ImageShack Starts Free BitTorrent Download Service
Written by Ernesto on April 05, 2008The popular media hosting website ImageShack just launched a new service that lets you download torrent files onto their servers. When the download is complete, you can download the files from ImageShack via an http link.
ImageShack’s torrent download service is still in Beta, but it works just fine. The only thing you need to do is point ImageShack to the torrent file and press start. The download will start immediately, and once it’s finished you can download the files via http onto your computer.
Services like this are not new, but up until now I haven’t seen one that doesn’t charge money. There are some limitations though. Per month you can download a maximum of 15GB to your computer, and the storage on ImageShack’s servers is also limited to 15GB.
Jack Levin, the founder of ImageShack told TorrentFreak: “We think its going to be a great service for users, especially in the light of ISPs ratelimiting torrent traffic.There is a lot of free and legal torrents out there, that people should have easy access too
to. We have the capacity to do it, and the world needs it.”
For those people who are concerned about the anonymity of the service (or think it’s a honeypot), Levin said: “We will not look at what you download and simply provide you, an account, with bandwidth and space. What you do with it is up to you. The DMCA applies, so, if we get reports from copyright owners to take down content, we will comply.”
The service comes with some great features. It supports selective downloading, which means that you can deselect files from the torrent if you don’t want to download them all. This can be quite useful if you only need one album from a complete discography for example.
ImageShack also provides some basic details about the progress of the downloads. Under the “status” link they list information about the download progress, connected seeds and leechers, share ratio and more.
The status reports are not yet working perfectly, as it keeps reporting that a torrent has stopped, while it was downloading just fine. However, the torrents I have tested were downloaded very fast, and I had no problem downloading the files from ImageShack onto my computer.
A more serious point of critique is that the torrent seems to disconnect as soon as the download has finished. This basically means that you will be sharing less than you should. I hope that ImageShack will add a sharing friendly feature in the future, and will at least continue seeding until the share ratio is 100%.
Levin told us, however, that there are no plans to include such a feature. They will offer (paid) premium accounts, but this will be only for bandwidth and storage upgrades.
Overall I must say that Imageshack’s new torrent download service looks very promising, especially for a free service. Decide for yourself, we think it’s worth a try.
This article was updated to include Jack Levin’s answers
Previously: Lawyer Who Threatened File-Sharers is Banned For 6 months
Next: BitTorrent Tracker Sends Takedown Request to Torrent Indexers
193 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
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well i get 20 kb/s upload per torrent
also, anyone know if it reports stats correctly?
I believe they are correct but it has been reported that ImageShack.us haven’t finished with the implementation.
Just wondering, what is the mandatory time for storing IP addresses in USA?
This ’service’ is totally pointless.
[quote comment="332739"]This ’service’ is totally pointless.[/quote]
Is this because it is risky to download anything that is deemed by the MAFIAA as being illegal to transfer?
http://forums.rlslog.net/showthread.php?t=2212
The conspiracy theory is brewing, ImageShack are working in conjunction with the MAFIAA to monitor IP addresses…
OK I’m confused. Could I use this as a web seed for torrents? My thoughts are no, as it’d require knowledge of the final Imageshack HTTP download URL in order to add said HTTP link into a .torrent file (as a ‘Web Seed’) during creation?
—
Posted this earlier, nothing showed up and I couldn’t repost (duplicate post)? Are comments moderated before they show? Is Wordpress just crap?
…and now it’s saying “You are posting comments too quickly. Slow down.”
*sigh*
*tries again…*
[quote comment="332771"]OK I’m confused. Could I use this as a web seed for torrents? My thoughts are no, as it’d require knowledge of the final Imageshack HTTP download URL in order to add said HTTP link into a .torrent file (as a ‘Web Seed’) during creation?[/quote]
Yeah I do not think this would be implemented because a crap legal reason (MAFIAA) but they should make sure this doesn’t leech and continues to seed until it has a 100% share ratio. Or allow you to choose…dreaming.
