“How to download, via Bit-torrent” * First and foremost, you need a high-speed connection (DSL or cablemodem) * Secondly, in order to optimize your downloads and uploads, you will need to make sure that your „ports‟ are forwarded correctly. This is only do-able if you have access to your router or your firewall. The bit-torrents can still work without port-forwarding, but they won‟t work as well. I‟ll return to this later in the tutorial. * Download the following programs (they are all safe, and easily remove-able) 1. Bit-torrent Client – (http://www.bittornado.com/) get the „stable‟ version 2. FLAC Front-end – (http://mikewren.com/page.php?2) get the most recent version * Download both of these programs to your desktop * Once you have them on your computer, open the program setup (i.e. double-click) * Click through the install by choosing the defaults Now you will want to determine your IP address. This can be easily done, by accessing your MS-Dos Prompt, or in layman‟s terms… (Start Menu > Run > Type “cmd” > Type “ipconfig”) Typically it looks like this (192.168.1.2) or (192.168.1.1), although your IP may be different. Make a note of this address and keep it for future reference. Now I am going to help you port-forward, so that you can optimize your bit-torrent sharing and downloading. This is not always possible, if you are at work, use a university connection, or have limited connectivity. That being said, it is very important to try and see if you can port-forward, because you will notice much higher download/upload speeds. So do you have a wireless router or a firewall? Hopefully you at least have a firewall, but if you also have a wireless router, follow this link to the directions on how to port-forward: http://www.portforward.com/routers.htm This is also a great website, as it displays your IP address so you can skip a step in the future, just an FYI. Find you router model number and manufacturer and follow the applicable directions. Most bit-torrent programs, suggest opening up ports 68816889. If you have gotten this far, you are only minutes away from being done with setup. Here is a list of bit-torrent websites that have a lot of great, free, music. Note: almost all of these are membership based, but that only involves an email address and a login name/password. They do not spam the list or anything bad, just a part of the process:
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bt.etree.org www.digitalpanic.org www.dimeadozen.org www.tradersden.org www.piratesbay.org
Navigate to one of these sites and find a show that you are interested it. Once you get to the page that contains all the details about the show, look for a .torrent file to download to your “My Music” folder. I have found it very easy to manage the .torrent files, by creating a folder called bit-torrents and keeping them in one place together. Once you have downloaded the .torrent, you will want to open it up (double-click) and wait for the process to begin. The next step (automatic) will be to specify where you‟d like this show to be downloaded to, on your computer. Most folks choose the “My Music” folder and organize from there. One really important thing to note, once you have chosen a location, do not move or alter the files in any way until the download is complete. The client needs to remain open, although you can minimize it to get it „out of the way‟. Download times vary from torrent to torrent and connection to connection. It is typical for a show to be complete in about 12 hours. If you have a really fast connection it could complete in less than 12 hrs, and the converse is also true. I like to start my torrent before I go to work or before I go to sleep. One of the more important caveats is to keep your window open for as long as you possible can afford to, this is called Sharing. The whole idea of using bit-torrent is that you are utilizing all the available bandwidth and by keeping your window open you can help other people download the show as well. The more seeds, the faster the download. The more leechers, the slower it will take, as everyone is competing for the same bandwidth. Once this download is complete, you will have a folder in “My Music” which contains FLAC files. FLAC files are compressed WAV files, which can be uncompressed without loosing any quality, i.e. loss-less trading! Now you will want to open the FLAC Front-end, and drag the FLAC files into the program‟s „white-window‟. Then you simply choose decode and you are almost done. Once that process completes, you can burn WAV CDs to your heart‟s content. Remember do not select, „delete input files‟; otherwise you will not be able to share your file-set with other.