What a BitTorrent is and How You Can Use a BitTorrent

There was Napster, then Kazza and now BitTorrent. BitTorrent, however, is much safer and faster than the file sharing of the past. The real, legal purpose of Bittorrent, peer to peer sharing software, is to send large files you can not email or send in more conventional ways. Of course, it is more likely to be used to download TV shows, CDs, Warez (computer software), and movies. Downloading these items is illegal and is considered copyright infringement, but the actual BitTorrent software is not.

The way torrents work is that users download a .torrent file that connects to several peers (other users) sharing the same file and cuts the file into smaller pieces for easier and faster transmission. This is different then Napster where you downloaded items directly from one person, and downloading one song or TV show depended on the connection and speed of both your own and your peer's connection. Torrenting picks and chooses from several peers offering the same file. Someone who offers a file is a "seeder" and that person is "seeding" a file. You may see people typing in bold PLEASE SEED. This really just means, please share! The entire system is built on sharing. There are people who compile and post these TV shows, E-books and other files for no compensation and no other purpose than to contribute and share.

What you need to download torrents is a client. A client is the application that you use to load a torrent to connect to other people. I personally use µTorrent, and that is the recommended torrent for basic users or user friendly. It is also incredibly small and efficient and works with even some of the oldest operating systems and CPUs. The two other most popular clients are Bitcomet and Azureus, although there are tons to choose from.

The next thing you need to choose is a BitTorrent tracking site. This is a search engine of torrents. These sites do not actually hold the files on their servers, but they index or provide an aggregate of files to download. The more popular sites are Torrentz, Mininova, The Pirate Bay, Demonoid, and Isohunt. The Pirate Bay is a Swedish run site and has been the subject of much litigation at the forefront of the copyright infringement vs. right to file share fight. Demonoid is an excellent website, but registration is required to use it and registration is not frequently open for new users. A torrent tracker is the server that contains information about the people downloading and uploading files.

The next biggest issue tends to be ISP's (Internet Service Providers) blocking or reducing your ability to share and download files. The term used to refer to what these companies do is called "traffic shaping". There is a website where you can view what your ISP will and will not allow you to do at http://www.azureuswiki.com/index.php/Bad_ISPs#fn_4. A few basic American providers work as follows: Cablevision (optimum online) blocks seeding, but otherwise does not interfere. Cox Cable limits the bandwidth of customers if a pattern of high traffic volume is discovered. The worst offenders tend to be Digis and Resnets.

Don't give up, there are ways around these roadblocks and the website torrentfreak.com provides a plethora of advice on issues such as encrypting your files (although some ISP's do not allow encrypted files) and even more specific instructions depending on your operating system and your torrent client.