How To Share Torrents With BitTorrent Illiterates
Written by Ernesto on January 06, 2008Every now and then I want to share a torrent with colleagues or family members who have never even heard of BitTorrent. For them even the easiest tutorials look like advanced algebra. That leaves me with two options, BitComet Lite and Bitlet. For the complete novice, sharing on BitTorrent doesn’t come any easier than this.
Both methods work quite well and are pretty much idiot proof. It should be fairly easy to share a torrent with anyone who knows how to doubleclick or launch a web browser.
BitComet Lite
Most people know BitComet as a standalone BitTorrent client, but the BitComet team also offers other tools. BitComet Lite is one of them, it’s basically a small BitTorrent client with a .torrent file included. With the BitComet Lite maker you can select a torrent file to include with the application and customize it with your own graphics. The application then compiles an .exe file that you can send to your BitTorrent illiterate friends. When they open the file you shared with them they can select the download location and the file will start downloading.
It is possible to resume downloads with BitComet Lite, which is ideal for larger files that can’t be downloaded at once. The user doesn’t have to configure anything and the download speeds are pretty decent. The only limitation is that the application is for windows users only.
BitLet
BitLet is a very neat web-based Java applet that allows you to download .torrent files without having BitTorrent client installed. The web based BitTorrent client is ideal to share a torrent with less tech-savvy friends. It works pretty simple, just append the link to the torrent to this url http://www.bitlet.org/?torrent= and send it to your friends, here’s an example. If people click on the link a popup window will appear, and the download starts immediately.
It is possible to resume downloads, just click on the link again and safe the file in the same location. BitLet also has a very useful code generator so you can offer BitTorrent downloads on your blog or website so that people can easily download, even when they don’t have a BitTorrent client installed.
Personally I prefer BitLet over BitComet Lite because it is costs less time and it is platform independent. The advantage of BitComet Lite to some might be that you can brand the application with your own images, which may look more professional.
Do you know of any other ways to share torrents with BitTorrent novices? Let us know and leave a comment!
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46 Responses
So set up an ftp server. Cant get any more idiot proof than ftp://ftp.server.com/file.txt in your favorite web browser. :)
well, why is it that people need to make less tech savy people use bittorent??? I mean if you really want to send them a 600mb+ file why not set up an ftp server or apach web server on your computer for that purpose? There is no need to mak it more complicated than it already is…
and by the way bittorrent is not for leechers like your friends or coworkers.. If you want someone to leech on a torrent please make them do it off your machine….
Well, lets say you’ve got a blog or something that you contently are uploading videos and stuff, if you have a large audience but no money for hosting that could mean that 10 people are sucking down on your little connection trying to get some 200 meg file. if you make them use a simple system like bitlet where they just click a link, all they know is that your video now takes 20 mins to download instead of 5 hours I only have 450k up, so if more then one person goes to download something from me it goes to crap. This system is perfect for getting files out there that lots of people want when you can afford to get a server line.
better yet, teach them how to file share properly with an ordinary client, it wont take you more than a couple of minutes to configure it for them. once the client is properly configured even my mother could learn to use bittorent after a 5 min explanation (and my mother is 50+ and have barely touched a computer in all her life, so i doubt you could find many people more computer illiterate than that…)
I’m all for power to the people, but given the state of security of the average Windows box (run by someone to whom learning to use a full-fledged BT client is too hard) do we *really* want to encourage people to swap custom executables and blindly run EXEs they get in the mail with their friends’ names in the FROM line?
Better to put in the effort to teach or convince them to use a full-fledget BT client.
But perhaps the battle is long lost? I don’t know any non-technical Windows users anymore…
“Does BitLet upload or seed?
Of course, please keep your download window opened as long as possible even after it has reached the 100%.”
NSKQuote
and by the way bittorrent is not for leechers like your friends or coworkers.. If you want someone to leech on a torrent please make them do it off your machine….
seeding/uploading = leeching now?
