Is it legal? How does one go about downloading them? Are they safe? What "sites" have the most expansive selection?
2007-07-31 20:27:36 · 4 answers · asked by Jazzriff 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Software
Q:What is a bit torrent?
A: A bit torrent is a way to share files with other people on the Internet.
Q: Is it legal?
A: It depends on what you download, and where you live. If you download the holiday movie of someone who published it, it's legal. If you're downloading the latest episode of Grey's Anatomy, it may not be legal --but then it depends on where you live. As far as I know, here where I live (the Netherlands) it's legal to download pretty much anything you can get your hands on, but uploading copyrighted material is prohibited. Unfortunately, bittorent is based on 'sharing': the more you offer to other people, the faster the downloading process goes. So if I don't want to break the law, I'll have to settle for very low download speeds. Fortunately, busting copyright violators doesn't have a very high priority. ;-)
Q: Are they safe?
A: Safety is a relative term. If you think you've downloaded the latest episode of Grey's Anatomy, you should discard the result if it doesn't have one of the common file extensions for movies, like avi, mpeg, flv, etc. If it's a zip file, you may want to unzip it first, but after that, the previous rule applies on each of the unzipped files. NEVER open files with file extensions you don't know. And NEVER pay for movies if they are protected by DRM (digital rights management); they are usually scams: you pay for the latest ep of Grey's Anatomy, it turns out to be something else. Also, if you want to download the latest episode of a show, make sure (on imdb.com) it has been on TV already. Often, episodes are offered that haven't been on TV yet, and invariably those files turn out to be viruses.
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EDIT: also, when you're looking for a torrent to download on a site like torrentz.com, look for comments left behind by other users. If a torrent is fake, other users will probably warn you for it.
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Q: What sites have the largest collection?
A: Sites like torrentz.com don't offer bit torrents, they offer ways to identify the torrent you are looking for. Once you click the link to a torrent, the program that you use to download torrents will take over and download the file for you.
2007-07-31 20:40:17 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
BitTorrent networking is the latest form of Internet P2P (peer-to-peer) file sharing. As of 2006, BitTorrent sharing is the most popular means by which web users trade software, music, movies, and digital books across the Internet. BitTorrents are very unpopular with the MPAA, the RIAA, and other copyright authorities, but are much beloved by millions of college and university students around the planet.
BitTorrents (a term synonymous with "torrents") work by downloading small bits of files from many different web sources at the same time. Torrent downloading is extremely easy to use, and outside of a few torrent search providers, torrents themselves are free of user fees.
For more information or if want help setting up a bittorrent connection on your PC, go to:
http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/peersharing/a/torrenthandbook.htm
2007-08-01 03:59:34 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, BitTorrent itself is actually a client for downloading .torrent files. Torrents can be found on sites like demonoid.com (requires registration), or Torrentspy.com, or Isohunt.com, or ones like that. Just google "torrents" and you'll find'em.
BitTorrent.com has official torrents, and I think you gotta pay for some there. But yeah, like.. some torrents are legal, but most aren't.. but we all still download'em anyway.
But to use a .torrent file, you just download the .torrent for whatever you want, and then open it using a program such as BitTorrent, uTorrent, or any p2p application that allows .torrent extensions.
Hope that helps. ^_^
2007-08-01 03:34:14 · answer #3 · answered by unh0ly_freak 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer (P2P) file distribution tool written by programmer Bram Cohen and debuted at CodeCon 2002. The reference implementation is written in Python and is released under the BitTorrent Open Source License (a modified version of the Jabber Open Source License), as of version 4.0. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=what+is+a+bittorrent&spell=1
2007-08-01 03:34:05 · answer #4 · answered by CuriousG 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