It sounds almost too good to be true, but the introduction of torrents has given us the ability to share information through files in mass amounts, and for anyone with an internet connection, opening up the realm of information-sharing even further.
We have come far from the days of a floppy disk. Today, hundreds of millions people from all over the world are swapping files mainstreamly using torrents. Torrents are a form of sharing digital media on a peer-to-peer (P2P) network; a seemingly complex way of sharing that protects individual users.
To begin this process, one must first download a P2P sharing software on their computer, and then request the file that they would like to download. This software then looks to other computers that are also using the software, to see if the requested file appears on their hard drives. Once it is located, this central software will begin downloading the file from you. Torrent software usually locates different pieces of a file – called ‘seeds’ – from different computers and downloads these pieces to the ‘leech’ – which is you. Once you receive each piece, you also become the ‘seed’ for other users who have requested the same file.
This is extremely useful to tackle issues such as internet bandwidth, because the size of what could be a very large file is broken up and shared between other computers, enabling one to use several network connections to download the file.
To initially set yourself up on this P2P network, begin by downloading a BitTorrent client, which is a communication protocol that enables this process. Some of the more popular ones include μTorrent, Transmission, Deluge and Xunlei. Once this is set up, the rest is simple. There are many tracker websites from which you can download the torrent you are looking for. A great example to begin with is torrentz2, which is a new and improved version of the famous torrentz website.
So what exactly can you get out of this? File sharing comes with the opportunity to gain many different types of media and entertainment avenues; movies, tv shows, games, books, music, software and more. Whilst there are a lot of files out there that are pirated (and you should be using a VPN for these for your own safety), many businesses these days are using torrents to distribute their own licensed works, such as undiscovered indie bags releasing new songs. Even TV stations often broadcast their programs via a BitTorrent client, including CBC and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. Multiplayer gaming software also use BitTorrent clients, such as Blizzard Entertainment, who distribute the extremely popular Starcraft, Diablo and World of Warcraft games.
The concept of a P2P network holds a great deal more potential than just simply file-sharing. This technology gives individual users the ability to connect with each other without going through a central server, and although this has existed for a while now, there still exists a world of potential as to how P2P technologies can have a radical impact to the future of networking.
