Bittorrents are among the most popular ways to transfer files peer-to-peer (p2p) over the internet.
Torrents have got a bad reputation over the years for people sharing and transferring files such as music and movies illegally. And although illegal sharing always gets the headlines, torrent sharing is used by more people legitimately than illegally.
If you want to be able to get your files out there to the greater audience, or download something fast and easily, Bittorrent is the cheapest and most effective way to do so.
Understanding how Bittorrents work
Traditional downloading (basically getting a file from the internet onto your computer) is done by going to a website, finding the file you want and downloading it.
Although the process is very simple and easy, it is basically one person (you) getting a file from one source (usually the web server). This form of downloading has been the back bone of how the internet works, but can sometimes be very slow if many people are using the same source, and costly for the source who has to pay for a web server and hosting services.
Bittorrents are completely different. There is no central single servers and your file does not all come from the same source. Rather the file you are downloading comes form multiple peoples computers who are using Bittorrents also, and you are getting a little bit of each file from everyone.
No one controls where the file is downloaded from, no one is responsible for it and because there are multiple sources (sometimes 1000’s) you get a very quick download.
The music and movie industry hate this because it makes it very easy for people to share their products and because it is not centralised it makes it much harder tor them to sue a single user.
How to Bittorrent
NOTE: Just beacause you can, does not mean you should. I do not condone the use of torrents for any illegal activity. But if you want a fast and effective way to download files from the internet below is how to use Bitorrents for legal downloads.
Before you can download any torrents you are going to need a Torrent Client. I recommend Utorrent as it is small, easy to use and reliable. Utorrent will is the software you will use to download and manage your torrents.
Now you have Utorrent installed the first thing you need to do is decide what (Legal) file you want to download. Once you decide what you are looking for, go to a website like http://archive.org/details/bittorrent and select the torrent you want to download.
I know what your thinking, “Isn’t this just downloading from a website”? The answer is NO!
All you will be getting is a set of instructions.
Once you download this file, if you installed Utorrent correctly, it will automatically open up and start looking on other peopels compiyeter for the file you are downloading.
You will notice in Utorrent it shows how many seeders. These are the people you are getting your file from. The more seeders, the faster your file will usually download.
