Bit Torrents - what's it all about ?

Stumbled across some NO bit torrents the other day - what are they and how does a mere pleb like myself get the bit between my teeth ?

Bit torrents are the latest fashion when it comes to peer to peer file sharing. For it to work, you need a client (for instance, Shadow's Experimental Client), which enables you to step into a 'bit torrent'. I don't know exactly how it works, but basically there is one seeder who, err, seeds a torrent (shn- or flac-files joined in a single folder); anyone who's interested can start downloading, and as soon as you have downloaded a couple of parts, you begin to distribute them as well to other participants in the torrent. Those other participants, for their part, may get different parts from the seeder which you don't have yet and which you,then, can download in return, while you continue downloading from the seeder as well. This way, bigger amounts of files can be distributed rapidly in a short period of time. As a matter of fact, the more people join in a torrent, the faster the downloading goes.

You can find a lot of useful information here in the technobabble section.

Sounds a bit confusing to me ! I shall have to read all the stuff. I registered on that site and then didn't know what to do....

Tim, if you send me an email I will send you some info.

Thank you both

Bit Torrents, did he not play banjo and washboard on the 'oh Brother, where are't thou soundtrack ' ? Source : Appalachian Bluegrass Compendium 2003

I downloaded this and it's just too confusing! And he wants cash!

Sad bastard that I am I have just downloaded 'The Lord Of The Rings - The Return of the King' using Bit Torrent (only 36 hours to download!). The Bit Torrent files and lots of stuff (not checked out the music section yet)are available from supranova.org

Originally posted by fdisk Sad bastard that I am I have just downloaded 'The Lord Of The Rings - The Return of the King' using Bit Torrent (only 36 hours to download!). The Bit Torrent files and lots of stuff (not checked out the music section yet)are available from supranova.org

Heh, for only a tenner in USD, you can just go to the theater and get it over and done with in three and change hours.

--Sam