Bittorrent Tutorial: How to Download Music and Movies Files

This is my tutorial regarding Bittorrent and its practical use. I will teach you how to download media from the net using the Bittorrent system. I will also attempt to explain some jargon and terminologies. Please follow astericks to their respective bullet points on the bottom for clarification.

1. Grab a Bittorrent client:

First of all you need a Bittorrent client to run on your computer. The client will connect you to seeds and peers which will enable you to download what you have selected to download. Seeds are completed versions of the file you choose to download. Peers are other users that are downloading the same file as you. The size of a client varies from about 1 to 6 megabytes.

Bittorrent clients I recommend: Bitcomet, uTorrent, Azureus, BitTornado

Any of the above Bittorrent clients can be found by just googling their names in www.google.com

2. Find some Torrent files.

Torrent files are files that will link you to the Bittorrent download and the network. It is like a file directory. It tells your Bittorrent client where to connect to. Hosting torrent files has spawned much contraversy in the anti piracy world. So far hosting torrent files is not considered illegal in many countries. However, hosting torrent files of MPAA licenced movies is illegal on trackers in the United States. Trackers are websites that host libraries of torrent files. You can find torrent files from many websites. Be cautious however because old torrent files die after a while because the file it links to no longer exists as soon as seeds and peers stop uploading them.

Here are my all time favorite trackers and websites for downloading Asian movies:

1. http://www.fst.omnilounge.co.uk/

• (They offer various asian multi-medias for download via bittorrent, much like FSC (fantastic super club) which Iisted below. However, FSS is a private internet community and registration can prove to be exclusive. You may need an invite. It took me about a month to get in but it was well worth the wait! For asian movies/music/drama; registration required**)

2. http://www.fantasticsuperclub.org/

• (For asian movies/music/drama; registration required; This website offers asian media of all sorts to be downloaded via bittorrent. They have movies, music, tv shows, dramas, as well as many other things. It is a forum that I frequent almost daily. Overall the people in that internet community are nice and welcoming.)

3. http://www.d-addicts.com/

• (for asian dramas only: registration required)

4. http://www.torrentspy.com/directory.asp?mode=sub&id=51

• (for asian movies (and everything else): no registration required)

5. http://www.thepiratebay.org/frame.html

• (for the real hardcore pirates you are)

6. http://www.nixflix.com/archive.htm

• (Now called Beyond Hollywood. Beyond Hollywood is a website I often visit to read reviews of movies. In particular I use this website to read websites of Asian movies (my favorite genre of movie). In my opinion I think that the reviews there are accurate, informative, and overall exellent. They have a very large archive of reviews as well. They also review horror movies and some Western titles. I check there often to read reviews of movies before I download them on Bittorrent. For great honest reviews of asian movies)

7. http://us.yesasia.com/en/index.aspx

• (for those who want the real thing or compare prices etc. they also have reviews and screencaps

8. http://asiandvdclub.org

• (The Asian DVD Club is a bittorrent tracker / forum that offers Asian DVDs (mostly movies) for download via bittorrent. They have a great selection and membership / registration is free. What makes the Asian DVD Club different from FSS and FSC (I posted reviews of these trackers earlier) is that it offers Asian movies even licenced in the US. FSS and FSC do not.)

Note:

>:Websites only host torrent files, not the actual movies. Torrent files, when run on a bittorrent client connects your computer to a tracker and the p2p network to allow file sharing (to exploit the file you want). There are several factors that may effect download speeds of which include the number of peers downloading the file with you, the number of seeds providing finished copies of the file you’re downloading, your internet connection speed, and your upload speed and capabilities.

>:(taken from technical help forum from FSC (fantasticsuperclub) – “BitTorrent works on a credit system. By uploading parts of a file other people, they allow you to download parts of the file from them. This is BitTorrent’s anti-leech measure. However, if you have a problem with your NAT (anything between you and the internet, such as a router or firewall), you will not get credit for what you are uploading. The only downloading that you can do is from people who upload a small amount to you in the hope that you will return the favor. Since their client will not recognize your response if you have a firewall problem, then they will stop uploading to you shortly after. This is what is causing your problem. You may also notice that torrent speeds go very high for 5 minutes, before slowing back down to 0-5kb/s.”

*If you’re still clueless of what Bittorrent is,God help you. But, hopefully the creator’s site may help you…
http://www.bittorrent.com/

**registration for http://www.fst.omnilounge.co.uk/ is insanely hard. I waited for about a month to get into this elusive p2p community. (the trick is the set the registration page as your homepage, so you check it every time you log on the internet)

Other things to consider:
-for asian movies, you may need vobsub to play subtitles (.srt or .sub files)
-you may need video codecs to play certain video (divx, xvid, ogg, etc.)
-you may need audio codecs to play certain audio (ac3filter)
-G-Spot is an exellent program that assists in finding all the codecs necessary to properly play any media file.

3. Click on your selected Torrent file, open with your Bittorrent client, and start downloading!

4. Thats it in a nutshell!