What it was. What replaced it.
Java app + a folder of "Track 03.mp3"
- FOUNDERS
- Mark Gorton (Lime Wire LLC)
- PEAK
- 1 in 3 PCs worldwide (2007)
- ANTHEM
- Soulja Boy — "Crank That" (mislabeled, full of viruses)
Rebooted in 2022 as an NFT marketplace (yes, really)
LimeWire was the file-sharing client your friend's older brother installed for you. Friendly, Java-based, available on Mac and Windows — it democratized P2P at a time when the alternatives required a manual.
It was also a graveyard for malware, mislabeled MP3s, and the occasional career-ending file. Shut down by federal injunction in 2010, it left behind a folder full of "Track 03.mp3" on every hard drive of the era.
The on-ramp to peer-to-peer for hundreds of millions of users — and the unofficial soundtrack of the early 2000s.
- ↗ Wikipedia: LimeWire
- ↗ Arista Records LLC v. Lime Group LLC
- ↗ NYT: LimeWire Ordered to Disable Software (2010)
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