Introduction
Limewire versus a Torrent
Recommended Torrent Software
Linux Torrent Software
Mac Torrent Software
How a Torrent works
Best Torrent Sites
Create Your Own Torrent
Introduction
File sharing is evolving. If you've been using Limewire, then it's time to move over to Torrents. What are Torrents? What makes them better? Then read on.Limewire versus a Torrent
Folks share their content between each other using Limewire. Using a Torrent, the content is more formally described in the Torrent. This Torrent is then placed on a site and has a Tracker associated with it. This is indpendent of the software program which actually downloads the content of the Tracker. The second part of the the Torrent is the Torrent Client itself. So, there are two distinct parts to a Torrent (content and client) and only one with Limewire (content and reader are one.) Torrents evolved from the Linux world where Folks needed to distribute large files and it became inpractical to give a simple link to a file hundreds of megabytes in size.
The first point to note about Torrent are because they are a formal specification of content, the quality of the content is much better. Unlike Limewire filesharing, the content is properly tagged and described.
Torrents are more efficient. More on this later.
Recommended Torrent Software
Recommended Torrent Software
- uTorrent
- Azureus
- BitTornado
- BitComet
- BitTorrent
- Yet ABC
- Shareaza
- XBT Client
- G3 Torrent
- BitPump
- Burst!
Linux Torrent Software
Torrent software for Linux
Both uTorrent and Azuerus are supported by Linux. However, Azureus has better support. For uTorrent, you'll need to install either Wine or Cedegas on your Linux box. If you're not willing to do this, you can follow the Azureus Linux instructions. There's also a Python Torrent implementation which is more lightweight.
Mac Torrent Software
How a Torrent works
You as the user find a Torrent site and pick the Torrent you're intersted in. Once you have a client installed, the client detects this and you're ready to begin downloading your file e.g. a linux package. A Torrent has a Tracker associated with it which you needn't worry about. The key point is to check out the health of the Torrent. Most Torrent site show this. Look out for the number of seeds which means the number of folks who have the item fully loaded and are still sharing. Also, there are peers which are folks who do not have the item fully loaded. Each Torrent client participates in a swarm in which you'll have one or more seed and one or more peer including yourself. This means you're part of a mini-networks in which you all co-operate, helping both share and download at the same time, making it a highly efficient process.
Best Torrent Sites
In a recent survey, the fastest growing sites are
Create your own Torrent
Everyone talks about Web 2.0 but there is another revolution quietly proceeding. It's the world of Torrents. The problem with Torrents is that they are synonomous with Piracy but it's possible to use Torrents for legal sharing of data. For example, my SciFi PodCast uses the Creatives Common license to it's ok for me to share my files. I'm thinking that I might offer a couple of episodes in a Torrent. My preferred torrent client is UTorrent. I like it because it's extremely lightweight and fast.
Making your own legal torrentYou'll need to make your torrent. Part of the file requires a tracker (in my case anyway) so you'll need to register with a tracker site. It's part of the BitTorrent protocol to need a tracker for communication between the peers (at the initial setup phase). Make your own torrent.. Once you do this you can upload it to a kosher torrent provider.
