Hi,
I tend to use a download manager to either grab a large batch of links (e.g. a multi part download listed on a forum in separate parts, all pictures/files/etc on current page, etc.) or to import a url list which can save a lot of time if someone has precompiled a list. D/l managers are also useful if you have restrictions on your line and want to schedule downloads for later or if you want to set a speed or data transfer limit. Segmenting does still help if you get a slow server and you are not reaching your line max. You can also redownload already downloaded files - which can be easier if you downloaded something when you have 20 tabs open and forgot where you got it from!
I used Getright for many years although I have tried others like FDM, Stardownloader, HiDownload. I found that (when I last tried them) the free ones either lacked a feature I wanted, were not stable enough to use or did not integrate well into my current browser so I usually went back to Getright. I stopped using Getright recently due to the number of crashes I was getting with the newer versions and various bugs with the file names and download urls. I am now using IDM (
http://www.internetdownloadmanager.com/). IDM seems to have reasonable low resource usage and the interface is quite clean without too many non-essentials. It doesn't have all of Getright's features but for what I use it for it is nearly perfect.
IDM Pro's:
- very stable (or at least i have yet to have any crashes and have downloaded 1000's of files without issue. It is set to download 4 things at a time plus segments + a virus scan when finished)
- reasonable resource usage
- clean interface
- d/l speed limiting
- scheduling
- site grabber
- authenticated site access
- seems to work on the majority of download sites and it is working perfect with my Rapidshare.com account (premium)
IDM Con's:
- cost around US $30 which you might consider to high
- no support forum
- web page could be better but you can use IDM in trial mode
- icons could be better but I would rather have lower resource usage than skins.
Currently I'm using IDM with Firefox. I also use the Flashgot plugin - which sends links to a d/l manager. It has some useful functions such as grabbing only the selected links from the page.
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