FreeRapid Downloader

[Ascend4nt]

HomePage
Download Page

Screenshots: http://wordrider.net/freerapid/screenshots.html

Queue and Download files from RapidShare and hundreds of other file-sharing services.

Portablizing:
Unzip files into a folder, then open the file 'startup.properties' in a text editor. Change the line that reads:
# --portable
to:
--portable
and save.

Also, since this requires Java, if its not installed, it is possible to launch it using PortableApp's Java Portable Launcher. A batch file can also be created in place of a launcher with the following line:
\PortableApps\JavaPortableLauncher\JavaPortableLauncher.exe %~dp0\frd.jar

*Note: If run on a pre-Vista system with Java already installed (and without the portable launcher), it seems to leave this folder under Program Files\Java\jre6:
launch4j-tmp

Upgrading Note: Delete everything except the folders config, log, and plugins. Then edit startup.properties again as noted above.


Description From Homepage:
"FreeRapid is an easy to use Java downloader that supports downloading from Rapidshare and other file-sharing services.
Simply copy and paste your links from a browser to this application. FreeRapid Downloader will handle the rest itself. No more clicking or uncomfortable waiting.


Main Features
support for concurrent downloading from multiple services
downloading using proxy list
support for streamed videos
download history
smart clipboard monitoring
automatic checking for file's existence on server
auto shutdown options
automatic plugins updates
simple CAPTCHA recognition*
works on MS Windows (all, include Win7), Linux and MacOS
easy to use
multilanguage interface English, Bulgarian, Czech, Finnish, Portugal, Slovak, Hungarian, Simplified Chinese (other languages will come soon). Information for translators is here.
looks great
more than 230 supported sites!
simply works! more over 2 000 000 users can confirm that"

* CAPTCHA recognition NOTE: This does not circumvent Captcha input boxes, but rather allows you to enter them outside of the browser.

[webfork]

I've been using a buggy Java downloader program for Mac called Retriever for quite a while now. Definitely will try this out on the Mac side and then see how it stacks up to Free Download Manager (no Java, also GPL'd)

Thanks for the post and noting the use of jPortable.

[webfork]

* support for concurrent downloading from multiple services

Actually I checked the settings and it supports around 300 hosting services. Very nice. Notably (and probably most popular) is good support for Youtube and the Apple movie trailer's site, but many people who share stuff here on the site on file distro sites like depositfiles and mediafire will have a use for this.

[webfork]

Tested this program a bit more and came up with something that I think is an important distinction:

Its not a download manager independent of the various file sharing sites it uses. That is: if you're not downloading from them (MediaFire, 4shared, and other supported services), it doesn't work particularly well with regular download links or unsupported sites. This couldn't take the place of managers like FDM or DownThemAll.

[guinness]

Could this be included here when it has something like this >>

CAPTCHA recognition

[webfork]

Could this be included here when it has something like this >>

CAPTCHA recognition

I didn't notice that, but yes that might be an issue.

[Ascend4nt]

So I've recently been using this program a bit more now that it seems pretty stable with the updates. I have to say its a must-have part of my toolbox.

Its so convenient to set a group of files to download from multiple sources and (typically) not worry about it unless theres some CAPTCHA stuff. And speaking of, they now make you enter that stuff manually, so I don't know that there's really a legal question anymore other than maybe disclaimers like 'you have to visit our website (and deal with the shitload of ads and malware we'll throw your way)'. I say screw those websites, what they do is even more of a legal grey area than this.

Oh one thing I just discovered is that you can set it to download Youtube videos - even whole playlists! Very cool, and definitely good for getting stuff to watch when your laptop or tablet is not 'wired'.

[Ascend4nt]

Version 0.9u4 is out. Humorously, they use file sharing services to host the program - humorous because the program itself is created to deal with the deceptive 'find the hidden download link' tricks these services are known for.

But hey, if you have it installed, you can use an older version to download the newer one without all that hassle.

