I don't remember why or how I ever picked up uTorrent, but that's the client I've always used. Thinking about torrenting just now, I realize I used to download torrents much more often than I do these days. I guess that's due to greater availability of video content on the streaming platforms and music on Spotify, etc.? What else do people use torrents for from a consumer perspective? Is there a wider everyday use case that I'm unaware of? Genuinely curious.
I use torrents heavily despite subscribing to 4 different streaming services because I live in Canada and we don't yet have Hulu or HBO Max. Plus I also like watching some older movies via 2160p bluray rips and torrents are just the easiest option to do so. That plus it has everything.
I use Transmission for torrents and then https://airflow.app/ to cast movies from my Macbook to my Firestick/Chromecast, which I find just as easy as using a streaming service.
When I a) can't find it on streaming and b) don't feel like waiting for torrent d/ls (even on fiber connection) I just use https://soap2day.id/ and mirror via Chromecast casting, which seems to have every movie/TV show ever. Quality is pretty good, usually 1080p or 720p.
Yeah, streaming has become such a mess. In the beginning, it felt liberating to cut the cord and the promise was, at least in theory, that you could get just what you wanted with a couple streaming services. But now you have to have 5 or 6 and when combined they are more than cable used to be! Even if those services are available where you live, you might not want to subscribe to yet another streaming service just to catch one episode or one show, especially since a many of the streaming services aren't exactly filled with tons of great content that justifies the permanent subscription.
I hadn't heard of Airflow, thanks for the link. Out of curiosity, if my TV is already AirPlay-enabled, what does Airflow do for me that I can't get by just clicking on my Mac to watch on that screen (although I often just end up connecting my Mac via HDMI because that seems more reliable, at least on my TV)?
I'm not sure re: airplay. I personally use a Firestick 4k Max, which I replaced my more custom Android TV box (w/ Plex) because it has a fast CPU and Wifi 6 and was <$50 (vs $75+ for a decent custom android box and >$100 for Apple TV).
Honestly I'm not even sure which protocol Airflow uses to connect with my Firestick + TV, I use an app (AirReceiver) which says "AirPlay, Chromecast, and DLNA" and it works every time so I don't really care :)
If you want quicker speeds, look into usenet. Have to pay for a decent news hosting and indexer, but after some tweaking you can download new releases so much quicker without worrying about vpns and ratios.
At this point I have Plex and Overseer hooked up to Prowlarr, Sonarr, Lidarr and Radarr, with Prowlarr connected to my nzb client and server (it was easy to cut over from transmission, using the secure ports to talk the news hosting and client accounts). Everything is spun up in docker using the linuxserverio images.
I might be mixing up some terms there, but that setup has made downloading content so much easier and quicker.
My current setup:
Plex (Media Content Manager, desktop, mobile, tv apps. Local and external) - https://www.plex.tv/
NZBGet (nzb download client, configure nzb newhosting site, Radarr, Sonarr, Lidarr point NZBGet to download content. I pay for one newshosting site and two separate indexers) - https://nzbget.net/
I don't think I've ever found torrent download speed a limiting problem. I've much more often had problems finding peers to enable downloading 100% of the file at all, because most of what I download is stuff that's old enough (in time since the torrent was created) that mostly the torrent isn't being actively seeded any more. How long do files generally "stick around" on Usenet?
In practice most servers offer over 2000 or 3000 days of retention (and growing). It used to be a problem many years ago because shortage wasn’t as cheap as now, but it feels like Usenet will also keep things forever now.
What's good these days? I used GigaNews back in the day. From memory, there was a content decrease as newsgroups were getting hit hard for take downs. I think I'm remembering this correctly.
is there something for books and audiobooks in particular?
i am hoping for a audible-like experience which can easily be created using booksonic and other servers but the retrieval part is the most troublesome imo.
Libgen has almost everything I need and when it doesn’t I can usually find it in #bookz on undernet. If all else fails, bookfinder.com usually knows about used copies. I don’t have the luxury of an English speaking public library where I live.
If you want audiobooks, nothing beats myanonamouse.net.
They're a semi-private tracker, registration is open, but you have to actually read the rules, go on IRC and answer a few rules-related questions. It takes a few hours, but it's definitely worth the effort IMO. The amount of content they have is pretty staggering, and I don't think I found a single unseeded torrent so far.
They also offer ebooks, but Anna's Archive and Libgen have a bigger selection of those.
Quite a few people I know use https://nzbs.in/login/ and swear by it. The admins of that site try to masquerade it as another WordPress site. Ingenious. But it is by far the biggest, and the best I am told.
I never torrent for ethical reasons, but I just jumped onto soap2day to check if they had something that I've been on the lookout for (Abacus: Small Enough to Jail) and they don't have it.
context for unaware: torrents are more general. for example, official releases of open source operating systems, such as debian [1], are available via torrents.
I simply prefer watching stuff via a video player of my choice (mpv). That way I can do stuff like frame-by-frame playback, and take screenshots / video clips with conveniently named files. Niche, I know, but I watch a lot of animation, and like to study and discuss how different artists approach and implement their scenes. So these are all essential features for me.
Also, some stuff I want to watch is not available legally anywhere in my territory.
Well, it can be used to transfer any large files amongst a bunch of people.
I like the protocol in theory. If n people want the same resource, it seems better if they get that in a sort of distributed way rather than all of them connecting to a central server to get that resource. Can be useful if you're on a slow network. I wonder if existing routers along the way make this efficient regardless.
Some Linux distros nudge you towards torrents to download its .iso file even if direct download methods are available. Xubuntu is one such distro [1].
Also, can anybody from Germany confirm if there's a ban on torrenting over there? I hear some governments/ISPs etc are starting to blanket-ban the entire protocol to prevent proliferation of pirated movies, which seems to be what the protocol is used for in practice.
By "consumer cloud storage" the GP commenter likely meant to refer to services like Dropbox, Mega, etc.; not to IaaS object storage (which would more appropriately be called "commercial cloud storage.")
Ah that makes sense! I occasionally use Wasabi to sling files around so that's where my mind was when I made the original comment.
I do feel like you do end up paying for storage if you're sharing anything significant in size, which is where torrents become more convenient imho if both parties know how to use a torrent client.
Oh for sure. I wasn't suggesting there's no need for torrents anymore. Like I said, I still torrent, just a lot less than I used to. And I was speculating that this is due, at least in part, to the increased availability of video content on streaming platforms. It used to be that the only way I could see a certain show or movie was by torrenting it.
Same situation as you. Used to be involved in the whole private tracker thing too. Was a mix of online services getting better, and me having more money.
I use torrents for full videos of porn, UFC, ebooks, professional tutorials, expensive software and for anything that isn’t available on Netflix since that’s the only subscription service I have.
Also subscription services don’t let you select the bitrate for streaming- this way I can make sure I watch the entire program in 4K.
