Monday, April 25, 2005
Half-baked techno-geekinessAzureus is a
great Bittorrent client program. I never truly understood BT until I started using Azureus. (For a generous, given value of 'understanding'; my computer nerd meter is stuck at 'end user'.)
Now, at least I finally have an accurate grasp of the BT concept; now, I've finally got it through my head why no files can be played before download completes unlike in other file-sharing programs like Kazaa (Bittorrent downloads files in discontinuous pieces depending on availability, so a 40%-complete download isn't the same as the first 40% of the file, but 40% of total data
scattered throughout the file.)
Best of all, Azureus has more features and hence allows for greater user control than the standard BT client. For instance, I can configure the TCP port to get around the problem of ISPs or tracker sites blocking/banning the most heavily used BT ports. Or I can prioritise files in a single download comprising multiple files (eg: TV episodes in a single-season download) so that I don't have to wait until all 8.58GB have been downloaded to start watching the first episode. Stuff like that.
Finally, when I'm feeling bored I can watch the statistics charts and the various download progress bars, which show details like the IP addresses of the people you are downloading from, their clients, pieces currently being downloaded and their availability etc.
Of course, Bittorrent at the moment is under siege by MPAA and most of the torrent sites and trackers (that I know of, anyway) are defunct, so unless you are downloading unlicensed fansubbed anime, Bittorrent just isn't the treasure trove of digital plunder it used to be.
words were spilled on Monday, April 25, 2005
