P2P Clients: µTorrent has Larger Install Base than Azureus

It would seem that the popular BitTorrent client µTorrent is gaining ground on the Java-based client Azureus with a 6% lead compared to Azureus/Vuze’s 2% install base. TorrenFreak (disclaimer: I read this) had the results with the following breakdown:

1. uTorrent - 5.56%

2. BitTorrent (official client) - 2.28%

3. Azureus - 2.11%

3. Bitcomet - 1.89%

4. Bitlord - 1.27%

I tend to use Azureus myself as it runs on both Windows and Linux platforms and it’s open-source

[Via ZeroPaid/TorrentFreak]

Study: uTorrent More Popular than Azureus

New Blog System from TPB: Baywords

The Pirate Bay has announced their new project: Baywords

From their site:

We’re proud to present a new service - baywords.com. Because
of the need of freedom of speech and secure hosting facility of the
words being said we could not agree to how people behave towards
bloggers.

Many blogs are being shut down for uncomfortable thoughts and ideas.
We will not do that. Our goal is to protect freedom of speech and your
thoughts. As long as you don’t break any Swedish laws in your
blog, we will defend it.

Baywords

ImageShack Unveils BitTorrent Download Service

Image hosting company ImageShack, a company in the same vein as PhotoBucket has unveiled its own BitTorrent download service where users will load the torrent, ImageShack downloads it, then you can download the file via HTTP. There is a monthly quota of 15GB and storage is also limited to 15GB. As stated:

For those people who are concerned about the anonymity of the service
(or think it’s a honeypot), Levin said: “We will not look
at what you download and simply provide you, an account, with bandwidth
and space. What you do with it is up to you. The DMCA applies, so, if
we get reports from copyright owners to take down content, we will
comply.”

There are some minor issues regarding sharing after the torrent has downloaded which, if you’re looking for a good ratio could become a potential problem.

Overall, its great to see more and more companies using BitTorrent as a distribution platform and with more like MYKA and BitLet.

[Via Torrent Freak, image also from TorrentFreak]

ImageShack Starts Free BitTorrent Download Service | TorrentFreak

MYKA - BitTorrent and TV

First in the online world you had Democracy Player/Miro for watching video off line/online/downloading through BitTorrent. Now for the connected generation there’s Myka for watching content on your TV. To quote their front page:

This is the Internet as it was meant to be experienced - without borders and open to any kind of content for consumers and any kind of innovation for developers.

That translates into choices.

Which is exactly what the Internet as it should be - no walled gardens, no restrictions - just free and open.

The device comes in a variety of 80, 160 and 500 Gigabyte models and can connect through LAN/WiFi. Its also built on the Linux platform which makes it even better.

(via TorrentFreak)

Myka

CBC Embracing BitTorrent

Professor Michael Geist on the use of BitTorrent by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to distribute the show ‘Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister‘.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Embracing the torrent of online video

HDTV Series for the Price of an iPhone on BitTorrent

Finally!!! The TV studios are getting the idea! After writing about it back in January, the NRK’s - Norwegian broadcaster - project has been a HUGE success in Norway with a population of 4.5 million - they have had 80,000 downloads of their TV series “Nordkalotten 365″ was put online in Hi-Def (MPEG-4) episodes and distributed via the P2P BitTorrent protocol.

As reported on the Miro (GetDemocracy player) blog:

“The initiative has been a huge success on every front —
viewers love the super high-resolution picture and most people have
reported incredibly short download times (given the file sizes).
Furthermore, viewers have been downloading the episodes en-masse
(around 80,000 times in the past 3 weeks). To top it all off, NRK
hasn’t broken the bank to deliver the goods; in fact, they
haven’t even broken a sweat.

To-date, NRK has paid a total of $350 for storage and delivery of
the entire series. This information was disclosed to me by project
manager Eirik Solheim; he also estimated that the bandwidth bill would
have been roughly $8,000, had NRK chosen a more traditional delivery
method.”

Hmm, if only there was a media client that could handle BitTorrent, media playback and RSS. Oh wait! There is! Miro.

Slowly but surely, the TV studios are getting the idea that P2P helps them as well as the users in the end. The studios save money by offsetting the distribution costs and the users help spread the content. It’s a win-win situation!

Miro itself is based on the open-source Mozilla/XULRunner framework and it’s development carried out the Participatory Culture Foundation who the Mozilla Corporation has a member in John Lilly, CEO of Mozilla Corporation.

Miro - Internet TV Blog » Blog Archive » HD TV Series Mass Distributed for Price of an iPhone

AllPeers Shutting Down

It is sad to announce that AllPeers - the BitTorrent P2P social tool - will be shutting down from today. The amount of growth they had is not what their investors were expecting. As a result of this, they’ll be shutting down the service.

