Since the days of Napster, there's been a world of music available on the internet, and it's easier to download than ever. BitTorrent is currently a very popular way of downloading the latest and greatest sounds - and despite what the RIAA might tell you, some of the music available via BitTorrent is even legal. Here's a quick guide to get you started in the world of downloading music via BitTorrent.
What's that, I hear you ask? Simply put, you need a program installed to help you download the music you want. You can use the official BitTorrent client, but those of us in the know use something along the lines of uTorrent. There are a multitude of options, but they all do the same thing - they organise and help coordinate the files you download.
Once you've downloaded a client - I use uTorrent, and I'll be using it for this tutorial - install it with the included installer, and once you're done, run the program. (If it asks you to associate .torrent files with the application ,select 'yes' to make your life easier). Once the program's running it should look something like this:
Don't worry about the multitude of options and statistics presented before you. You're now ready to start downloading!
If you want to start downloading something, you must first find what you're after - and there are thousands of sites out there that can help. Some of the more popular ones include The Pirate Bay, TorrentSpy and Mininova. There are many, many others - but that should be enough to get you started.
In this example, I'm searching for 'Avril Lavigne' on Mininova - just type in what you're after and click 'search'. The top result - 'The Best Damn Thing' is her latest album - so let's download it!
Click the Green 'download' arrow (or whatever the download link is on the particular site is you're using), and your browser should start to download a file with the '.torrent' extension - this file contains the information your BitTorrent client (in our case, uTorrent) needs to download the actual album data itself.
If you have set up uTorrent to automatically handle .torrent files, it should load the .torrent file automatically - otherwise, save the .torrent file somewhere and use the 'Add Torrent' option in the 'File' menu of uTorrent. Either way, once you've opened the .torrent file you'll see a window like this:
Simply click 'OK' and the .torrent will be added into your list of things to download.
Yep, now you have to wait. There are many, many factors that can affect exactly how long your download will take - but you don't have to wait for the first to download before you can add more torrents, so you can go ahead and search for more things to download.
Not every torrent will work - the download is dependent on the data being available amongst other BitTorrent users, so some torrents will simply refuse to work - others may work, then subsequently stop.
With a spot of luck, though, you should start to see some movement - it may be slower at first - but eventually, the music you selected will make its way to you, piece by piece.
If the download counter reaches 100%, then congratulations! You've completed the download successfully. You can locate the files you downloaded quickly in uTorrent by right clicking on the file and selecting 'Open Containing Folder'. This will take you quickly to the files in question, where you can play, copy or delete the files as you please.
Caveat downloader: If you download copyrighted material via BitTorrent, then there's a very good chance (depending on local laws) that you've infringed copyright by downloading such files. Just so you know...
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