what's a torrent?

superrandall64

superrandall64

New Member
i was just wondering what torrents are... i know it's sort of a file type, but are they generally safe? a friend is sending me torrents of some tracks from a cd. i'm pretty sure it's still illegal... but is it anything like kazaa or napster where you get like bugs attached? like i said... just curious.
 
A torrent is a filetype that is a small sort of identification of a file. The torrent, once made, is usually then uploaded to a website that hosts torrents, such as www.thepiratebay.org or www.seedler.org. You then download the desired torrent, and load it into your torrent client (BitTorrent, BitComet, uTorrent, Azureus, etc). The client will connect to other people who have the same file, and download it from them. This process is only illegal if you are transferring copyrighted materials. Torrents/ downloaded files may have viruses, but it's fairly easy to tell, because if it has a virus, no one would seed it. In addition, there is usually a 'health' bar that shows the 'health' status of the file.

Now, the disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only. It is not meant to be used to steal music or any other copyrighted materials. Please don't pirate. It makes people feel bad.
 
monkeysims said:
ya dude your not supposed to discuss illegal downloading on the board.
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Torrent's are getting more and more popular when it comes to "legal activities", some sites share game patches via BitTorrent cause e.g. it's such a popular file and they can't afford to host it on a server cause too much people would download it. The finnish group of people who made "Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning" share the movie via BitTorrent, completely legal cause the movie isn't for sale, it's free.
 
mrjack said:
Torrent's are getting more and more popular when it comes to "legal activities", some sites share game patches via BitTorrent cause e.g. it's such a popular file and they can't afford to host it on a server cause too much people would download it. The finnish group of people who made "Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning" share the movie via BitTorrent, completely legal cause the movie isn't for sale, it's free.
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i meant how his friend was sending him the cd files.
 
Using the Bit Torrent technology is legal, when using it for non-copyrighted or 'freeware' data, be it game patches, programs or whatever. However torrents act as links, and if your friend is sending you these, the ball is in your court as far as not downloading tracks is concerned.

Places like Amazon allow you to listen to excerpts from cd tracks, if you like the cd then you can buy it.
 
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