"After all, a good idea should be available to everyone -should belong to everyone- if it really is a good idea. In a society organized with human happiness as the objective, copyright infringement laws and similar restrictions would not hinder the distribution and recombination of ideas. These impediments only make it more difficult for individuals who are looking for challenging and inspiring material to come upon it and share it with others." (Days of War, Nights of Love: CrimethInc. for Beginners p181)
The topic of this post concerns the 'new' peer to peer (p2p) file sharing technology known as Bittorrent. Released shortly after the turn of the century as a cheap and fast way to distribute Linux over the internet, Bittorrent continues to revolutionize the self-publishing industry and the p2p filesharing phenomenon.
Simply put, bittorrent is faster than napster, limewire, morpheus, soulseek, or any of the 'old' p2p applications because it allows multiple users to share pieces of a file rather than the old way of one user connected with a single other user. This may seem rather insignificant. However, Bittorrent does something never before possible - it puts the ability to publish anything into your hands. From now on, software developers can distribute their programs cheaper than Microsoft can, independent filmers can show their films to millions without ever needing a projector, and unsigned bands can publish their music for the world without having to press cd's.
This ability provides a direct way to challenge corporate media's power. So, how can we all get on board? It's easy AND free!
To Begin, we all need what's called a 'client'. It's a small program that manages your downloads and assembles the pieces of the torrent into the desired file. For windows users I highly recommend µTorrent which can be found here. Mac users should try tomato torrent which can be found here. Both of these clients are spyware/virus free. If you're not sure you want to install a client yet, scroll down and check out the trackers. You'll still be able to search on them and see what you're missing out on - you just won' t be able to download from them until you get a client.
After installing one of these programs you need to go to a 'tracker' to find a file to download. A tracker is a text based database of links to all kinds of files. Many trackers have a theme but many others are a free for all. To start, µTorrent has a search feature in the upper right hand corner of the window. Click on the magnafying glass and select isohunt. Then search for whatever you want. Isohunt is a general tracker but has a wide variety of software, music, movies, and TV shows. Didn't find it in isohunt? Click the magnafying glass and select a different tracker. Trackers can also be found in google or by googling the file name you want followed by 'torrent' for example: "lost torrent" googled could be used to search for the latest episode of the tv show lost.
Other interesting trackers include
Isohunt: A very comprehensive meta-tracker that is sure to have something for everyone. However, it lacks detailed information about individual torrents. I'd check the Piratebay first and use Isohunt as a catch-all if you can't find what you're looking for on specific trackers.
One Big Torrent: specializing in eye opening documentaries, lectures, and videos. Highly recommended.
the Pirate Bay: general site run out of sweden
the trader's den: specializes in live video and audio of a wide variety of artists (free registration)
Oscar torrents: Download and watch any film up for an oscar this year - then vote!
Tips:
Make sure the torrent has 'seeds'. A seeder is a person sharing a full copy of a file. Without at least one, it's impossible to ever finish the download. 'Leechers' are those who are downloading...but they can upload at the same time. The more of there are of each, the faster the download will go.
Check file types. For example, if you're searching for music, check to see that the torrent includes some .mp3's because if it doesn't, it may be .zipped up or could be something other than what you're looking for. Most videos should be in .avi
VLC which can be found here is a fantastic and lightweight player for any kind of video.
If you want to publish your own torrent you'll probably have to register at one of the above sites. This will teach you how to do it.
If at first you can't find what you're looking for, look somewhere else.
Security Note: Bittorrent, although fabulously amazing - is NOT annonymous. Therefore, it would be negligence on my part to not let everyone know that if you're pirating, there is a possibility you could get caught. However, "To those worried about downloading in case they get sued: by our calculations, your chances of getting nailed are way less than your chances of winning the lottery. Don't think twice about it." (oscartorrents.com)
Inform yourself at the Electronic Fronteir Foundation, "a nonprofit group working to protect your digital rights." (www.eff.org) This site keeps track of any lawsuits filed against filesharers and is a sort of digital, international ACLU.
With this said, I also reccommend Peer guardian 2 (which blocks ip addresses from known malicious governments, advertising agencies, p2p snoops, and more - you'd be surprised to see how many people connect to you without your knowledge!) and Adaware 6 (the best windows based spyware blocker/detector in my opinion) .
So, in conclusion, download, share, and be merry! If you have any questions then reply! if not...share with the class what awesome torrent you found today!
I really like the band Neutral Milk Hotel and think that their album In the Aeroplane Over The Sea is one of the best in the last decade. Hear it for yourself...just click here. and play it in winamp or itunes or whatever you'd like!
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6 comments:
I had neer heard about this until you brought it up in class, and then I was talking to my dad yesterday and he was telling me how he missed Sunday's episode of "24" and then "went up on bittorrent to get it." I had no idea this thing was so popular. I'm still not sure I understand how it differs from something like LimeWire? Is it just that the files are transferred through the clients rather than a central server so there's no company left open to lawsuits? Does that make the user more vulnerable to being sued? I've been so nervous about downloading music ever since I took Professor Pritchard's Media Law last summer and he told us we were all going to jail for illegally downloading music lol. OK I'm not sure how long the required comment is, but I think I'm good. Thanks for the info!
No problem... Yeah I was surprised when I found out how much bittorrent has to offer too. I did some research on it last semester and found that 1/3 of all internet traffic was taken up by bittorrent sharing in late 2004 - so apparently it's been popular for a while even though most people haven't heard of it. It's different from limewire because limewire only allows you to connect to one other person whereas bittorrent allows you to connect to hundreds. Even if you're only downloading at a few kb's per second from a bunch of people it add's up to a cumulative of 80-100kb/s average - if the file's seeded well. I don't see any greater legal vulnerability for bittorrent users as mpaa (motion picture association of america) and riaa (recording industry association of america) both pressure internet service providers for your info whether you're using limewire or bittorrent. Certainly though, peer guardian gives you some protection. It is also worthwile to keep in mind that while the recording industry has sued over 15,000 people, there are millions and millions sharing. That puts your chances of getting busted at less than 1%. Also keep in mind that all these lawsuits are costing the recording industry money too. The more sharers there are, the less control the recording industry has. I think the mpaa and the riaa are just suing because they don't know what else to do.
By the way, that's pretty cool that your dad uses bittorrent...it sure as hell is cheaper than tivo!
I have been aware of bittorrent for a while now, and the best site I have found is www.demonoid.com. It hosts all kinds of stuff but requires registration. I agree with the Neutral Milk Hotel recommendation, its one of my the best albums of the past decade.
I've never really understood the downloading thing...Right now I use limewire for all my downloading needs, which isn't a lot because I don't like having to wait for movies and videos to download. Even though most music downloads pretty fast, some go really slow it sucks. Thanks for the bittorrent info..
Bittorrent's have definately revolutionized my downloading experience, my only problem is I only use torrentspy.com and they dont have a lot of stuff that isnt mainstream, but downloading whole albums in half the time it takes with about 100 times less hassle is the best. I checked out the samples of the Neutural Milk Hotel, very wierd from what I can tell, I'll need to get my hands on a full album before I make a full judgement.
i love bittorrent. i have every episode of south park commercial free thanks to that kind of site. the one i get it from is bitlord. all i know is i have gotten many movies in dvd quality the day of release. some people really take pride in thier torrents.
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