Use BitTorrent / Wired How To’s
BitTorrent has been around since the dawn of the century. It’s no longer just something nerds discuss at nerd cocktail parties. Nay, the peer-to-peer file sharing technology has secured its place in the popular lexicon. But for newcomers familiar with KaZaA, Limewire or even the olden days of the original Napster, the hottest file sharing ticket on the internet can be a little bewildering.
Background
BitTorrent is not a program. It’s a protocol that enables you to download files from other computers on a peer-to-peer network. Also, BitTorrent uses a distributed network rather than a centralized network. Unlike Limewire, which involves grabbing a single file from a single user, on a BitTorrent network, you’re grabbing little pieces of the file from a multitude of users. The distributed model of getting files from a bunch of computers at once is a much more efficient use of bandwidth — and way faster — than getting files from a single, centralized source.
BitTorrent has sharing built in, too. Everyone who’s downloading a file is also uploading it to everyone else, so the more people sharing a file, the faster you get it.