BarTor Enters BitTorrent Barcode Scanning Market
Written by Ernesto on March 25, 2009A few weeks ago we introduced Torrent Droid, an application for Android-based phones that allows users to take a photo of a barcode and lookup torrents for the associated product. While Torrent Droid is still being developed, a similar app is now on the market and available for download.
The idea behind BarTor is simple but brilliant. The application allows a user to scan the barcodes of products they come across, and use these to search for torrents that match the product. If a corresponding torrent is found, it can be directly and remotely added to uTorrent or Vuze through the BitTorrent client’s web interface.
BarTor uses the web interface of the BitTorrent client running on your computer, and it even supports multiple clients for people who have more than one BitTorrent client they need to send torrents to.
The torrents start downloading right away and when you arrive at home, the music, movie or software will be done downloading and ready to use. It can’t get much easier. BarTor’s functionality is very similar to the Torrent Droid app we reported on before, but BarTor is the first to become available to the public.
The only downside is that the app is not available for free. It’s currently being sold in the Android Market for $2.99. Just like with most iPhone apps, however, it probably wont take long before it appears on BitTorrent sites itself.
Justin, the developer of the application told TorrentFreak that he is well aware of this threat to his business model and understands that his target audience is likely to pirate the application itself.
“I am sure it will happen and although i’d like it not to, there isn’t a whole lot I can do about it. I feel that there are a lot of people out there who will be willing to pay the nominal fee for this app,” he told us.
For people who prefer to buy the product instead, BarTor also works with Google Base’s product search. For every search it will return a list of retailers that sell the product, including the location and the price. Not free, but you might still save a few bucks.
BarTor, scan, search and download torrents.
Previously: File-Sharers Face ‘3 Thanks’ for Excessive Downloading
Next: TorrentBoy, Free Kids Book on the TorrentSphere
44 Responses
obviously this will only increase legitimate purchases.
obviously.
Now, if only I had an iPhone. Oh wait, why would I want an iPhone?
Sweet :D People on public sites can get nailed for downloading when they’re not even at home lol.
Why would you scan Ubuntu?
@El Pirata aka “anonymous #2″
quit spamming, n00b!
Thats a screen shot of an Android, not an iPhone app. There may be a version for the iPhone, but thats not it.
@7 : thanks captain obvious. you treat us all like morons.
@8 I didn’t know it was Android lol. How can it scan Barcodes btw? Android has a scanner? o.O
@9 The camera :)
@Everyone
Lol .
jerks
So this guy wants people to pirate everything except his stuff??
That’s almost as bad as guys on torrent sites asking that their torrents shouldn’t be posted elsewhere.
If it’s good for the geese…
@5 you would search Ubuntu to find a torrent and download it to your home pc. this can search for any torrents, not just ones you scan.
I went ahead and purchased the app to support Justin. It works great over Edge and I like that he included the option for legal purchases. It works similar to ShopSavvy.
Who would want to take the time to take a picture when they could just search for it?
@JohnG
Of course I’d prefer that my app wasn’t pirated. I’m sure it will be and if it is, well, there really isn’t anything I can do about it. You can bet I won’t come after you to sue you if I find out you’ve pirated it. :)
“Of course I’d prefer that my app wasn’t pirated.”
so do all the people whose work you’re helping others to steal.
i hope you don’t earn a cent.
@18
there are a lot of companies out there that help other peoples steal like google, yahoo and etc. i don’t see you complaining about them when you use them lmfao.
I’m off to my local supermarket!
Perhaps if you were bright enough to see the difference between this add and Google I’d bother to give you a reasonable argument.
I’ll give you a hint though;
Google was invented before torrents.
Justin isn’t “helping people steal” by creating an app that scans barcodes and uses them in a torrent search. Think of his app as an exhibition of software programming that could be later used to market media or provide backup copies via BitTorrent.
If you intend to engage in piracy, it is MUCH easier to simply search for anything you want on TPB or Demonoid and illegally download it. Even common search engines do the trick. Apps such as this one could revolutionize future distribution of legitimate media.
Totally irrelevant app… Why would you go to a store and scan something to download it remotely, when you can stay home and download it?
Real file sharers don’t care about record stores and supermarkets when it comes to their media needs.
since I have started downloading i stopped going to the stores all together.. such a waste of time..
plus i doubt this thing really works, after all, it could download fakes or crappy versions or whatever other ways it could screw up and you get home to nothing.
