Technology to download music, videos etc..

I have not downloaded videos and music for a couple of years. I used BitComet to dl torrents. So what has changed? Is this the technology people prefer today or something else? What is Usenet and the software UseNeXT and how does it work?

I would be happy for any advice.

 

Torrents are still used, so nothings changed there.

Read here for Usenet.

 

Thanks

Does someone use this Usenet/UseNeXT? Is it really faster?

I tried uTorrent. Ok but slow. I find this speed-up guide a bit complicated:

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/335210

When I used BitComet a couple of years ago I followed a similar guide but I think it was easier. I liked BitComet but it often crash when downloading 3-4 torrents or more at the same time.

@ any member here: which torrent client do you use? And are there easy steps to speed it up?

 

Hi tepe2,
You might want to see if your ISP blocks or throttles P2P or torrent traffic. I doubt if the ISP would give you an honest answer so you may have to search around a bit.

 

Hello.

1. Since SP2 for XP, there is by default an imposed limit on concurrent half-open connections (TCP SYN) of 10 maximum. With P2P (torrents) you are running a server-type application listening on a port for as much as possible connection attempts, so this limit is not something you want. This goes for Vista as well, Microsoft have not changed this attempt to "harden" the TCP/IP stack.
2. Most home users are behind gateways/routers now, so port-forwarding is needed (involving fixing LAN IP, disabling DHCP). It is essential for server applications.
3. Internet is generally faster, so more connections, more resources, heavier load on all fronts than a few years ago.

Whenever I have a choice, I prefer C over other platforms. So I still use BitComet (it is 0.99 now) - on XP. But it has no IPv6 support and I have noticed uTorrent works better on Vista.

Here's a useful wiki comparison of torrent clients.

It depends on what you consider to be "easy". The guide you linked has very good advices, but no setup is the same so if you have any specific questions regarding this guide please post them here along with a bit more info on your setup.

Cheers,

 

Thank you guys for sharing this info Will do some testing and see what I end up with.

 

This only affects incomplete connections, the rate at which you can make connections, just takes longer for connections to get established but download rates should not be affected significantly, especially as most P2P software has built in settings to avoid trigger warnings generated by the imposed limits.

I do believe there are registry tweaks to increase the number of half open connections.

Yes.
I find the issue with my internet connection is the ISP latency with trying to handle so many connections, to the point where to reach maximum download speed I have to reduce my upload by about 50%.