The Scoundrel Project is a radically new kind of P2P client.

Normal P2P clients let you manually enter search-phrases, manually screen and select which of the results to download and then manually retry the whole process when the downloads fail.

Scoundrel on the other hand, automates this process by letting you point and click at exactly what you want through the Built-In-Browser and then automatically searches the 'net for available files, automatically downloads any found results and automatically retries in case of a failure.

How do I "point and click"?

Using the Built-In-Browser, you surf on to a site that Scoundrel "understands". Then, when you find a page which contains music information, Scoundrel quotes the information found on the web-page and can then, at the click of a button, start searching for exactly that music and then download it! This way, you can focus on the music rather than on fiddling with what search-phrases to enter or which of the gazillion results to actually download.

What sites does Scoundrel understand?

Currently, Scoundrel supports Amazon.com. This means, that when you point the Built-In-Browser to a page on Amazon containing information about a CD, Scoundrel can automatically search for and download it.

Please note that Scoundrel is in no way associated with Amazon.com, but does indeed encourage you to purchase any music you have found and liked through their online store at their online store.

Whoa! Does that mean that ALL music on Amazon is available?!

No.

Only stuff that people are actively sharing on a network that Scoundrel supports and is connected to is available.

That is, on the other hand, quite a lot of stuff...

Whoa! Isn't that... like... illegal?

Scoundrel was conceived as a means to easily get mp3'd versions of records you already own. Perhaps you've already bought the album from Amazon and are anxious to get those tunes faster than the mail can deliver, perhaps you don't want to pay for CD-ripping software and can thus not rip your own CDs or perhaps your entire CD-collection is stored in a Shurgard storage facility in western Pennsylvania.

There are apparently tons of totally legitimate uses for Scoundrel (at least if you consider having mp3-versions of your CDs legal, which I believe it to be), which is why it is distributed here.

You as the end-user are totally, utterly and completely responsible for what you use the client for. Neither I, nor OpenAve nor Amazon nor Napster have any business whatsoever fiddling with what you are doing with Scoundrel nor any responsibility for it. Use it at your own precaution, your own discretion and at your own risk.

So, where are the RPMs? I wanna get this going on my linux box right now!

Sorry dude. The linux-version won't be available until Borland ships Kylix, their Linux&Windows Delphi-version. The good news is that Kylix should be shipping any month now.

You need windows 95/nt4 or later with Internet Explorer 4.0 or later (need it for that built-in-browser stuff).