Dear Terry

Here is much of all I know about the proper way of torrenting. A small disclaimer before I divulge my family secrets is that this knowledge is very limited and is still and always will be evolving as with anything naturally in time. These are just some tidbits that have worked for me that have allowed me to download over 10 terabytes of data in the last few years.

First in generalities, I will break down the nuances of music and movies then explain sources all of which to look and be on alert for as you wisely traverse the potent underground of pirate torrents. I trust you already know the basics of seeding in terms of leachers and seeders. Basically the greater the seed count, the more potent the data rate of downloading will be unless the leaching count is disproportionate to the seeding count. That is the general rule, however on some occasion even with low seed count, the bandwidth of some seeds is so ‘roided that a single seed will download to you at maximum capacity of your ISP (internet service provider).

Torrenting pages all list a few particular things to pay attention to beyond seeding and leaching numbers. There is the size of the particular file, user name that uploaded the torrent (on non-redirecting source sites), and comments section by users of the particular site. The size of a particular file indicates legitimacy, quality, and commitment of download. Legitimacy means usually if what you want to download is actually the file imbedded. Full length movies are rarely smaller than about 700ish mb and music albums are rarely smaller than 50 mb. I hope I’m stating the obvious. Legitimacy is also noted in the immediate comment section if users cry afoul about the file not being what it claims and/or if the file is zip or rar file. Unless completely assured, NEVER EVER DOWNLOAD AND OPEN ZIP/RAR FILES. They usually will contain the equivalent of flesh eating bacteria for computers.

Quality of files is usually what the size of a file then indicates. Most audio posts will indicate the kbps of an audio file. Audio CDs come in 128 kbps, high quality radio streams and I think Itunes audio files come default 192 kbps, premium audio tracks lie in the 256 to 320 kbps range. Obviously the higher the number, the better the quality. Subsequently, audio albums that are 128 kbps are only 50 mb and for 320 kbps over 100 mb.

Movies obviously are much bigger than audio content. Movies range from 700 mb to upwards of 13 GiB depending on the quality. HD content usually ranges from 4 GiB to 13 GiBs while non-HD movies are no bigger than 1.4 GiB large. 720p is the most popular and widely distributed resolution spec that’s traded in the virtual world. While blu-ray DVDs have native resolution of 1080p, most are ripped at 720p because it’s been widely recognized that the human eye can hardly decipher between 720p and 1080p resolution.

There is a dual process that is happening whenever torrents are being downloaded, there is a stream that is downloading the desired content onto your computer and another stream that is re-uploading that content from your IP address back into the virtual world also referenced as seeding. The RIAA and the movie industry essentially always know who and where people are downloading and virtually trading their content. It is unavoidable. Especially after Comcast’s acquisition of the National Broadcasting Company which is a wholly subsidiary of Warner Brothers Entertainment and in the same league with 20th Century Fox and all the other major entertainment producing brands, all the companies have an interest in knowing how their product is illegally distributed. In their back alley of server farms, I can assure you they have constant monitoring of all IP address interactions. People say there are privacy issues behind that, I say, it’s just the nature of the beast of the internet. It is virtually impossible not to need to constantly monitor all internet traffic for governmental, private and overall security purpose. There obviously are ways to subvert that system entirely but then we get into Julian Assange level coding and hacking that I have yet to begin to develop or wish to develop. Only important thing for you to remember is once finished downloading try to stop the sharing and continued uploading of the file by removing it from active queue. Whether you use Vuze or something else, poke around with the program to see how it’s done. In the pirate world, people like us who download and avoid uploading content are the scourge to their being and to the entertainment business we are the non-factor of people that have minimal impact on the sharing either way. The authorities’ interest is in the capture of the Stringer Bell and Avons of the world, not the Bubbles-type. It really is not that big of a deal that I seem to be making it out as but thought I’d go to great lengths to reassure you.

Anyhow Terry, there is my first chapter of how to torrent correctly. Hope it was helpful. I’m still working on a great idea, and I will have one soon to make us gazillionaires.

Peace

The Million Dollar Idea...

America is a country built on the million-dollar idea.  The industrial and technological growth of the 20^th century was the proliferation of thousands of million dollar ideas that have created companies that have created jobs that have created wealth that have ultimately created the concept of the off shore bank account.  The million-dollar idea is as American as apple fucking pie.  As pretty much a post-graduate with a hardly useful liberal arts biochemistry degree, I have been plopped in the middle of every other post graduate kid that looks to find some occupation that will pay the bills, get me laid and keep me fed…perhaps not in that order.  I am at day one of my search to find the truly American, million-dollar idea.  On this blog I will offer up (hopefully) a daily update in a sort of stream of consciousness that will explore the way people interact with themselves, each other, and the world to ultimately come up with that one idea that will explode into the next million dollar idea.

….and let’s not kid ourselves, in the 21^st century, it’s more like the search for the billion dollar idea…