[quote comment="332491"][quote comment="332487"]Great idea! I want ImageShack to know what I’m downloading.[/quote]
You’re a moron.[/quote]
And you can’t sense sarcasm.
This is the TOS: Files that are illegal and/or are in violation of any United States laws. and Files that infringe on the copyrights of any entity excluding the user.
l tHinI t()rReNt
Lil \/\/aiT f()r
http:// liNk fR()m tHe File y90
pUt iN y()Ur /\cc90nt f()r 90thers
t() l>()\/\/nL90l>
I little review. I downloaded a ubuntu torrent and got a nice speed of about 2MB/s. I was surprised and happy. The only problem is i think they should have an upload setting so you can set a upload speed. Once a torrent has finished downloading it doesn’t keep seeding. It immediately stops and further seeding is not possible.
[quote comment="332817"]l tHinI t()rReNt
Lil \/\/aiT f()r
http:// liNk fR()m tHe File y90
pUt iN y()Ur /\cc90nt f()r 90thers
t() l>()\/\/nL90l>[/quote]
Probably legal reasons, just post the generated download link for others to download, all they have to do is login.
[quote comment="332822"]I little review. I downloaded a ubuntu torrent and got a nice speed of about 2MB/s. I was surprised and happy. The only problem is i think they should have an upload setting so you can set a upload speed. Once a torrent has finished downloading it doesn’t keep seeding. It immediately stops and further seeding is not possible.[/quote]
Yeah it has been reported but no comment has been giving by ImageShack.us; if they keep it how it is now “Transmission/1.10″ is going to start getting banned from trackers.
what this does, you upload a torren. a less then 1mb file from the piratebay. then image shack downloads the file to there computer. then you download the file from image shack thus saving your ass from any lawsuits or complaints. thats the good side of it. the bad side of it? your leeching and ur destroying bitorrent.oh and before you say the imageshack terms and agreement says, you must use this service legally. ignore it. they provide u with a possible illegal downloaded file such as the season of the office. they are legaly responsible. to combat this they will limit you to like 100 or 200 mb file a day. not to good for movies but for albums its perfect. so enjoy. oh and tor is slow as hell dont use it.
ImageShack.us has already ran into a few little problems.
Warning: mysql_connect() [function.mysql-connect]: Too many connections in /home/image/www/tor/config.php on line 23
Warning: mysql_select_db(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL-Link resource in /home/image/www/tor/config.php on line 24
ERROR: Too many connections
Looks like they need to optimize MYSQL server or simple change a few values in the config.
[quote comment="332830"]ImageShack.us has already ran into a few little problems.
Warning: mysql_connect() [function.mysql-connect]: Too many connections in /home/image/www/tor/config.php on line 23
Warning: mysql_select_db(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL-Link resource in /home/image/www/tor/config.php on line 24
ERROR: Too many connections
Looks like they need to optimize MYSQL server or simple change a few values in the config.[/quote]
Well that was bound to happen, this going to be hammered, so much…should have kept it as a private beta.
look at the disclaimer at the bottom it says they will give out your info if you download warez/porn/illegal or banned material.
If you want to do this for free, there’s other free services look up TorrentFlux (free php script), get some cheap or free hosting that supports fopen (tons out there) and put this script on it, and it works exactly the same but 100% more safe. Dreamhost allows TorrentFlux, so get Dreamhost account and run that script.
Or get a shell account, look up free shell there’s so many free ones. If you live in US most major ciites have a free net which offer shells for free. You can use it easily to download.
Warning: mysql_connect() [function.mysql-connect]: Can’t connect to local MySQL server through socket ‘/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock’ (2) in /home/image/www/tor/config.php on line 23
Warning: mysql_select_db(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL-Link resource in /home/image/www/tor/config.php on line 24
ERROR: Can’t connect to local MySQL server through socket ‘/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock’ (2)
Maybe someone from ImageShack.us is optimizing MYSQL.
Hopefully.
There is bound to be continued work, but I want it now. :)
We are happy with all the demand :). Now we just need to add some servers to the pool. Remember we are still in ‘private’ unannounced BETA.
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