I’d think that many of the people who would use BitLet wouldn’t know how or why to share - though it is good for people without clients installed, maybe on a friends computer.
just use HFS friends….. thats all we need
This is cool. It would be nice to download on a friends computer if I didn’t feel like installing an application. Easy to remember too.
Sorry about the reckless self-promotion but I have created Podmailing specifically to facilitate sharing torrents with illiterates:
- it is compatible with bittorrent, actually based on the mainline client, although I don’t define it as a bittorrent client (to avoid scaring them off)
- it is easy to share torrents because it has a mailing feature (hence the name)
- illiterates can use it to send files too, because the software seeds (& uploads) to our servers, and we re-seed the files for them with a ton of bandwidth
When you receive a podmail sent with our service, it is downloadable either:
- with our podmailing software
- with any BitTorrent client
- with BitLet
- and if the file has arrived 100% on our server the recipient can download it straight from his browser using http
Again sorry for the long comment but I would really like to get your feedback on this service - would you recommend it to your illiterate friends?
http://www.podmailing.com/
i recomend geting them to use opera web browser, which feature automated torrent handleing
In my opinion, filesharing should be limited to the people who CARE about its potential enough to learn about it. If I was for example, too stubborn or oblivious to learn that driving a vehicle could end up making my life alot easier and I never bothered to learn how, then I shouldn’t have the right to drive.
i just ate a baked potato um nice to it was what is this filesharing thing your all talking about is it legal cause i dont like the potatoes they made me eat when i was in prison before my favorite film is porkys and rambo fist blood
You forgot one other simple method: tell them to use Opera as a web browser. It has an integrated bittorrent downloader by default. You almost doesn’t notice it’s not a standard download.
“The only limitation is that the application is for windows users only.”
I think windows users are the target of BitCometLite. I find it very hard to belive that any linux user doesn’t know how to download a torrent.
[quote comment="256848"]“The only limitation is that the application is for windows users only.”
I think windows users are the target of BitCometLite. I find it very hard to belive that any linux user doesn’t know how to download a torrent.[/quote]
No but lots of Mac users might.
True what they say about opera browser, you just click the torrent link as it were any other download link and opera downloads it. Cant match speed of good clients, at least not if there are few seeders/sharers, but on the upside you can use it on windows/linux/bsd/mac.
Bad article all around. The whole point of Bittorrent is to keep seeding once you finish downloading.. if people start using those apps ratio’s would be almost null.
To tell you the truth, most bittorrent clients are pretty straight forward, people who can’t learn how to use them don’t need them in the first place.
@ logos: clearly you’ve never made an attempt to explain it to anyone who doesn’t know.
@ guido: “people who can’t learn how to use them don’t need them in the first place” = antonym of seeding.
seeding = synonymous with sharing, which is what bittorrent is really all about.
file SHARING, right?
[quote comment="256896"]Bad article all around. The whole point of Bittorrent is to keep seeding once you finish downloading.. if people start using those apps ratio’s would be almost null.
[/quote]
witch is why god gave us private trackers, let the computer illiterate have the open trackers with slow speeds and loads of corrupted torrents ppl who know what they are doing can easily get access properly monitored trackers without corrupt torrents and an average speed of 1MB/s+ (and for people using public trackers, no that is not a typo of Mb, i mean a min speed of 1 MB/s = 8Mb/S)
forgot to mention, we don’t have to suffer 100+ duplicates of the same file either…
[quote comment="256819"]Sorry about the reckless self-promotion but I have created Podmailing specifically to facilitate sharing torrents with illiterates:
- it is compatible with bittorrent, actually based on the mainline client, although I don’t define it as a bittorrent client (to avoid scaring them off)
- it is easy to share torrents because it has a mailing feature (hence the name)
- illiterates can use it to send files too, because the software seeds (& uploads) to our servers, and we re-seed the files for them with a ton of bandwidth
When you receive a podmail sent with our service, it is downloadable either:
- with our podmailing software
- with any BitTorrent client
- with BitLet
- and if the file has arrived 100% on our server the recipient can download it straight from his browser using http
Again sorry for the long comment but I would really like to get your feedback on this service - would you recommend it to your illiterate friends?
http://www.podmailing.com//quote
hmm sounds like a great plan… could you start seeding the movie Water Horse if I was to upload it to the server? oh if i do upload it to the server how long will it stay seeding before the MPAA obligates you to remove it?
lol Louis.
