The first thing you need to do is download and install eMule. This guide is based around eMule Plus which is the best version IMO. You can download it here: -
http://emuleplus.info
eMule works on a share ratio system. If you upload slowly, you download slowly. If you don't share anything, you'll find it hard to download anything. Bear this in mind before you begin.
Start up the program and click on the Preferences button at the top. Click on the grey General button, then hit General again (with the gold cog next to it). All you really need to do here is pick the nickname you want to use. The other options speak for themselves, but I don't have any of them selected: -
Next, select the Directories option and choose where you want to save files and which folders you wish to share. You can also choose which media player you wish to use for previewing files. I use VLC as it works well for most audio and video: -
Select the Files option. Here you can set who can browse your shared files: -
Next, click the grey Connection button, followed by the Connection option with the little red plug next to it. This is where you set your upload and download speeds. If you have a broadband connection, then set the upload speed to around 70-80% of your theoretical maximum speed. Set it too high and it'll use too much bandwidth and browsing the web while using eMule will be painfully slow. Don't set it too low either, because you need to build up a good upload ratio to be able to download at a decent speed. As long as your upload speed is greater than 10KB/s, then you can check the box to allow limitless download: -
Once you're done setting up the options, click Apply then OK. Click on the Servers button at the top and double-click a server to connect. I personally use Razorback 2, but you can use any of them as they're all supposedly linked together. eMule should connect to a server and the Connect button (top left) turns into a Disconnect button.
Click on the Search button at the top. Here's an example of the search results when searching for "dj revolution" using the default settings. As you can see, it's a mixture of mp3, avi and zip files. Notice the DJ Tiesto files that appear in the results: -
Obviously, I don't want any Tiesto files, so it's possible to exclude his name from the search. In the Except box, I entered "tiesto" and this time the search results don't include any files of his, although there's still a mix of mp3, avi and zip files: -
You'll find a lot of mixes and albums that are zipped as single archives, so if that's what you're looking for then select the relevant option from the drop-down menu in the Type box. As you can see, this time the results only include zip files: -
To start a file downloading, just double-click it. You can then click on Transfer at the top and see how your files are getting on. eMule can be painfully slow, but there's a wide range of files being shared.
You may have seen ED2K links posted up on various sites. They look like this: -
ed2k://|file|MoonBabies.making.of.-.Digital.Vertigo.mp3|7550223|6A4765F2FFBD99C9C1AE85B5B36E9EFC|/
If you click on the Search button in eMule, there is a box top right that says Direct Download. Copy the ED2K link and paste it into this box, then hit Start: -
The download will automatically begin.
Most of the features in eMule are accessible by right-clicking files and using the menu that appears. It's all fairly straightforward, but if you have any questions then ask them in this thread.
