Torrential storm warning
Aha! I've discovered torrents. Well, I've started using them, to be precise.
What is a torrent you may cry. Well, I'll let Wikipedia explain to ya:
"BitTorrent is both the protocol and the name of the peer-to-peer (P2P) file distribution application ...possible to massively distribute files without incurring the corresponding massive consumption in server and bandwidth resources."
e.g. many computers with many little bits of file that make up one whole file. So, I want to download a pdf on some subject. I fire up the google and enter the file name and "torrent". I'd then get hits for torrent sites that contain that file.
I'd click on the torrent file ( which is a small file containing the info I need to direct my torrent client where to look) and start downloading the file.
I'd be getting tiny bits of the whole, from a number of 'puters out there, all holding the file broken up into little bits. The advantage of this is that even if one 'puter goes offline, I am not relying on that specific one only for the file...geddit?
Anhow, if you need more info - search for it, it's all out there somewhere. Leeching for instance, is the act of sucking down those little bits of files. Seeding, on the other hand, is the act of providing them. You can do either or, preferably, both.
I was searching for tattoo flash, and came across a site called A better place 2 B. It's a site that has torrents to download, but it's private-ish. i.e. you register as a member. This process takes all of a minute I guess. The nice thing about using a private site is that they encourage their users to keep on seeding once they've uploaded files. So you get a nice amount of files that are available to be downloaded - not a torrent that never seeds ( downloads )anything.
As for the name of the site - well it's true. Very friendly message boards, helpful and good FAQ's. Oh, and I'm using uTorrent as my client.
Try it!
< /shameless plug for something I like >
posted by T at 8:38 am
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