Opera: Do we need a BitTorrent browser?
Written by Ernesto on May 01, 2006Opera released a 9.0 public beta version last week. The new and improved Opera browser now supports .torrent downloads. The question is: Do we really need BitTorrent support in a browser?
First a quick review of Opera’s BitTorrent support:
Opening torrents
If you click on a .torrent file, a window pops up asking you where you want to [...]
Opera released a 9.0 public beta version last week. The new and improved Opera browser now supports .torrent downloads. The question is: Do we really need BitTorrent support in a browser?
First a quick review of Opera’s BitTorrent support:
Opening torrents
If you click on a .torrent file, a window pops up asking you where you want to save the file. The same window tells you that you’re about to share the file with other people (see pic).
Strange is the fact that you can’t specify a default download folder, so you can disable this popup screen and start the download immediately.
memory usage
Opera is generally not using much memory and CPU. I was a ‘bit’ skeptical if this would be the same while downloading a torrent since most torrent clients use about 30.000K memory. And I must say I’m quite impressed. There was only a slight increase in memory usage, it went from 12.000 to 17.000k, way below torrent clients like azureus and bitcomet and just slightly higher than uTorrent “the lightweight client”.
preferences
There’s not much to configure, but two of the most vital configuration options are there. You can adjust the download and upload speed and you can specify the port Opera should use.
However, is you adjust the down/up speeds you will see that the categories are pretty broad (see pic).
transferring
Transferring files goes fine, the downloads sometimes take a while to start, but that could be due to a slow tracker. There are some basic options to control the downloads (stop, resume and remove) that work ok.
shortcomings
It’s not my intention to diss Opera’s BitTorrent support, I know that this is just the start, and that they will probably improve it with every new release. But still…
There are a lot of configuration options and features missing. No DHT, no individual torrent preferences, no selective downloading, obviously no encryption, no RSS support, etcetera etcetera.
conclusion
Opera’s BitTorrent support is great for incidental users but useless for heavy users.
pro’s
- People who are unfamiliar with BitTorrent can download torrents. They don’t have to install anything and no specific knowledge is required.
- It doesn’t take much memory and CPU
con’s
- Configuration options are limited
- Feature support is limited
The con’s can and probably will be worked on. My main concern is the fact that when Opera shut’s down, the torrent stops. This is not very convenient since BitTorrent is often used for “large” files that often take a while to download.
This brings me to the title of this post: Do we need a BitTorrent browser?
Yes: For incidental users
No: for BitTorrent die-hards
Previously: Hindustan Times Promotes “Piracy”
Next: Free Itunes Content for BitTorrent users on Mac OS X
28 Responses
Opera is nice browser but it is not popular as IE or FF, I hope Mozilla add same feature to FireFox too.
Opera doesnt intend to replace dedicated torrent clients. What it wants it to make torrents more accesible.
There are a lot of people in this world who dont knw what torrents are and how to deal with them.
Opera has simplified things for them.It treats torrent files any other file.
Opera will never replace dedicated torrents. You can draw comparisons with download managers. opera’s download manager can do basic things like resume etc. but it cannot schedule downloads, split files into parts etc.
Similarly opera’s irc is the simplest irc client available.It will not replace mIRC but it still does it’s job.
As far as I am concerned, integrating torrent support in browsers is a good idea.However, I still prefer a dedicated torrent manager to handle my torrents.
Well I prefer Opera to FF and/or IE! Its way better and free like the others. Its a rather useful feature to have a bit torrent downloader built into a web and WAP browser. They also have IRC in the new Opera9. You guys can download it from either 9down.com or snapshot.opera.com
I think Opera’s BT support will only get more people involved with BT. As the article said, die-hards won’t use Opera’s BT support, and I agree. However, for the n00bs who can just click a torrent link and dl the file, seems nice.
well, i must say i like the .torrent support, though i’m having some problems with this release and might revert to 8.x untill some things can be fixed.
the biggest drawback i can see with the limited configurability is that there seems to be no functionality for disabling the built in client. i would be happy to see this option implemented. the obvious workaround is an annoyance at worst but it would feel smother if one could configure opera to let the torrent open via windows extension settings. so my point is that while i would sometimes use this feature, it would be nice to have the option of not using it aswell. if i am overlooking something, let me know.
You can disable the bittorrent plugin from options. Try typing opera:config to the address bar and it gives you a page where you can change the options and disable bittorrent.
This feature is terrible, as a user I cant download the torrent file for my client, opera hijacks it every time!
CYA opera, hello Firefox
This is great for me and I am no BitTorrent newbie. I have 3 computers and one of them is a laptop that is about 6 years old. It can’t run Firefox because FF has a memory leak and it only has 256MB RAM. Thus I discovered Opera, which combines my web browser, IRC client, and BitTorrent client into one. It runs perfectly on the 6 year old laptop. The only thing that bothers me is that you can’t specify a download folder for all your torrents/files. But that’s okay! I now use Opera on all of my computers, but I only use the torrent client on the laptop. You can disable it so it just downloads torrents and you can open them up in Azureus or whatever you use.
