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
197 Responses
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It won’t last.
#34, yeah it seems that I couldn’t really use it as a web seed other than if I started atorrent seeding normally, then started Imageshack on the torrent, then manually restrict my upload speed to the exact imageshack leecher ip address (would be a pain in the arse). :/
Reading some comments here now I’m not sure I’m too keen on this idea because I seed content regularly from my domestic connection, and often to not many peers, and I don’t think it’ll be too good if people use imgshack to leech the torrent from me as fast as possible and then drop out of the swarm without at least a 1:1 ratio. It’d just be unfair to me. If I see that start to happen often and it bothers me I’ll just go about IP banning it… it can leech from the other peers instead…
I could really use a web seed though to help me out a bit at times…
[quote comment="332852"]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.[/quote]
If it is the real Jack behind ImageShack, thanks for the new service.
It seems to be continuing to seed now, the files I selected are finshed and my share ratio is still going up.
So, to answer the question on seeding. This is not a seeding service, if you want to seed your files, do it from your home connection. The service is mostly designed to get you the files you need - fast. So one option is, get the file, start your home torrent software and seed.
Seems resume is supported, using GetRight. That’s pretty cool but means it is going to get severely hammered.
So technically it can be used as HTTP Seed when using GetRight (or some other BitTorrent program).
[quote comment="332862"]So, to answer the question on seeding. This is not a seeding service, if you want to seed your files, do it from your home connection. The service is mostly designed to get you the files you need - fast. So one option is, get the file, start your home torrent software and seed.[/quote]
As long as it does it to 100%.
[quote comment="332864"]Seems resume is supported, using GetRight. That’s pretty cool but means it is going to get severely hammered.
So technically it can be used as HTTP Seed when using GetRight (or some other BitTorrent program).[/quote]
Damn, seems that was premature, resume is not supported. :(
How will they make money?
Easy! They will get a cut from every successful RIAA suit.
Re: money - this is going to be a pay for service; Thats what disk and bandwidth cap is for.
-Jack
It’s nice service if your ISP is throttling your downloads, otherwise I don’t get the point.
15 GB is nothing for an average BitTorrent user.
[quote comment="332873"]How will they make money?
Easy! They will get a cut from every successful RIAA suit.[/quote]
They are going to offer premium accounts. (more allowances for quotas)
that point is, you can schedule 10 different torrents for download, not hog your home connection, have those torrents come concurrently, then chose the one you want when they are done.
i logged to my imageshack account and i’m seeing 3 torrents don’t uploaded by me
:-S
maybe because i’m on a school lan (1 ip for 3000 guys)
it’s fun to see what other people are downloading
hehe
sorry my english
Jack: Does it seed back to 1:1 ratio? If it doesn’t it can piss off, if it does, great.
“So one option is, get the file, start your home torrent software and seed.”
So, are you saying it doesn’t seed back to a 1:1 ratio, and that you expect people who use your service to manually faff about adding the file they just downloaded through imgshack to a torrent client running locally so they can give back to the swarm? Surely I’ve read you wrong there?
[quote comment="332891"]i logged to my imageshack account and i’m seeing 3 torrents don’t uploaded by me
:-S
maybe because i’m on a school lan (1 ip for 3000 guys)
it’s fun to see what other people are downloading
hehe
sorry my english[/quote]
Um no, it should only show what the your account is downloading, this means someone knows your password; you should change your password.
I might be wrong but I tried this with three accounts and the same ip and there is no crossover.
[quote comment="332894"]I might be wrong but I tried this with three accounts and the same ip and there is no crossover.[/quote]
ups, my bad, my sister was using her account in MY COMPUTER!! argh!
i didn’t notice till i saw her username on the top
sorry
there is no provision to run the torrent to seed at 1:1 ratio at the moment. This may become an option with a premium account.
[quote comment="332829"]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.[/quote]
Your a dumb cunt. personally i feel more safe using a torrent site…
[quote comment="332897"][quote comment="332894"]I might be wrong but I tried this with three accounts and the same ip and there is no crossover.[/quote]
ups, my bad, my sister was using her account in MY COMPUTER!! argh!
i didn’t notice till i saw her username on the top
sorry[/quote]
lol ok
Right, so at the moment you’re just looking to cash in on other people’s efforts.
Anyway, I’ll say no more here, good luck with the service.
[quote comment="332909"]Right, so at the moment you’re just looking to cash in on other people’s efforts.
Anyway, I’ll say no more here, good luck with the service.[/quote]
If there is a market, cater for it. This is the norm.
Useless services, there’s no reason to use it.
Useless service, there’s no reason to use it.
STOP, STOP, STOP!
Excuse me, but for those who are unaware, this is the same Imageshack photo host that has banned thousands of warez and p2p sites from receiving picture files from links posted in those forums.
Imageshack takes it upon themselves to decide where YOU can post YOUR photos. There is currently a boycott of Imageshack throughout the warez and p2p community. Please support it and do NOT give these anti-piracy goons any of your business. And certainly not any of your personal information.
Hey, Jack(ass)! Why don’t you come back and explain why your company is so vociferously anti-filesharing to the extent that you have to be the Internet Police regarding where a pic hosted by you is posted. You don’t like warez, p2p, filesharing, etc.?
Then find a new business. Or at least mind your own instead of sticking your damn nose and beliefs where they’re not wanted.
Just say no to Imageshack, people. There are many, many good file hosts out there that are not only free, but do not try to substitute their judgement for yours.
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