Downloading music and movies is not de problem.
Them problem is the pirate offer you a pirated version of the app and include a trojan or whatever. Many many many apps i have downloaded contained a virus.
You expecting something for free but they link virus and no antivirus able to detect it.
To get these phones in the uk you have to enter a 12/24 months contract. Not worth it.
“I’m off to my local supermarket!”
ROTFLMAO! I really wish I could download some Pringles right now…
lol@18
i wonder if you can download baked beans?
@Pat
“You expecting something for free but they link virus and no antivirus able to detect it.”
Most malware is detectable by decent antivirus products soon after it is released. Often, a good AV program will identify a virus via heuristics before it has even been cataloged.
If you’re having malware issues, download a good, free security solution such as COMODO Internet Security. Provided that you’re not a gamer, try a good Linux Distro combined with Firestarter & ClamAV for Linux.
As always, remember to practice smart downloading habits. Prevention is the best cure.
“You wouldn’t steal a DVD”
lol @ android and me
Buying and supporting an app that promotes stealing, that is funny :-)
ya tell that too the CEO of warner brothers who OWNS UTORRRENT
and whose own son got no lawsuit for “stealing” as you claim . nor were stakeholders in question compensated
@antivirii bullshitremember 99% of AV software ON PURPOSE DID NOT DETECT THE SONY ROOTKIT
WHY
because industry WNATS TO INFECT YOU
INDUSTRY AND MONEY IS A VIRUS LOL
@ hacker/pirates
sharing, stealing, whatever…
It is just funny (and actually also disgusting) to see how someone wants to make money of an application which enables users to get other peoples creations for free…
Well at least most of the file-sharers will be too cheap ass to buy the thing, so that will mean less piracy for the shopowners who want to run a legitimate business.
Adama again
Get off your high horse…
I buy movies, but I’ve bought some real shit in the past, at least with this I can go into a shop, see the latest stuff, remotely download, if that movie was any good then maybe I’ll return the next day and buy it.
but then that movie might also have been a pile of sinking crap.
this seems alright. What if you’re going out with friends (unless of course you have a sheer lack for a social life) and the decided to go to a music store? this is convenient in a way. Its like sending your updates to twitter from your phone. I guess its just a way to download torrents in other ways. Its interesting, maybe if you would scan something on food then you get diet related torrents or whatever. Well, lets see what happens next shall we? the record industry will probably counter this by putting drm on barcodes, on which only they can be read by aproved devices and then next time a legitimate customer wants to buy all that junk from them the store will say “its pirated” because they barcode scanner won’t be aproved… thanks to the newer drm.
adama maybe #YLS# is right maybe you should get off your high horse. its not very good for the leader of the last of humanity to act in this way. xD
“It is just funny (and actually also disgusting) to see how someone wants to make money of an application which enables users to get other peoples creations for free…”
exactly. textbook hypocrisy.
Aw! Few things that could be changed:
* BarTor should be free and accept donations so that anyone can try it before deciding if they want to support the author.
* BarTor is a lame name. Maybe something like “ScanLoader” would be better…
* It should also be available for the iPhone… oh wait, Mac users tend to actually pay for stuff… xD
The biggest problem with this kinds of programs for me, is that I cant label RSS feeds with a categorie, and I cant bookmark / add the .torrents in a chosen categorie to download and label… when they solve that, it gets interesting.
Scan the barcode and then download a torrent?
Well, I’m off to pirate me a carton of milk and a loaf of bread, see you soon.
@42: Just finished pirating me some chocolate cake! =D
In addition to scanning a barcode it supports text search. It all takes place within the application so no back and forth to a browser or download manager. It presents a list of 25, 50, etc predefined number of results and provides the size, number of seeds/leeches, posting date, and a link to view the webpage of the torrent for more info. select an item and hit send to server and bingo, starts downloading. Someone at work today mentioned a show i should watch, in almost the same time it would take to make a note of the show i had a torrent moving. its near perfection, but then.. im a gadget geek. its not for everyone.
shame you cant torrent your weekly shop!
I think that it’s a really interesting and cool thing to have. Just the idea of it is pretty cool.
People who are flaming him need to stfu and get a life.
Nice work bro, i would get it if I had an iphone :p
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