What Is It?

BitTorrent is a fast, distributed file sharing peer-to-peer system. BitTorrent is not a file sharing program, rather its a protocol used by numerous programs (clients) to download from and share files with other BitTorrent users. BitTorrent works by breaking up files into a large number of very small pieces. These pieces can be shared quickly with other users and allow users who are still in the process of downloading a file, to share the pieces they do have.

How Do I Use It?

BitTorrent files (.torrent) contain the information that links you to other users sharing the same target file… so all you really need is a program (client) to handle BitTorrent files. I recommend the following for each operating system:

• utorrent (Windows)
• Azureas (Linux / Mac / Windows)

Once you install your client, you need to search for some good torrents. I recommend the following:

• isoHunt.com
• The Pirate Bay
• Mininova

Each of these sites will feature a search box. Type some search terms in and scan through the results. Most torrent files names are plain English and give some information about the torrent. What you really need to look for is the number of Seeders and Peers.

Seeders are people who have completed the download and are sharing a full copy of the file. Peers are people, like you, who are in the process of downloading the file and are sharing a partial copy. The more Seeders there are, the faster, generally speaking, your download will be. It is also possible, though rare, to have a large group of Peers who, collectively, have a complete copy of the file.

So now that you’ve searched for a file you want, and found a torrent with a lot of Seeders, download the file. Your browser will probably ask you what to do with a “.torrent” file. Tell it to open the file using the new BitTorrent client you’ve just installed. Your BitTorrent client will start and (possibly) ask you where to save the target file (or files) and… Presto!

Many clients allow you to set default download locations and many other bandwidth specific details in the program’s options. (In utorrent: Options - Preferences )

One of the beautiful aspects of the BitTorrent system is the ability to share complete directories (folders) with a single torrent file. A user may share a folder that contains a large archive of podcasts. Say you were only interested in the last two months worth of podcast episodes… Both the programs I have recommended allow you to choose only the files you want and disregard the rest.

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