The "free trial' started automatically when you registered. Virtually all of the
music you downloaded for "free" was DRM-infested and it will automatically
expire the minute the first month has passed or the first time you miss a
monthly payment. The "Premium" music you saw would still have cost you the
same asking price even if you were a paying customer with a subscription.

BearShare 5.1 has none of that type of file and music you download will never
suddenly become unplayable at the whim of the software company or a record
label.

That cute interface in v6 is not new software. It is actually iMesh, which the
public soundly rejected after the developers crippled it so you could no longer
download anything but pre-approved music and video unless it was so short
that there was no possibility of that content having any real value. It is now
crippled even further so 99% of the MP3s out there won't show up in a search.
and it doesn't even connect to the gnutella network anymore, where most of
us enjoy the freedom to share anything at all, such as books, videos longer
than 15 minutes and rare music.

BearShare 5.2.0.6 and up is more subtle in it's evils, such as the hidden
remote control to limit your download speeds or even cut them off completely.
Many users have also discovered that it is subtly editing and censoring search
results to deny you the ability to see all that is actually available. No doubt
this is a tactic to trick you into trying the even more restrictive v6 version,
which is BearShare in name only but actually shares nothing in common with it
other than the cute bear logo and yellow/orange colour scheme.

If that isn't bad enough, LimeWire now automatically puts all versions of 5.2 in
it's "EVIL_HOSTS" category, which means about two thirds of the network
treats 5.2 as untrustworthy. You aren't locked out but you don't get full
access to the whole network anymore. You might not have noticed if all you
do is look for the most popular music but the difference is greater if you try to
explore.

BearShare 5.1.0b25, on the other hand, is not only the original BearShare that
the MAFIAA boys fear so much but it is also a beta test version of the most
advanced incarnation of the legendary bear. That means it allowed a lot more
download performance than any cracked "Pro" version (50 connections per file
instead of 19) but you could also manually switch it into ultrapeer mode,
raising it's host connections from 2 ultrapeer parents to 18 full peer connections
to other BearShare users, another full peer connections to 8 users of LimeWire
and Phex users and still another 45 people using all types of gnutella servents
could connect to you as a parent. That adds up to 71 instead of 2 connections,
26 of them as super-powered as you. Naturally, this means your searches
become ultra powerful and you can find almost anything on the network with
one search instead of having to try and try again.

Besides, other than the fact that b25 is more powerful in every way than your
cracked version, can you really be sure the "crack" didn't include something
malicious? Things like password stealers and remote controlled zombies are
spread in exactly that way. Seen any extra small "purchases" on your credit
card lately?