The RIAA made legal threats to the developers of WinMX and other Peer-To-Peer networks and intimidated a number of networks into shutting down. The WinMX people threw in the towel and shut down the host cache servers that are necessary to the operation of the WinMX network.
Fortunately, the WinMX user community has come to the rescue by providing new host cache servers and a patch that allows WinMX to utilize them. My experience with this patch is good. I connected right away after installing it and seem to get more primary connections than I did previously.
Download the patch from http://patch.winmxconex.com/.
Click on the WinMX patch icon.
Select your operating system.
Start WinMX (restart if already running). It should connect now. You're good to go!
Now that WinMX is working for you again, the next thing to consider is how to put an end to these types of actions by the RIAA.
When you buy a CD from ANY major label that is a member of the RIAA, you support these type of actions. Don't! Buy used CD's, support artists by going to their concerts. And buy CD's from artists that are on independent labels which aren't members of the RIAA.
For more ideas, go to http://www.boycott-riaa.com/.