If you’ve spent any amount of time browsing the internet in the past half-decade, you’ll probably have heard about BitTorrent, a popular program used for downloading media. Whether or not you know how to use it is another thing altogether. I’m here to tell you that it’s invaluable and to show you how to get started with it.
Disclaimer: BitTorrent is an entirely legal program and infrastructure. Downloading copyrighted material through it is not. If you follow my instructions here, you will have done something wholly illegal and morally reprehensible. Good people pay for their media. If you don’t intend on downloading copyrighted material, BitTorrent is still extremely useful, as it is a powerful method of distributing legal information. Even if you don’t ever plan to use it at all, I still recommend you internalize what I lay out here, because this system is changing the world.
I, the author, am not responsible for any damage you incur in relation to this piece of writing.
A Bit of History
The seminal Napster hit its peak usage with roughly 25 million users in mid-2001. At this exact same time, Bram Cohen produced the BitTorrent protocol and first client. Since then, BitTorrent’s uptake has been exponential. In 2006, an estimated 35% of the world’s aggregate internet bandwidth was reported to have been being used for BitTorrent traffic. More than every third bit travelling across the world was being used specifically in these programs, and this number has only been on an incline since then. Now, even commercial companies like Blizzard (the creators of Starcraft and Warcraft) use BitTorrent to dispense software updates. To say that BitTorrent is the new Napster is massively underestimating its impact. Torrents represent ...
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...Vertigo will begin its trek to your hard drive.
You might find that this download is taking a very long time, but that’s the fault of public torrents. They are usually quite slow, and speeds will fluctuate quite a lot. During my writing, this torrent dropped from roughly 75 kilobytes per second to 40kB/s and then held steady at 110kB/s until finishing in roughly 2 hours, actually less time than the film itself.
There is much more to go over for advanced users, but with this short run through, anyone ought to be able to download their favorite books, movies, comics, music albums, or software. Simply switch out the “Vertigo” search for “Harbrace Handbook” or “Celtic Thunder,” for example, to find them. Regardless of the moral and legal issues inherent to the topic, I believe that the specifics of BitTorrent usage should be readily available and apparent to everyone.
Before the 1990’s, if people want to listen to music, they just visit a music store and pick up a CD and then put it into a stereo equipment. However, the development of MP3 file format gradually changed the way people listen to music. This format lets everyone download music easily and it can be converted to CD as well. But, there is still a problem: searching MP3 files on the internet is maddening and people seldom can find the music they want. Therefore, the birth of Napster solved this problem, creating a virtual music community in which music fans could use the Web as a “swap meet” for music files. More importantly, Napster is easy to use and it’s free, which expands the range of audience in age. Bandwidth also contributed to Napster’s success. The greater the bandwidth, the faster the file can be transferred. So, Napster really changed the way people listen to music, discover music and interact with music.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks have had a staggering growth in the past few years. Since Napster, dozens of P2P networks have been created in its imitation. Due to the growing accessibility of broadband, which increases the speed of downloads, P2P networks generate nearly 1.8 billion downloads per month. Popularity and acceptance is still continually growing.
Napster, a free online file sharing network, allowed peers to share digital files directly with each other by way of connections through its software and system. The no cost peer-to-peer sharing gained popularity, particularly with trendy music. A&M Records took notice of all the free digital music downloads and brought suit against Napster for direct, contributory, and vicarious copyright infringements (Washington University School of Law, 2013).
Amy Harmon and John Schwartz’s article, “The Problem With Sharing”, published in the November 17 issue of New York Times Upfront, discusses problems with downloading files from the Internet.
In the mid-1980s, the term P2P, or peer-to-peer, was used by local area network vendors to describe the computing nodes on their networks. Previous to that, the term was used to describe ARPAnet, the military-backed computer network that would become the model for today's Internet[1]. Today however, the term P2P has a very different meaning - it has come to describe applications designed specifically to exploit peer relationships between computers, using the Internet as an extension of the local network[2]. Its primary uses include not only the sharing of huge amounts of information, but also the sharing of free resources on a vast number of computers [3]. The reasons for its success are numerous and the problems that it creates are genuine.
