Downloading Music, Movies and Other Files with uTorrent

I hardly ever watch TV anymore.  The commercials drive me crazy and it seems like every year television channels have more and more commercials. Furthermore, if there is a show I really like, I have to plan my life around it because it starts at a specific time.  That is why I use uTorrent along with a couple of torrent search web sites to get my TV, Movies and Music.  If I have to download a large file such as a Linux operating system, I will use uTorrent if I can because it’s faster and I have more control over how the file is downloaded.

There are many file sharing applications and different ways to download media but I have found uTorrent to be the best.  uTorrent is small, doesn’t take up much of your system’s resources, customizable and doesn’t contain any malware (viruses).

Using uTorrent is just a little more complicated than other file sharing programs but once you get the hang of it, it’s very easy.  The first thing you need to understand is that uTorrent does not find the files you want to download; it is just a tool to perform and manage downloads.

Once you have installed uTorrent, then you must go to a torrent search site to find the files (torrent) that you want to download.  My two favorites are ISOhunt and The Pirate Bay.  Both sites are easy to use.

One other thing you need to understand is that torrents are downloaded from other users like yourself and not the sites you find them from. Equally, when you are downloading a torrent, you send the bits you already have to other users and after it’s completed, you send it to others until you tell uTorrent not to.  When you search for torrents, the results will show the number of seeders (people who have the complete torrent and are sending it) and leachers (people who are downloading and uploading the torrent at the same time).  If the number of seeders and leachers combined is below 5, you may not be able to get the full torrent.  The more seeders and leachers that are sharing the torrent, the faster you will be able to download it.  The most important point here is that you want to avoid torrents with less than 5 seeders and leachers if there are other results with greater numbers.

How to Watch the Video Files You have Downloaded

There are many different formats of video files.  Most that you download won’t work in your regular media players.  The best way to view these files (movies) is with VLC media player.  It is free and easy to use and contains the decoding formulas to view most video files.  VLC is free, safe and open source.

Files to Avoid

There are a lot of fake torrents, malware (viruses) and poor quality torrents out there.  The first way to avoid this is to look at comments on a torrent when you search for it.  Usually for video files, you will want the file name to end in .avi.  There are also a lot of movies that have been recorded by a camcorder in the theater resulting in poor quality.  Learning which torrents are best is a bit of an art and something you will learn over time.  If you are at all unsure about any torrent, right click on it after you have downloaded it and select “scan” with your anti malware software.

Bandwidth

If you don’t limit your bandwidth while you are downloading with uTorrent, web browsing and other internet applications will be slow.  To limit the amount of bandwidth uTorrent uses, simply right click on the icon in the notification menu and select “download limit” and choose a speed.  You may also adjust bandwidth in the preferences section.  You may also create schedule which allows for faster downloading at times when you don’t use your computer.

Legality:

Downloading copyright Material is Illegal in most jurisdictions. There are some exceptions. It’s not illegal to download music in Canada.  It is up to you to decide which side of the law or how you feel about the morality of downloading. “Laws control the weak. Honesty controls the strong” – Paulo Coelho.