:)
[quote comment="256910"]@ logos: clearly you’ve never made an attempt to explain it to anyone who doesn’t know.
[/quote]
actualy i thought both my older sisters + my younger brother how bt works (though admittingly only one of my sisters could be counted as computer illiterate)
Hi;
Five minutes to learn bitTorrent… I think its a lot faster than that, so I must be missing something. Please help fill in the parts that I’m missing.
1. Download the client.
2. Install the client:
a) Where to install the actual binary,
b) Where to store the incomplete files,
c) Where to store the complete files.
Then you can set up the goodie-extras in the options menu when you actually run the program, like
a) use protocol obfuscation
b) use encryption
c) use “unlimited” upload bandwidth
d) use “unlimited” download bandwidth
Then you search a popular indexing site (ie. Pirate Bay) for the torrent, click the link, and tell the prompt to open it with your bitTorrent client.
Its really not that difficult I think; therefore I am missing something.
Will some more experienced users please help fill me in on what I am missing?
[quote comment="256896"]Bad article all around. The whole point of Bittorrent is to keep seeding once you finish downloading.. if people start using those apps ratio’s would be almost null.
To tell you the truth, most bittorrent clients are pretty straight forward, people who can’t learn how to use them don’t need them in the first place.[/quote]
Actually, the whole point of bittorrent from the start was to offload some of the bandwidth onto clients downloading big files to make it possible to use a small server to support big download volumes. In that kind of environment ratio doesn’t play as big a role, because you have a dedicated seed and therefore don’t get dead torrents.
Btw, if bittorrent works optimally (won’t happen, but it is pretty efficent with its tit-for-tat algorithm), the download speed for each client could be calculated with approximatly the following formula:
TSUS = Total Seed Upload Speed
TUSOC = Total Upload Speed of Other Leechers
DS=Client Download Speed
US = Client Upload Speed
NL = Number of Leechers
DS = Min(TSUS,TUSOL,US+TSUS/NL)
As long as you have a dedicated seed to prevent dead torrents, leeching clients really aren’t a problem. They will just download at a much slower rate than other clients. Sure, specifically built leeching clients that work specifically to fool other clients can still cause a problem by reducing the efficency of the distribution, but that isn’t what we are talking about here.
Still, it is of course best to upload as much as you download as a token of appriciation to the original distributor. Especially, when dealing with distributors that don’t have a dedicated server.
I use GigaTribe with my torrent illiterate long distance girlfriend. Its as easy as browsing my files and downloading. This is also way better than bit torrent because she doesn’t have to upload anything and its a secure direct connection… in other words, she’s far less likely to attract the wrong kind of attention.
@ Paco420: actually we haven’t heard of the MPAA so far, but we are ready to deal with it when the time comes.
Note that we market Podmailing as a supersize e-mail service, not a hosting service. Concretely we keep the files on our server for a limited duration (currently a few days, very soon we will up this to 30 days) so that the recipient can download it (after that there is still P2P delivery)
So it is a private communications service, no one is alowed to look into it. Legally it is just like Gmail or Outlook: these services and software can be used to transfer anything, legal or not, but it’s private. The only difference is that we don’t limit the attachments to 10MB or 20MB. Currently it’s unlimited and has been tested above 10GB but we will probably cap it at 5GB (yes 5 gigabytes).
That said, we might also propose a time-unlimited hosting service someday…
Just tell them to use Opera - it’s built-in ;)
@Curious: for real illiterates, the process you describe is 10 times too complicated. Some people will actually drop out when you explain how to install the software.
Several commentators have stressed that they don’t care about these people. But hey that’s the point of this article and debate: How is it possible to get these people to share files with BitTorrent?
