Thank you so much for even reading this! You're a help already. ^^

Okay here goes... I'm new to this forum, but you all seem so nice and helpful so I figured I'd ask a few questions. I'm not really new to anime, but recently I realized just how much money I was shelling out for graphic novels and DVDs and such! It really adds up. Plus, where I live, there isn't too much available, and I'm too young for a credit card so I can order online. First, I want some opinions on DC and ICQ or IRC or whatever. I have Kazaa, and it sucks a lot. (If anyone wants to give me their user names so I can see what they have, that would be cool. Mine is Priestess, and I have some AMVs and such). Another thing is I really don't think I have a gig of anime to share... I mean, hopefully I don't. (I mean, if I did, it's a lot of anime on my comp!) I have a cable connection, btw. Secondly, I'm a sucker for shoujo mangas and animes. If you know of any good ones that aren't exactly main stream but are available online, I'd love to hear about them. I like FY, Inuyasha, DB/Z/GT, Ayashi no Ceres, MARS, and Marmalade Boy. No, I don't have any episodes or mangas downloaded for most of them, so I'd love it if I got some. Thirdly... umm, now I'm going to sound really stupid. I have XP, which I think has a built in unzipper. But what *IS* a zipped file? When I right click it, it says "extract to"... what is that? I can still use and view all the files in their zipped form, so why should I unzip them? I'm usually pretty good with computers, I'm not a complete idiot, but this 'zipped folder' stuff vexes me!

Alright, I think I've written enough. Thanks in advance for your help, everyone. I know you get technical questions about DC and such a lot, but hey, the more you answer them, the bigger your community gets on them, right? Thanks a bunch!

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2003

Answers

A zipped file is a collection of files that have been compressed to make them take up less space. With XP you don't need to extract to anything. The extract thing mostly applies to older operating systems or if you want to take particular files out of the zipped file. If you don't have at least 1Gb of stuff to share then DC is not for you. You can find almost everyting you want on IRC, both old stuff and new. However if you don't have a computer you can leave on overnight and/or a fast connection IRC is not for you. I haven't use ICQ before so I can't really comment on it. Shoujo manga, eh? I read Hana Yori Dango some time ago but after a while I realised that while stuff was happening, nothing was changing at all. It's taken me off shoujo stuff but I hear Kodomo no Omocha is good. I'm too hungry to write more but I hope this helps.

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2003

Hey there,

Being a poor college student, I know what it's like to not have money to buy DVDs. One thing you can try is a new file sharing thing called Bit Torrent (http://bitconjurer.org/BitTorrent/) which I realy love because it elemitates annoying queues and it doesn't take eternity to download eps (while still keeping the 'take & give' idea). The downside is that you won't find any older anime's.

IRC can sometimes be a hassle just like Kazza but still more effective. With IRC, once you request an anime from someone, you basicaly wait in line to get that file (so you're stuck there untill your turn and the file is done sending). It can be a pain when the chat room is crowed with everyone and their grandmother. And even when it's your turn to get the file, it can send realy slowly or not at all depending on the person you're getting the ep from. Thus you could end up loosing your turn and fighting to get back episode. A realy good site to start searching for BT and IRC anime is Anime Source (http://www.anime-source.com/html/index.php)

Manga and anime wise I think you'd realy like the manga I"s (posted on Anime Source), Fruit Basket, Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou (highly recommended but kinda hard to find now), and Love Hina. Also, when you're tired of waiting for Inuyasha episodes to come out, you can just read the manga here (http://www.wot-club.org.uk/Inuyasha/). They have every volume up to the more recent Vol 31 Ch 302.

Hope that helped, Tsukiyo

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2003

K, first of all, dont use Kazaa. Not only is it adware, but it is also spyware, which means kazaa installs a file into C:\WINNT\system32 \drivers (i think thats what it is) and then has access to information about what you do on your comp, such as where you click, what websites u vist etc, and then sells this info. to the companies that sponser it. Thats how it gets profit. You shouldnt use DC because most hubs have a mimimum of at least 1 GB of files if not more...try WinMx (www.winmx.com) or eDonkey (www.edonkey.com) You can get IRC too, but i wouldnt reccomend it. (www.mirc.com) Hope i helped.

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2003

Thanks everyone! I didn't expect to get answers overnight - you guys are great! I have another question, but I'm going to post it in a new thread so I can make sure it's seen... I hope it's not a question someone already asked though. I read mostly all of the questions and I didn't see it, but hey I could be wrong.

But anyway, what would you recommend, if I just wanted to have something else besides Kazaa? I have cable modem, can leave my computer on overnight (it's in my room, as long as it doesn't annoy me I don't mind), and I just might have a gig of anime... it qualifies me for IRC, but is that what I'd want to go with? And another thing... I really don't want to screw up my computer. I'm not good at unscrewing things after I've completely screwed them. ^^; Thanks for your help everyone! I appreciate it.

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2003

I think you should try either Bittorrent or Direct Connect first then. IRC can be very confusing and is definitely not for people in a big hurry but I'm used to it now so I hardly use anything else. There's a version of Kazaa called Kazaalite which claims not to have spyware but I'm not sure you can take their word for it.

-- Anonymous, March 10, 2003

About the spyware thing in Kazaa... at this point, it doesn't matter if they're spying on me or not - there's not much I can do about it. The uninstall on Kazaa conveniently failed. (What kind of crap is that?!) I would have to go through and manually remove the program, which I don't know how to do because I'm not that dedicated yet. -_-;

Thanks for your help everyone! Direct Connect and IRC are sounding good, now I've got to narrow it down and pick one! Would it be better to get rid of Kazaa before I install one? Or does it not matter? And aren't I getting annoying with all of my questions? ^^; I bet I am... sorry guys! But you're all a great help and I appreciate it. And I'm not just ass kissing! I'm actually surprised that there are people who respond to posts with actual help. *sniff sniff*I love you guys!*sniff sniff*

-- Anonymous, March 10, 2003

I have no clue about the episodes you want, but here's another KaZaA alternative, it has no spyware: XoloX (pronounced Zolox) It works on the Gnutella Network (Like KaZaA) and has most all KazaA files. You also dont have to share files and the interface is good. Check It Out!

-- Anonymous, March 10, 2003