I am always astounded by the ease with which it is possible to find and download almost any song or MP3 file on the internet.
This program is a case in point: z33K is a small program that can find MP3s and internet radio stations on demand, and will let you download the former with ease. z33K taps into the MP3 databases of two sites (Dilandau and MP3Skull).
How to use:type something into the searchbox (a song or artist name), and watch the results fill in. If you are looking for a radio station then click the globe icon first (middle icon in the group of icons on the right) then search (note: you cannot download radio streams).
Click the star icon to switch to the playlists page, the heart icon to add something to the playlist, and the down arrow to download (files will download in the background into the same directory where the app is located).
The verdict: overall, an excellent – portable- app that provides an excellent user experience. It is quite amazing just what you can find here, including spoken word and other audio files. While the internet radio function is a nice touch, the MP3-finding function is the main draw here, as there are much better apps out there for finding and recording Shoutcast/internet radio.
One thing that could have better, though, is to have an indication of the bitrate and file size of the entries in the search results list, or search filters that let the user define these, so as to skip over files that are not of the desired quality. On the other hand, the search-and-play simplicty is one of the main draws that this app has to offer.
Note that we do not recommend or condone downloading copyrighted material; you can just as well use z33K to built and listen to online playlists.
[Thanks go to reader Panzer for the tip about this software].
Version tested: 2.0 beta
Compatibility: WinAll.
Visit the Z33K Facebook page, or go to the project page on SourceForge to download the latest version (~1.63 megs).