My approach with Podmailing is pretty successful in that sense. It wasn’t trivial though: we made many changes and modified the software in many ways to get there. And now many illiterates use Podmailing to send and receive files and folders using torrents without even knowing what a torrent is - and they could’nt care less.
I’ll go with Opera too.
I use AllPeers
I prefer to actually take the time to instruct newcomers how to properly use bittorrent instead of using half-assed bittorrent clients that won’t give them an accurate insight how it actually works.
[quote comment="257022"]@Curious: for real illiterates, the process you describe is 10 times too complicated. Some people will actually drop out when you explain how to install the software.[/quote]
And how big is this market demographic, really? Millions of people managed to install Kazaa, Morpheus, and more recently Limewire. Where is the big leap to using torrents? No, they just don’t want it bad enough… I think the answer is to make a client as easy to use as the first single network filesharing utilities were (think AudioGalaxy) but somehow still offer all the functionality of a full client.
Wouldn’t be at all surprised to see utorrent 2.0 turn out just like that. But as has been said, if you want to send a file to a less-than-savvy friend, set up your own ftp server, send it to them through your IM/IRC client, use gmail & a multi-part self-extracting RAR (everyone knows how to point and click and run something, we wouldn’t have so many trojans and virii if they didn’t), or use one of the many free hosting options (rapidshare, etc, there must be over a hundred of these services by now). And if it’s worth sending you probably already have it right? Point A to B or A to C to B seems easy enough to me… so why bring BT back into it? I just don’t understand the need expressed here.
P.S. When properly instructed for a few hours even the most “n00b”ish of my friends have been able to sucessfully find the media they’re interested in and were minding their ratios and talking about giving back to “the community” with all the zeal only the newest of converts can display. [i]“I believe the children are the future, teach them right and show them the waaaaaayyyyyy…”[/i]
Staying online and continuing to seed a torrent is never mentioned here. That’s what makes torrenting so successful.
just let them learn themselves. if they want the benefits of the knowledge of file sharing technology, they should have to learn like we all did.
Foxtorrent for the BT illiterates
There is limitation, the application is for windows users only. I think all what you need to do is to set up an ftp server and make things less complicated.
http://www.postonfire.com
Burn them a CD or a DVD.
Blizzard announced they would be releasing StarCraft II soon. Looks like they used Bitcomet Lite to distribute all the huge video files. Some people don’t know what a torrent is and don’t care. They just want to get the file.
I’m currently working on a “invisible” version of bitcomet light.
For our “malicious” friends ;)
For my less savvy friends/family, I use publicftp.com to send them files.
I up once to the server via ftp, they download as many times as they want via http link. Doesn’t get any easier to share than that.
Yeah. Free. No size limits. No usage limits. No ads.
The bible is the most pervasive thing, it is written by corrupt men who sought to corrupt the mindsofmany and they have done a splendid job
I’m the savior you guysorgals have been looking for since ancient time
I’m a virgin, i am aloner, i am in touch with nature, and have done much to help everyone since my birth.
I know all, see all, hear all, and a perfectionist. I am never satisfied until perfect.
believing is seeing
I am here to offer my help to humanity who are on the path to destruction
I am the the solution to world peace
I will bring world peace through love, co-operation, and understanding of the world we live in.
This kinda defeats the point of bittorrent. Your “Friends and colleagues” who are computer illiterate are just going to close the window anyways (at the end of the download) and not seed. So 1 peer connected with 1 seed isn’t going to be faster than FTP unless you have something such as a seedbox set up.
[quote comment="256750"]well, why is it that people need to make less tech savy people use bittorent??? I mean if you really want to send them a 600mb+ file why not set up an ftp server or apach web server on your computer for that purpose? There is no need to mak it more complicated than it already is…[/quote]
hahhahaha… you don’t get the point, do you?
why go all the trouble of setting up a web server+and FTP server when you can send a link. Besides, downloading a file through torrent or through an FTP server with only your upload bandwidth limit cannot be compared(this is true for most of the ISPs in the world).
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