See 1st post on how to make it portable (editing startup.properties file)

*edit: And to be clear, the Captcha 'recognition' isn't circumventing anything - it REQUIRES you to manually enter the captcha words/letters

From their changelog:

18th May 2014 - FreeRapid Downloader 0.9 Update 4
Fixed: Recent files combobox uses MRU [by Tong2Shot - thanks!]
Fixed : widen up main frame's status bar's info label a bit as it got truncated on some LaFs that use bold font.
[by Tong2Shot - thanks!]
Fixed : plugins API - improved replaceInvalidCharsForFileSystem [by Ntoskrnl]
Changed : French translation, Bahasa Indonesia translation
Changed: rotate proxy per host [by Serge Baranov - thanks!]
Added: plugins API
- Support for JSON parsing
- Suggest file name
Changed: upgraded internal ObjectDB database to version 2.5.5

[Midas]

I haven't tested it (no Java here), but FreeRapid Downloader appears to belong is in the same category of MiPony (DotNET, http://www.portablefreeware.com/forums/ ... 469#p69469) and Candisoft's Load! (portable, no dependencies?, http://www.portablefreeware.com/forums/ ... hp?t=21261)...

[Ascend4nt]

Midas, get JavaPortable! From looking at those two links though, I would say FreeRapid is probably better in respects to its plugin system - it has updates nearly every few days and has over 700 supported sites, which includes video streaming sites.

[Midas]

Java is the quickest route to platform independence, that's for sure.

BTW, JDownloader is Java based, too...

• JDownloader is a free, open-source download management tool with a huge community of developers that makes downloading as easy and fast as it should be. Users can start, stop or pause downloads, set bandwith limitations, auto-extract archives and much more. It's an easy-to-extend framework that can save hours of your valuable time every day!

  • 

[webfork]

JDownloader

Interesting. From the features page:

JD has an own powerful OCR module

OCR module? For a downloader?

Automatic extractor (including password list search) (Rar archives)
Theme Support
Multilingual
About 110 hoster and over 300 decrypt plug-ins
Reconnect with JDLiveHeaderScripts: (1400 router supported)
Webupdate
Integrated package manager for additional modules (eg. Webinterface, Shutdown)

The password list search mentioned above and some of the screencaps seem to suggest a captcha trick. Very interesting.

Another screencap speaks to the wide variety of download services supported.

[Midas]

Just tested FreeRapid on Linux and must say I'm impressed. Appart from a somewhat stringent dependence on non-free Oracle Java v1.6, it was a matter of unpack and run to rapid results.

Will see how it fares on Windows next (with the kind help provided by Ascend4nt)...

[Napiophelios]

Forgot where I got this batch script but it works pretty good to start FRD with JavaPortable
you will have to alter the pathes to FRD and Java to suit your setup.
you can have a relative path to FRD in the script as well but I had to change it to avoid errors
when starting FRD.

Code: Select all

title FRD_JavaPortable
COLOR f2
CLS
@ECHO OFF

setlocal

pushd "%~dp0"

set jarpath=D:\Program Files\FreeRapid\frd.jar
if not exist "%jarpath%" echo FRD not found && pause && goto ERROR

set portableappspath=..\CommonFiles
set JAVAHOME=%portableappspath%\Java
if not exist "%JAVAHOME%" echo JVM not found && pause && goto ERROR

pushd "%JAVAHOME%"
set JAVAHOME=%CD%
popd

set CLASSPATH=.
set APPDATA=%CD%\FreeRapid
cd %APPDATA%
start "" "%JAVAHOME%\bin\javaw.exe" -Duser.home="%APPDATA%" -jar "%jarpath%" --portable %*
goto OK

:ERROR
set status=1

:OK
popd

quit %status%
endlocal & rem NOTREACHED

I dont have any use for this app anymore so I dont know if it will still work with newer versions.

[Midas]

Thanks for that, Napiophelios.