The problem with a mass downloader is that it sucks up bandwidth really fast by slamming the site hard. Some sites also track who is downloading through cookies or other means and a mass downloader will sometimes block those. Suppose one of these programs is hitting a site hard at the same time 50 other people are trying to get an object...the thing slows to a crawl and the other folks give up. I have some "friends" who have written mass hit scripts for "practice" that have closed sites down in seconds. Of course, that was years ago...cough, cough....