What are bitTorrents?

[littlemack]

I just came across this term and see there is all kinds of stuff to download. Kind of wild.
Thanks!

 

[Blitzkrieg]

It's a type of peer-to-peer file sharing deal. You need 2 things: a Torrent downloading software program and the actual torrent file itself. The torrent file is like the "pointer" to the actual file you want to download. Torrents are a bit trickier than other peer-to-peer because you have to actually go out and find the torrent files on your own rather than having a network search like Napster or Bearshare. There are some websites that host torrents out there.

Of course, keep in mind that downloading copyrighted material is a violation of applicable laws.

 

[wucrew420]

hey bro you should go to download.com and search for bitcomet its a program that searches for torrents for you and you can download them there. just use the free version not the latest. good luck and enjoy

 

[sup]

BT's are really nice and are starting to be used for alot of legit sharing.

(WoW for example)

that being said... I would still use a program called "peer guardian" (google it) for protection.

"azureus" is a pretty nice BT client for Windoze.

 

[alan1973]

I would like to know what everyone thinks is the best torrent downloader.
Bit comet sucks and is a CPU Hog.

 

[playr101]

i use azureus... does the job for me...

my 2 cents

-playr101

 

[Creator_11]

Try Utorrent.

Enable the encryption option and you'll notice your downloads go much faster. Most ISP can't slow or block or filter the encrypted bittorrent packets (traffic).

About BitTorrent

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_(protocol)

 

[AJNAZ]

not to thread jack.........but i was wondering how you play the bit torrent files after you have downloaded them thx

 

[mooshue]

a file is hosted by a person on their computer, they are called a peer.
The peer creates something called a torrent file, information file about what and where the file is located etc...
That torrent file is then uploaded to whats called a tracker. There are tons of tracker sites, many fake bullshit, out there.
People use a client software, (program that will download, upload, manage and decode the torrent and its files)
Again tons of programs, Utorrent is the one you would want to stick with, if you get into the more private torrent tracker sites, they require something like utorrent, whole other subject to talk about why.
So you download this torrent from the tracker, utorrent will run and begin downloading pieces of the files hosted on the peer. At the same time your computer will begin uploading those pieces to other people who are trying to download the same file from the peer.
When a download is complete on someone else's computer, they too become a peer and do whats called seeding.
The more seeds you have on a torrent, the faster it will be disbursed to everyone trying to download it.

That is a very basic laymans understanding of a torrent file.

As for the last question on how to play the files you download, it depends on what you downloaded, music, movies, apps, games, rar's pars, zips, 7zip exe etc...

 

[jimboslice]

make sure u download "peer guardian" before you start downloading torrents!!! it helps block known bad IP addresses.

 

[Analog]

BitTORRENTS

BitTorrents are a peer-to-peer protocol that allows people to share files among themselves. BitTorrents can provide speed beyond that of some P2P protocols because every user who is downloading a file simultaneously uploads portions of the file he or she has already downloaded to other users, which means the more people in the downloading "swarm," the greater the overall speed. Many people use BitTorrents to share copyright-protected files such as music and movies, which is often illegal, but the BitTorrent protocol and software are legal and are used the world over for legitimate information, media, and software distribution. Wikipedia has more information about BitTorrents.
Hope that helped

 

[7_Deadly_Sins]

not to thread jack.........but i was wondering how you play the bit torrent files after you have downloaded them thx

Extract them with winrar.
Get a media player, I use several. Such as VLC.
Get a codec pack, I like K-Lite.
Install it and play.

My favorite program to use is utorrent, a stand alone application that you dont have to install, fast and uses hardly no resources.