Hiho....I know that lots of people are complaining about the service on here, and I felt like I should offer a defence of it...so if you're considering the download, it's not all bad:
I run Windows XP from within Mac OS X via Parallels, which means the XP system has been given a paltry 448MB of RAM to work with. The RAM is also dynamically set and it's set to favour OS X, so it could well at times be even lower than that for XP. Despite this I can play music, browse and use 4OD, surf the web and the client works fine. I think to build a beta which is that reliable on such a low-resource machine is a fantastic achievement.
Whilst this might be just my luck as well, I've had the player about 8 days and have 29 downloads so far, none of which cocked up. The player never crashed, the client never crashed, the net connection is working fine. Everything is absolutely peachy.
Cant edit my own posts. Wonderful. For those who want a bit more detail to flesh out this precise scenario (after all, every PC and user are different):
XP: 5GB HD (filled to 4.4) 448MB RAM (typically)
Connection: 8MB uncapped broadband (no fair use agreement) on a Belkin wireless router, split between five always-on laptops, 2 of which have permanent torrent programs running, typically Bitcomet and BitLord.
Typical use scenario:
IN XP (Within OS X): 4oD running, IE running, UseNeXT running and downloading
AT THE SAME TIME IN OS X (using the majority of the 1GB RAM for the two systems): Azureus running and downloading/uploading, Firefox open and in use, iTunes playing, various messenger clients pinging away.
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That's it really. Like I said above, everyone seems to be slagging it off but I think its definitely worth a try.
Good that it's working, but the system could really do with a redesign...quite honestly the kontiki application, while maybe not designed to be malicious, is using malwear-like modes of operation. When I installed 4od I was not even aware that I was in fact installing something else it was running on top of - and it did not make it at all clear that it would run a permanent windows service. In addition, an automated uninstall procedure is not easily found (although it may be reached by running the ) and even then it doesn't uninstall everything.
In the terms and conditions:
"Channel 4 does not warrant that the Software is error free or free of viruses or bugs or that you will be able to operate the Software without problems or interruptions"
Maybe a legal thing (I mean, liability of death is covered a bit later!) but does not warrant that the software will be free of VIRUSES?
Bottom line is, whether you can get it to work or not, this is not well designed software. Good software gives the user the opportunity for knowledge and control - it presents what it does in a standardised and organised fashion, and runs smoothly. Absolutely nothing in 4od is standard and, well, the number of complaints kinda speak for itself IMHO.
