What is BitTorrent?

BitTorrent is a a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing network. Users connect directly to each other to share files, hence the peer-to-peer tag. This is coordinated via a server and in some cases by multiple servers called a tracker. A seeder is someone who hosts a file that people can readily download on the BitTorrent network. BitTorrent has received a lot of bad publicity in the media in recent times due to its perceived illegal nature. Using BitTorrent is NOT illegal, seeding or hosting copyrighted media, however, is!

To get started you will need a BitTorrent client. There are literally dozens of BitTorrent clients available. You will find many if you perform a simple google search. I would however recommend:

utorrent - A fast, free, small, feature-packed bittorrent client. One of the best and what I personally use.
Azureus - A cross-platform Java based client. Probably the most popular and one of the most feature packed around.

Once you've downloaded and installed your respective BitTorrent client, how exactly do you go about downloading?

You need to visit a BitTorrent website the hosts files with a .torrent file extension. Examples of such sites:

Torrentz
Mininova
btmon

Once there, simply search for what you want, download the file with the .torrent file extension (these files are generally a few kilobytes) and double click on it once its on your pc!

The file should then be loaded into your newly installed BitTorrent client and start downloading!

This post was written by: cyberst0rm

Blogging about technology since 2007. Feel free to leave a comment below.