Napster was the pinnacle of this combination of recording technology and the internet. Napster was an internet company that launched in 1999 and focused on music streaming and music downloading. At the time Napster was the only real web company looking at the industry of music streaming and music downloads and as a result , Napster saw tremendous success in the first few years of its life and taking the crown as the fastest growing business ever , a record still unbeaten today. Napster’s focus with regards to peer-to-peer music sharing was ease of accessibility and speed , and in both areas they excelled. Napster made peer to peer music sharing easier than anyone had previously thought possible with the introduction of their massive online music market place in which people could share any type of free mp3 into one mainstream directory. However much like streaming services that push the envelope of accessibility Napster ran into several problems along the way and faced heavy opposition.
"4 Ways In Which Internet Piracy Can Be a Good Thing." MakeUseOf. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.
This peer-to-peer file sharing, or P2P, was an automated way to copy copyrighted material (Tyson). The creation and increased usage of Napster resulted in a crisis for the industry because neither the record labels nor the artists were getting any money in return. Although Napster lost in lawsuits against them for breaking copyright laws, labels weren’t able to stop this type of piracy and sure enough, new similar software platforms were created. Some P2P file sharing sites that are popular now include BitTorrent, uTorrent, and The Pirate Bay. P2P sharing changed the way the music could be shared and the traditional business model was no longer dominant in the music industry because of
Napster, an idea from the head of a teenager redefined the Internet and the music industry forever. The Napster website concept is simple: its creator hoped to design a "program that allows computer users to swap MP3s with one another directly (aka Peer to Peer File Sharing), without going through a middleman. Napster had achieved a tremendous level of success, but it once was a controversial service that spurred what is still one of the greatest Internet-related debates: Just because we can get the music we want without paying for it, should we?, although it is technically a file sharing program that has a central server. However, this simple idea has caused one of the biggest Internet revolutions in history, growing in popularity. It has also caused retaliation from the Recording Industry Association of America, which has unleashed its anger in the form of many lawsuits against Napster for copyright infringement. Napster has also divided musicians and the music industry like no other issue in recent memory. In this essay I will speak about MP3, peer to peer file sharing, legal troubles, where Napster is now, and a conclusion of this all. (Hart)
Although online file sharing debuted in 1999, lawmakers and copyright industries are just beginning to address the myriad questions the practice has generated. In At Issue: Internet Piracy, authors attempt to answer some of those questions.
With the popularity of the Internet, sales for CDs, DVDs, Movies, and many other products have increased. Along with the increase of sales has brought forth an ever increasing problem of illegal media being downloaded. Programs such as Bittorent, Kazaa, and other direct-connect networking programs have allowed the transferring of such illegal media. Downloading song files from the Internet over a free peer to peer network is the moral equivalent of shoplifting music CDs from the local mall.
It's important to understand the different software piracy channels, not just to comply with the law but also to protect against bigger economic problems like lost revenue...and lost jobs.
All around the world people connected to the internet are downloading free digital content through P2P file sharing software.
At the dawn of the internet, many things such as books and text became obsolete, due to insufficient monitoring of internet activity and sites. Individuals were able to gain free access to books and publications that normally needed to be bought, or required a fee. This is something that has caused problems for booksellers and publishers. Now, as technology advances, it also begins the decline of music, software, and television industries—but something can be done before it’s too late. Illegal downloading is a problem that affects us all, either directly or indirectly. Many people do not take it too seriously. They have not realized that it is an epidemic; like a disease that keeps growing as people become more knowledgeable about computers and learn more about how software runs. People openly burn music CDs and download music and movies for friends who in turn give it to their friends; it’s a never-ending cycle on illegal practices. The problem started when Napster came out and should have ended when it was shutdown. Unfortunately, not enough has been done to stop the illegal transfer of files. It’s time someone takes full action and ends this detrimental offense.
Some of the free site such as piratebay may seem free but there is a hidden cost for downloading music, movies and other files from them that you may not be aware of. A lot of them will actually turn your computer into a server, or make your computer a branch in a network so that other people can download the same files faster on to their own computer making you a pack mule for illegally distributing copyrighted material. If you are or in the past have downloaded copyrighted materi...