From Wendy Boswell,
Your Guide to Web Search.
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This article about BitTorrent search engine Isohunt is in three parts:

• What are BitTorrents?
• Isohunt BitTorrent Search? Download a BitTorrent Client First
• Use Isohunt To Find The Best BitTorrents

What are BitTorrents?

Probably one of the best explanations of how downloading BitTorrent files actually works comes from Net for Beginners guide Paul Gil:

"BitTorrent networking is the latest form of Internet P2P (peer-to-peer) file sharing. BitTorrent works by simultaneously downloading small bits of files from many web sources. BitTorrent downloading is extremely easy to use, and is completely non-profit and free of user subscription fees." (from Bit Torrents 101)

There's a LOT more to this explanation, but suffice it to say that users can use Isohunt.com to find and download any kind of file - movies, videos, music, etc. - and it's all free.

How do BitTorrents work?

Here's even more information from Slyck's Guide to Bit Torrent: "BitTorrent is a P2P system that makes transfering large files (or groups of files) amongst a large group of people easy, fast and efficient. The BitTorrent network is set up in a way that is a little different than a normal P2P network. With this network, you really don't do any searching for files that the other users have using the client as you would with traditional clients like Kazaa. Rather, you go to websites that have lists of recently released files."

Sharing BitTorrent Files

One more thing you need to know about BitTorrent peer to peer networks: they are based on the "share and share alike" credo. As more people share files (or "seed"), the download time steadily decreases. Less people sharing files (this would be known as "leeching" or "leeches"), the slower the download time. More from Paul Gil about file sharing:

"If you share files on BitTorrent, you will be rewarded with increased download speed. Conversely, if you choose to "leech" and not share your files, you will be punished with slow Torrent download speeds. Download speed is controlled by Torrent tracking servers, who monitor all swarm users. If you share, tracker servers will reward you by increasing your alotted swarm bandwidth (sometimes up to 1500 kilobits per second). Similarly, if you leech and limit your upload sharing, tracking servers will choke your download speeds, sometimes to as slow as 1 kilobit per second. Indeed, the "Pay It Forward" philosophy is digitally enforced! Leeches are not welcome in a BitTorrent swarm."

Official Legal Disclaimer for BitTorrent Files

You need to know that while searching for BitTorrents and P2P sharing technology is legal, that many of the files that you will come across in Isohunt and other BitTorrent search engines are actually copyrighted. Copyright law in the United States and other countries (excluding Canada) puts these BitTorrent files and downloading these BitTorrent files at risk for legal action, including lawsuits. Again, according to Paul Gil:

"Your Internet Service Provider may, at their discretion, release their logs of your downloading activity to potential copyright plaintiffs. The more megabytes you download, the more you risk being sued by the MPAA, RIAA, and other pro-artist groups." -Bit Torrents Explained. Now that we've got all the legal stuff clearly outlined, let's go on to how to use Isohunt, a BitTorrent search engine, and how to find Bit Torrent clients.

Find BitTorrent Clients

Isohunt-A BitTorrent Search Engine