Orbit Downloader 3.0 does that if computer users manage to get it working with their web browsers. The download manager failed for instance when trying to run it with Firefox 3.6 Beta. It did work perfectly on the other hand with Internet Explorer 8.

According to the Orbit Downloader homepage the web browser should work fine with Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer. The forum has quite a few user posts who have troubles getting the download manager to work with a specific web browser.

Orbit Downloader 3.0 will intercept file downloads that are then queued and downloaded from within the download manager which offers features such as the resuming of downloads, the previously mentioned tagging, speed limits, usernames and passwords for sites that require authentication, web proxy support or antivirus checks of files that have been downloaded.

The program additionally supports downloading media from video and audio websites like Youtube or Dailymotion. This can be done either by using the grabit button that can be displayed in the web browser or by using Grab++, a traffic monitor that will display specific file types in its interface that can be send to the download manager.

Orbit Downloader’s greatest problem is the web browser compatibility. It seems to work fine on some user systems while other users seem to have lots of troubles getting the integration to work with many failing along the way.

The new version of Orbit Downloader can be downloaded from the developer’s website. Users who prefer a simple download manager with a better compatibility might want to take a look at free downloader manager instead.

Each music community offers a large amount of music tracks that can be played online in an embedded player. Some music tracks can be downloaded directly because the user who uploaded the track allowed that option. Other songs on the other hand can only be played in the embedded player.

There are however a few options to download those songs from eSnips as well. The first software that I try out for any kind of streaming service is Orbit Downloader and it’s grab++ link grabber.

Orbit Downloader seems to have problems downloading songs from eSnips currently. I was not able to download the full songs, only 50K of the song which is obviously not enough.

The second option is a web downloader that converts the eSnips page where the music is embedded to the download url of the song. That works surprisingly well. One of the few scripts that can do that is the called eSnips Download.

Just enter the url of the website where the song is currently playing and hit the Get Download Link button to receive the url to the song. Another click downloads that song directly to the computer.

It comes in two versions. A light version which uses less resources but lacks support for Bittorrent, video conversions and uploads and a full version which has those features integrated. They can be separately added if needed which is actually a very nice and user friendly way.

The download manager obviously supports all the features that are required of a download manager. It can download files in parts to speed up transfers, queue up files, resume unfinished downloads, supports password protected downloads, comes with a scheduler and traffic adjustments.

It makes use of a small download area that is floating on the screen which will initiate the download of files that are dragged and dropped on it.

It offers some features that are pretty unique though. It can download selected files from zip archives which comes in handy if you only need one file out of a zip archive. Downloading websites is supported as well as downloading flash videos from several popular video portals.

It’s a great download manager and definitely worth a try. It stands it grounds against my favorite download manager Orbit Downloader. Orbit Downloader has several additional features for downloading files that cannot normally be downloaded including the extremely handy Grab++ for downloading media streams. In the end, both are great download managers and it’s more a question who was downloaded and installed first than which is the better software program.

He experienced slow downs even when no downloads were in the queue which are indicators that something is not right. Ghacks to the rescue. I decided to investigate orbitnet.exe and see what I can find. I remembered a setting in the options of Orbit Downloader that could have something to do with this behavior.

I opened Tools > Preferences and scanned all options for a sign of Orbitnet. I found it in the Accelerate menu. Enable Orbitnet to accelerate downloads is checked by default, as is Use mirror connections to accelerate download speed and Try to download from P2P and mirror sources when the target url does not exist.

Orbit Downloader uses Orbitnet to accelerate download speed which is based on p2p and auto mirroring search technology. If Orbitnet is disabled, you will get (the) file from source only and can’t get accelerated download speed via Orbitnet.

I disabled this options when I configured Orbit Downloader because I do not use mirrors and did not want to use P2P to download the files that I send to the download manager. The easiest way to get rid of this task is to uncheck Enable Orbitnet to accelerate download speed.

Close and Restart Orbit Downloader afterwards and you will see that the orbitnet.exe process is not listed in the task manager anymore.

It adds a small icon to most video download portals in Firefox that lets you download the video that is currently played. Internet Explorer users have to hover over the video to see a menu that lets them download the video. This feature is site independent which means that it should work on new sites that offer flash and streaming media files. That is not the main purpose of the download manager of course.

As I said earlier it supports most protocols and works with many download sites such as rapidshare (queue rapidshare premium downloads) and megaupload as well. You can add proxies and a virus scanner to Orbit downloader and add username and passwords for password protected sites. Orbit downloader displays a small icon that is always on top that can be used for drag and drop operations. Just drag and drop download links into the icon and the downloads will start automatically. The feature can be disabled if you do not like it.

Orbit Downloader does not use many system ressources and integrates perfectly with Firefox and Internet Explorer.