I'm afraid to do anything with torrents.

[martha]

I want to download my own bootlegs, but I'm afraid to download a "bit torrent (?)" client.

I don't really even know what the hell I'm talking about. The guy at my AppleCare appointment told me what he could, but I still have no freaking idea what to do.

I need one of you to fly out here, sit at my computer, hold my hand, and help me through it.

 

[onebloodonelife]

So, you're on a Mac? I am as well and I use BitTorrent for Mac OS X. Then, once that Application is downloaded, all you have to do is search a torrent site, like mininova.org, or put (blah blah blah) torrent into Google and lots of torrents will pop up. Click on the link, then at the top of the torrent page, there will be a link (blah blah blah) . torrent, click on that, Mac will ask you what to open the file with, choose BitTorrent from your Applications, it should open itself up, and start downloading.

It's so much quicker than regular downloading, especially for lossless bootlegs. If you have any more questions, send me a PM

Link to BitTorrent: http://www.bittorrent.com/download.html

 

[Vincent Vega]

If you paid my flight, I would love to come to Southern California

It's really very easy to set up Bit Torrent.
It doesn't matter which torrent client you use, everyone is also compatible with Mac. Just download the Mac version on the site, like bittorrent.com, or www.utorrent.com, or whatever.
Everything gets described in the setup so you can't really do anything wrong.

 

[neutral]

I use Tomato and Transmission, both very simple and work great. There's really nothing to the setup if you don't have a router or firewall there.

Doooo it. There's so much good stuff on dimeadozen.org, I just searched for Bruce torrents and got over 200 results. *tempt*

 

[martha]

These are all helpful suggestions. You guys are so great.

When I get home, I'll try to do it. I did have the foresight to register at dime.

 

[Vincent Vega]

No tickets for me

 

[martha]

There's really nothing to the setup if you don't have a router or firewall there.

Is my wireless transmitter router a router?

 

[UberBeaver]

I have a wireless router, I have no trouble with torrents.

 

[martha]

Ok. I downloaded Transmission. Now do I just go to diameadozen and pick out what I want?

 

[bridgit]

Ok. I downloaded Transmission. Now do I just go to diameadozen and pick out what I want?

demonoid.com registrations are open today.

 

[martha]

Well?

 

[onebloodonelife]

Go to dimeadozen.com and search for whatever you want. Then, click on it. And, at the top of the page will be (blah blah blah). torrent, click on that. Your torrent program should open it by itself and start downloading. If it doesn't, open it up yourself, then go to File-->Open, and choose the torrent file that you just downloaded from dimeadozen. To keep it easy for myself, I usually save the torrent file to the desktop.

 

[martha]

Thanks. I'm downloading a Pelican show now. I figured I'd start with that because it was a small file. It says it's FLAC; does that matter?

I want to burn these and then take them off my comp because they take up a lot of space, right?

 

[martha]

So to reach a 1.0 ratio for any given torrent, you have to stay on it for a long time after your own download completes, come back to it later, or do both, and seed to the people downloading it after you. If it is an old torrent and you're one of the last people on it, you may never reach 1.0 or even .25 on that particular torrent, so you have to make up for that by doing even better on other torrents.

What the hell does this mean?

 

[Vincent Vega]

As long as you are downloading, you are a so called leecher.

When the download finishes you are a seeder. Since bittorrent is peer to peer you are not only downloading from other people, but also sending to other people.
The amount you downloaded divided by the amount you uploaded is your share ratio. As long as you downloaded more than you uploaded the ratio will be smaller than 1, once your amount uploaded is higher than the amount downloaded your ratio is greater than one.

So after you are finished with downloading you have to keep the file in the torrent for a while so that another person has the chance to finish his/her download as well.

If there are no other leechers you won't reach a ratio of 1 at that specific torrent, so you will to upload a bit more of another file to reach a ratio of one.

Flac only means that you either need a plugin for your music playing software to play that file (if it's not already installed) or you will need a plugin for the burning software you use so that it could change the files into another format and then burn it.

 

[martha]

So after you are finished with downloading you have to keep the file in the torrent for a while so that another person has the chance to finish his/her download as well.

I have no idea what this means.

 

[martha]

Flac only means that you either need a plugin for your music playing software to play that file (if it's not already installed) or you will need a plugin for the burning software you use so that it could change the files into another format and then burn it.

So I can't play it at all until I download something else?

 

[martha]

so you will to upload a bit more of another file to reach a ratio of one.

And if I have nothing to upload?

I'm starting to wonder if this is really worth the hassle.

 

[martha]

Ok. I downloaded xACT and tried to open it to listen to what I just spent 3 hours donwloading. What the fuck do I click on to actually hear this thing?

 

[indra]

And if I have nothing to upload?

I'm starting to wonder if this is really worth the hassle.

yep. This and the fact that I am "not very technical" (ie., utterly incompetent) is what keeps me pleading with people to burn me cds of the shows I want. I saw this thread and thought "wow! Maybe I can figure this stuff out!" But my eyes are crossing and I have a headache and I'm still utterly clueless.

 

[Vincent Vega]

You are actually uploading the file that you are downloading. So it's taking and giving.

You are downloading this file from another person that has already download it or at least part of it. So he is uploading. At the same time you are uploading this file again to another one's computer. The more people who are leeching (downloading and uploading) or seeding (only uploading because they'Re finished with downloading), the faster it goes.

Hope it's not too confusing. Basically, you download this file, and at the same time you upload the very same file.

After your download is complete you can watch or listen to it, or use it otherwise. But as long as you want to go on uploading it for other people you can't change the file's name or the place it got downloaded to. Otherwise your torrent program can't find it anymore, and hence not upload it anymore.

What is the format of the xACT thing? If it's the flac file your media player has to be able to play flac files. I.e. it needs a plugin.

 

[Vincent Vega]

Picture

Here a short description of a torrent.

Oh, it should be up upload/download.

 

[martha]

Basically, you download this file, and at the same time you upload the very same file.

So as long as I don't quit Transmission, or put my computer to sleep, someone can download from my computer?

 

[martha]

And there's no way to even play the Pelican I downloaded without another plugin?





I think I'm done.

 

[Vincent Vega]

Yes, the torrent program has to run, then another one can download the file from you.

But don't be afraid, other people only can download what you have in your torrent, nothing else.

You can download flac here http://cyberial.com/flacinstaller.asp

Just follow the install routine and you should be able to play it.

 

[onebloodonelife]

And there's no way to even play the Pelican I downloaded without another plugin?





I think I'm done.

Or, I have a program called MacFLAC on my MacBook that converts songs from FLAC to WAV, which can be burnt to a CD and listened to on a stereo...I'll try to find a link for it.


EDIT: Found it: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/15883

It's free, very easy to use...all you do is drag and drop the songs you want to convert into the window, then on the right side of the program, click WAV under output format and click Decode...you'll have WAV songs in no time.