It will be sad to see them go, AllPeers was one of the best tools for using P2P (BitTorrent) in Mozilla Firefox. Over the past few years, the service was great and the people more than just a simple community working on an open-source project.

Matt and Cedric will still be around with the Just Browsing blog with it’s focus on web browsers, new media and the like.

You will be missed AllPeers, the time was great.

Peer Pressure » AllPeers Service Shutting Down Today

NIN: The Right Idea

Instead of suing your fans for doing in the online world what they’ve been doing in the offline world for years, the music - and by extension, the entertainment - industries should be embracing P2P instead of extorting fans and (ab)using the legal system against them.

Those of you who remember NIN - Nine Inch Nails - will recall the band going independent much like Radiohead. As such, they’ve uploaded the first in a series of 4 LP’s ‘Ghosts 1′ to a selection of various BitTorrent sites. The release is under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial license and as such is unbarred from being shared.

The official collection (vol 1 - 4) is available from the bands website for only $5 on all formats including FLAC. For $5? Bargain!

The band said:

“Now that we’re no longer constrained by a record label,
we’ve decided to personally upload Ghosts I, the first of the
four volumes, to various torrent sites, because we believe BitTorrent
is a revolutionary digital distribution method, and we believe in
finding ways to utilize new technologies instead of fighting
them.

Ghosts I is the first part of the 36 track collection Ghosts
I-IV. Undoubtedly you’ll be able to find the complete collection
on the same torrent network you found this file”. They further
write in the release notes “But if you’re interested in the
release, we encourage you to check it out at ghosts.nin.com, where the
complete Ghosts I-IV is available directly from us in a variety of
DRM-free digital formats, including FLAC lossless, for only $5.”

[Via TorrentFreak]

Nine Inch Nails Uploads New Album on Torrent Sites | TorrentFreak

TPB: Blocked in Denmark

TPB has been blocked in Denmark in what appears to be the recording (and by extension, the entertainment) industry’s unending practices in stupidity, greed and proving to the world once and for all that they are the dinosaur relic they appear to be and not the progressive, dynamic entity they purport to be. Oh well, we all know what happens to dinosaurs?

Sebastian Gjerding quoted in the pro-P2P blog TorrentFreak (disclaimer: of which I am a proud reader and supporter) as the spokesperson of Piratgruppen a Danish pro-piracy group whose goal is to reform copyright law and protect consumer rights said:

“The verdict is absurd. It will block access for danish users to the worlds largest distributor of culture and knowledge - copyrighted or not. It’s true that you can access copyrighted material through The Pirate Bay, as you can with Google or Rapidshare. Should they be blocked as well?”

Which can be confirmed as both true and correct for anyone with a hour to kill but will the IFPI go for them? No, they would be given the biggest royal rogering of their lives, and rightly so. So good for Google/RapidShare in that respect. Gjerding went onto say:

“It’s very frightening that IFPI can get through the courts with something like this. In Turkey and China its the state that decides what information the people can access and what should be censored. In Denmark its apparently the record industry,” Sebastian adds.

Irony really is a fickle mistress. In China you can be executed for speaking out against the Government and the family is forced to pay for the cost of of the bullet that the PRC will gladly place in your skull and censor the Internet (which it was NOT designed for) yet, here in a supposed democracy (read: damn near police state) a commercial entity is allowed to get away with that. Still a quick reminder for those slow on the uptake:

The Internet was designed for the FREE FLOW of ideas and information NOT censorship, any attempt to censor it should be automatically opposed and reviled.

And don’t try playing the terrorist card, we both know its a gateway excuse and completely phony. P2P is the next stage of Internet evolution and is here to stay. Period.

IFPI Forces Danish ISP to Block The Pirate Bay | TorrentFreak

Norwegian Broadcaster Puts Show Online: NO DRM!

via BoingBoing

Finally! The TV studios are starting to get the idea! The Norwegian broadcaster placed one of it’s shows online as a torrent WITHOUT DRM. As BoingBoing points out:

Eirikso sez, “NRK, the Norwegian state broadcaster, just made one oftheir most popular TV shows available for free through BitTorrent. Without any DRM or restrictions. Free for the planet to watch. Because this is a completely legal download people seems to seed it happily. Making the BitTorrent technology work exceptionally well, giving the audience very high download speeds.The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation will keep on with experiments like these and try to make more content available through this technology in addition to the more traditional channels of streaming, podcasts and DVD sales.”

Placing DRM on content does nothing but piss the consumer off. Using P2P will increase the audience base. The universal truth is:

Anything that can be seen or heard can be copied

Much like a bunch of other Nordic people are starting to change the face of the entertainment industry TPB?

Norwegian broadcaster puts popular show online as no-DRM torrent - Boing Boing