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Welcome to this special deep dive crafted just for you, the learner ever,

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uh, ever started downloading something and it just seems to take forever.

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Oh yeah. Happens all the time. Well, today we're going to unpack a, well,

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a pretty clever solution to that problem. Bit torrent.

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We've gathered some info from the folks behind Bit torrent,

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which is a really popular tool for this.

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We looked at their GitHub page and their official website. Right. Good sources.

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So we'll explore what this whole Bit torrent thing is actually about and you know,

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why it could be a real game changer for finding, getting the information you need.

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And Hey, a big thank you to our supporter, safe server. Absolutely.

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They handle the hosting for this software and they're there to support you with

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your digital transformation.

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You can find out more at www.safeserver.de.

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Good people over there. So Bit torrent and Bit torrent.

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What's the actual deal? Let's, uh, let's find out. Okay.

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So our sources kick things off by calling Bit torrent, a Bit torrent client.

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Let's maybe break that down a bit for sure. A client.

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It's basically just an app, right?

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Like on your computer or phone that lets you use a service. Exactly. Yeah.

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And the service in this case is Bit torrent itself and Bit torrent.

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Well, it's a method for sharing files online, but in a really,

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um, smart way,

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instead of pulling one huge file from one single server like you normally might.

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Right. The usual way. Yeah.

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Bit torrent chops the file up into lots and lots of tiny pieces.

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And then your computer using the client downloads those little pieces from,

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well, potentially lots of different people who also have parts of that same

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file. Ah, okay. So it's kind of like, like building with Legos,

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maybe instead of one person handing you all the bricks one by one,

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a whole bunch of your friends each give you a few bricks at the same time.

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That's a great analogy. Yeah. Exactly. Like that.

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That sounds much quicker than just waiting in one long queue. Yeah.

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And our sources do say the torrent aims to be, you know,

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a really good alternative to other similar tools. Precisely.

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And that sharing approach, it spreads the workload.

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That's why downloads can often be faster. Makes sense. Plus it adds resilience.

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If one person sharing a piece, one peer goes offline. Well,

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there are probably many others who have that same piece.

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So the download doesn't just stop. Right. It can keep going. Okay.

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Now, what about BitTorrent specifically? The sources mentioned,

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it's built using C plus plus R. Yup. C plus plus R.

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And it uses something called the QT toolkit and the LibTorrent raster bar

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library. Okay. So for anyone listening, who's technically curious,

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those are basically the, uh, the building blocks,

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the code and tools that make the app work and look the way it does.

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That's right. They handle the underlying BitTorrent stuff and the user interface,

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the buttons and menus you see.

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And what seems really interesting is that BitTorrent tries to work the same way

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pretty much everywhere, right? Windows, Linux, Mac OS,

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even FreeBSD and OS too, according to the sources. Yeah. Yeah.

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That cross-platform compatibility is a, uh, a pretty big goal for them.

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You get a consistent experience. Yeah, that's handy.

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The official website also flags a key aim being an open source alternative to

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another well-known client Torrent open source.

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That means it's free to use usually. And the code,

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the actual programming behind it is public. Exactly.

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Anyone can look at it, check it for issues, even suggest improvements,

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or modify it if they want to. So beyond just being free,

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what's the benefit of that for someone, you know, just wanting to download stuff?

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Well, a couple of things that openness often builds a strong community.

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People volunteer their time to help develop it, find bugs, translate it.

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You can see that on their GitHub page actually shows a lot of activity,

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thousands of stars and forks,

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which basically means lots of people are using it and contributing back, right?

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A sign of a healthy project.

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And it also means transparency.

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You have a much better idea of what the software is actually doing on your

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computer, which some people really value.

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Yeah, definitely. And one thing that might grab your attention,

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the learner is the feature list sources mentioned a polished torrent like user

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interface.

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So it sounds like it's designed to be pretty straightforward to use seems that

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way. Yeah. Familiar for people who might've used torrent before.

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And crucially, it also says no ads. Always a big plus. Always good.

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No annoying pop-ups or banners, but it's not just basic.

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BitTorrent actually packs in some quite powerful features too. Like, um,

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it has an integrated search engine. Oh, inside the app itself. Yeah.

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You can search for torrents on various different tracker sites without having to

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open your web browser separately. Okay. That's handy.

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And you can even filter by category like, you know,

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search specifically for books or music or software helps narrow things down.

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That sounds incredibly useful for finding specific information or files.

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The sources also talk about RSS feed support with advanced filters.

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Yeah, that's quite neat.

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You can subscribe to feeds maybe from sites that release content regularly and

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set up rules. Like automated downloads. Exactly.

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Like automatically download any new release that matches these keywords.

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It can save a lot of manual checking. Okay. That's getting pretty advanced.

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And there's more for people who like control.

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It supports loads of standard BitTorrent extensions. Things like magnet links.

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Ah, yeah, I've seen those. They look like long strings of text.

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That's them. They're just a simpler way to kick off a download without needing a

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separate small dot torrent file first. They contain all the info needed.

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Right. And it supports things like DHT, PICS and LSD,

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which are basically different ways for the client to find more peers,

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more people sharing the file, even without a central tracker.

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So more ways to find the pieces you need. Exactly.

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Plus support for private torrents if you're using specific communities and

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encrypted connections for a bit more privacy.

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It sounds pretty comprehensive.

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It even mentions remote control through a web interface.

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So you could manage downloads even if you're not at that computer. Yeah.

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You can set that up,

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log in through a browser from another device and check progress, add new torrents,

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that kind of thing. Wow. And sequential downloading. What's that?

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That means you can tell it to download the pieces of a file in order from

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beginning to end.

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So you could maybe start watching a video file before the whole thing is finished

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downloading.

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Precisely. Good for previewing content.

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And then there's really granular control over the torrents themselves,

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prioritizing certain downloads,

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telling it which files within a torrent you actually want managing trackers and

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peers.

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So you can really fine tune things. Absolutely.

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Features like bandwidth scheduling, like only download a full speed during the

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night, a tool to create your own torrents to share files,

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IP filtering to block certain connections. For security perhaps. Yeah.

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Could be for security or blocking peers you don't want to connect to and support

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for newer things like IPv6 and UPMP or NAT PMP to help it configure your network

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connection automatically. It's a very full feature set.

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And available in what? 70 languages?

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Around that. Yeah. Shows it has a really wide global user base.

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Okay. So let's try and wrap this up for you. The learner.

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BitTorrent itself is this clever peer to peer way to share files,

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breaks them into pieces,

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grabs them from lots of people makes things faster, more reliable.

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That's the core idea.

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And BitTorrent is a specific tool and application that lets you use that BitTorrent

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system. And it's free. It's open source, no ads. Right.

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And packed with a whole load of features from basic use to really advanced

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controls. And it works on pretty much any computer you might have.

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A really solid option in the space, it seems.

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We certainly hope this deep dive has clarified things a bit about BitTorrent

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and the whole BitTorrent world.

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It's definitely a powerful way to get and share information.

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It really is. And BitTorrent looks like a robust, feature rich way to do it,

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if that's something you're looking into.

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Indeed. And maybe something to think about as you continue your learning

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journey. How do these decentralized systems like BitTorrent actually

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change how information gets distributed and accessed?

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What are the sort of possibilities or even the challenges that come with

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this kind of peer to peer approach, moving away from central servers

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for everything?

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That's a really interesting question to ponder.

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Definitely food for thought.

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Okay. Well, thanks again to Safe Server for supporting this deep dive

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and helping you with your digital transformation.

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Yep. Thanks, Safe Server.

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You can find out more about them at www.safeserver.de.