Fake Files on FastTrack (Kazaa, Kazaa Lite, iMesh, iMesh Light, Grokster, Grokster Light)

Most people in the FastTrack file sharing community know by now about the corrupted MP3's that have spread around. It seems that most of the new/popular songs have been corrupted and seeded by the RIAA. You'll notice that the first 20 seconds or so of a song will sound fine, and then get garbled into a screechy sound.

Because it's not always easy to tell which file is a fake one and which is a real, I'm going to try and sum up some of the signs of a possible fake file.

To notice the difference between a fake file and a real file you need some commen sense and understand the goal of the RIAA. Now, the main goal of the RIAA is to have as many as possible fake files shown in a users search list. Simply because then it's hard for the user to pick out a real one.

Here are some of the results I got when searching for Eminem - Like Toy Soldiers.

The first thing I noticed were these files. At the end of these files, the user has added a number between brakets.



For the RIAA to have as many fake files shown in a users search list as possible, they would need to copy their fake files as many times as possible, giving it a new name to have it shown as a different file in the search window, but still allow the user to recognize what song the file appears to be. This could also make it seem that a certain file has lot's of sources, while it doesn't.

So I moved on and expanded the source list of this file.



The first thing you'll notice are the files with numbers between brakets, these could be fake. You'll also notice how some files are owned by the same user. Again, I can think of few legit reasons why someone would store the same file multiple times.

This third example is just screaming: ''I'm fake!"



The same user owns multiple copies of the same file, and one of the files has a number between brakets. However, there is something else; the filesize of the files is different. What does this mean? Fake files can have a different filesize, which means you can't spot the bad ones out by looking at the size.

That bring us to the next example.



It is important to check wether the file has an acceptable size. A song which is only 1MB big will probably not be a complete song, let alone a song. There are of course exceptions.

This new example shows that the file has an acceptable name, size and no multiple users.



However, if you look at the filename of the song (name most to the right which includes the extension of the file, .mp3 in this case), you'll see that it includes a number between brakets. This could mean many things: only the file this user has is fake, both users own a fake file or the file is not fake at all. Sometimes you just have to try and see.

Look at this example.



Hopefully, you were able to spot lot's of signs of a possible fake file. I'd like to use this example to point out that files with lot's of sources have a bigger chance of being fake, as naturally you would like to download the file with the most sources.
Remember, it only takes one user to have a screechy sound in your song.

This is the last example and asks for some commen sense.



Don't download songs that don't own a pretty icon set by your default media player; these files are not songs.