Thanks for the tips. opera:config is the best thing i never knew.
just tun off the bittorent client … excellent… i have been looking for that option for days.
btw. if you cant be bthered changing stuff.. just right click and save target as..
its what i was doing before opera:config was known :)
THANKS
Thank you for all your advive, I think I’ll stick with Azereus for the time being. Thanks for letting me know how to disable opera’s built in bit torrent client I was stuck trying to figure it out.
Opera does have RSS and Atom support. Just open an RSS link in Opera, then only it will load the RSS module. A new main menu item “Feeds” will appear.
Same for email, it’s not loaded by default (to save memory), Tools > Mail & Chat Accounts, once you add it, then it’s shown and loaded. And it’s way faster than Outlook since it keeps in MBS format (like Thunderbird). Means you can tell Opera to load only the past month, week, or day’s email! No need to archive emails like in Outlook anymore!!!
You also have IRC client, 1-click Show/Hide Images, Zoom that really zooms everything from images to flash items and text, unlike Firefox (IE7 seems to have copied this).
I personally have nothing against operas attempt to make bittorrent more accessible. Quite to the contrary, I believe it’s a nice move and a good feature. What I don’t like is how difficult this “feature” is to disable. It doesn’t allow for users without knowledge of opera:config to disable the client. In fact the online help center doesn’t even mention how to disable it and the preferences options in the bittorent-client doesn’t contain the enable checkbox. This reeks of bad design and is probably forcing many regular opera users to use operas bittorrent client when they would really rather have used a standalone client. An other result of this could also be a user migration to other browsers such as firefox or IE.
please anyone let me know how to stop opera from opening torrent files.
you can email me at a_bakle@rediffmail.com
How do i stop opera from doing this ? I have a torrent client that i like very much.
opera:config
alright,i didnt see this above.thank you.
How do I shut off the torrent feature in this browser. I’ve got a torrent program I’m perfectly happy with but any time I click a torrent link in Opera it hijacks the link and I cannot find a way to shut it off or get it to allow me to determine the default application for that file type.
HELP!
I found a way to get opera to use a third party torrent app.
Tools -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Downloads -> Uncheck “Hide file types opened by Opera” -> Click on file extension(s) to sort by name -> find: application/x-bittorrent torrent -> mark and select “Edit..” -> Select “Open with other application” -> browse to your torrent app and select it.. all done!
This is what you want …
http://www.neowin.net/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t455117.html
In the address bar, type opera:config
The Opera BitTorrent is rubbish.
The download just doesn’t start,or the speed is 25 kb/s in best case.Why use that one when users can get and install uTorrent in 60 seconds.It reaches 500 kb/s sometimes!
Why I can’t save .torrent upload ?
(When I stop opera, or restart the PC I can’t start new upload from finished list .torrent).
just use bitlord :D
Type opera:config in the address bar, select “BitTorrent” and then untick “Enable”.
To use Azureus Magnet links – go to Tools/Preferances/Advanced/Programs
Click the “add” tab.
Set the “Protocol” to “magnet”.
Click “Open With Other Application”.
Set the path to Azureus.exe
Opera will now open Azureus (if not already running) and pass the magnet link data when you click on it.
To use .torrent files (with any client), just right-click and select “save as”.
—
To use eMule Magnet links – go to Tools/Preferances/Advanced/Programs
Click the “add” tab.
Set the “Protocol” to “ed2k” (this setting is case sensative – ed2k is not the same as eD2k, you may need to make 2 entries accordingly).
Click “Open With Other Application”.
Set the path to eMule.exe
Opera will now open eMule (if not already running) and pass the magnet link data when you click on it.
LInk explaining how to turn off BT support in Opera –> http://www.opera.com/support/search/view/840/?keyword=turn%20off%20bittorrent&platformID=12
They list several methods.
thanks iv been lookin for how to disable it and had been using IE (shudders) to
[quote comment="43234"]I found a way to get opera to use a third party torrent app.
Tools -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Downloads -> Uncheck “Hide file types opened by Opera” -> Click on file extension(s) to sort by name -> find: application/x-bittorrent torrent -> mark and select “Edit..” -> Select “Open with other application” -> browse to your torrent app and select it.. all done![/quote]
you are the best
thanks for the opera:config tip. i had been using ff to do my torrent downloads because the built in client is just terrible. know that i can turn it off, it will save me a ton of time.
Opera is a really well designed browser. I used to use it all the time, but ever since I started using blackboard I had to switch back to firefox :( I love how it has so many features but the program still remains small and the features remain unobtrusive for those who do not wish to use them. There is the email client, RSS reader, Torrent tracker, and widgets. More and more websites are beginning to embrace Torrents to save their server loads and props to Opera for responding to the demand!
1 references to this post
Responses are closed
All remaining responses will continue to be archived. Use the TorrentFreak forums if you want to discuss something.