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One of the big pros of BitTorrent is that it allows you to download huge files over an extended period of time on a slow connection. Back in the day when torren

by joshvm 9y ago

One of the big pros of BitTorrent is that it allows you to download huge files over an extended period of time on a slow connection. Back in the day when torrents were starting to take over things like Limwire/Kazaa, this was a big deal. This was also in the days before video hosting (i.e. YouTube and, frankly, PornHub) and cloud storage were a mainstream thing. Also, due to peering, torrents tended to allow you to max your connection compared to shady direct-download websites which required premium membership (e.g. Rapidshare). BitTorrent is still a viable solution for big files and slow connections. Some scientific datasets are available via torrent for this reason. Media distribution has certainly helped kill off torrents (I say kill off, they're still widely used, damped perhaps?), but another part of it is faster connection speeds, no bandwidth caps in many places and the availability of cheap file hosting (e.g. via Mega).

dvt 9y ago
I don't think I disagree with you; my point was twofold: 1. The pros of BTC and BT aren't that impressive. BTC is more of a currency side-grade, not an iteration. 2. Both BTC and BT are primarily used for illegal stuff. This doesn't help their cause.
thomastjeffery 9y ago
> I say kill off, they're still widely used, damped perhaps? I would say "delegitemized". Media companies have worked hard to convince the general public that data can be "owned", and that "piracy" is literal "theft", meaning that pirated content creates some loss they can claim as damages, thereby filling the fifth part of the legal definition for fraud. The media oligopoly wants to provide encrypted data (DRM), which isn't static (changing keys), and therefore won't scale on bittorrent. > but another part of it is faster connection speeds, no bandwidth caps in many places and the availability of cheap file hosting (e.g. via Mega). That is certainly a major part of it. That, and the association bittorrent has with piracy are why most people don't think to use bittorrent to distribute static content.

by joshvm 9y ago

dvt 9y ago

I don't think I disagree with you; my point was twofold: 1. The pros of BTC and BT aren't that impressive. BTC is more of a currency side-grade, not an iteration. 2. Both BTC and BT are primarily used for illegal stuff. This doesn't help their cause.

thomastjeffery 9y ago

> I say kill off, they're still widely used, damped perhaps? I would say "delegitemized". Media companies have worked hard to convince the general public that data can be "owned", and that "piracy" is literal "theft", meaning that pirated content creates some loss they can claim as damages, thereby filling the fifth part of the legal definition for fraud. The media oligopoly wants to provide encrypted data (DRM), which isn't static (changing keys), and therefore won't scale on bittorrent. > but another part of it is faster connection speeds, no bandwidth caps in many places and the availability of cheap file hosting (e.g. via Mega). That is certainly a major part of it. That, and the association bittorrent has with piracy are why most people don't think to use bittorrent to distribute static content.