from server
dkBooster has on at least 2 separate occasions deleted the users files from the server. Although they provide a very generous 3GB of storage space, users should be advised to take their downloads from the server as soon as the files complete.