what exactly is a torrent?
how do they work?

It's simply a form of file sharing. 'Torrent' is just the catchy name like bling bling or snozz wanger.

The big difference between bit torrent and other peer to peer file sharing services is that you don't search the contents of other's machines directly. Instead, the way you connect to a file download is by downloading a torrent file from a central site (http://www.torrentspy.com is one that consolidates the contents of many other sites). This torrent file is then loaded up by your bit torrent client (http://www.utorrent.com is the best in my opinion). The client then connects to the torrent underway.

In this torrent there are 'seeders', which are people who have either uploaded the original torrent or are leechers who have completed the download, and there are 'leechers' people who are still downloading the file.

Supposedly, bit torrent is configured that the more you upload the more you can download, but I'm not so sure about that. However, many sites require that you register and if you don't keep a good upload/download ratio then you will be banned.

and if you don't keep a good upload/download ratio then you will be banned.
Witch sort of sucks if you live in belgium where you have to pay twice as much like in other countries and you only get 12 GB upload/download a month. Does such limits actually make sence?

what are the advantages of a torrent over a straight download?

It's cheap, easy and you can distribute a file with greater speeds than your own connection, and if one source goes down, there are likely to be a few others, so the download can continue.

BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P) communications protocol. BitTorrent is a method of distributing large amounts of data widely without the original distributor incurring the entire costs of hardware, hosting and bandwidth resources. Instead, when data is distributed using the BitTorrent protocol, each recipient supplies pieces of the data to newer recipients, reducing the cost and burden on any given individual source, providing redundancy against system problems, and reducing dependence on the original distributor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent

ah yes, i think i understand now.
torrents are basically for large files that have no server.

given the above i believe torrents would be best suited for sharing music CDs and computer games, maybe even public domain videos.

They are mostly used to share software, video and audio, yes. Anything that's big.

Don’t let the copyright pirates cloud the reason behind torrents and P2P networks. They are used because they make it difficult to track data movement, this gives pirate’s free access to software, music, movies and more without the fear of being reported to the copyright owners.

I don’t know of anyone that have used P2P’s for legitimate data sharing. Hands up if you have?

I do. My laptop shares lots of music from www.jamendo.com and also a few Linux distros from http://linuxtracker.org

It's actually quite easy to track torrent users, just join the download and see all the IPs..

I don’t know of anyone that have used P2P’s for legitimate data sharing. Hands up if you have?
I frequently see free software available to download by bit torrent, usualy from indy devellopers (hence why they are free, and I do mean legaly free.) Most indy's don't have a tonne of money they can spend on bandwidth, so P2P allows them to take some of the strain of their servers, not to mention, can increase transfer file speed for those downloading. It also of course also means that if they choose to shut down their servers, the software they created might still be found and available.

So yes, plenty of legit application of peer-to-peer technology, your claim is as ludricous as saying all CD/DVD burners are for movie pirates.

-Andrew

They are used because they make it difficult to track data movement, this gives pirate’s free access to software, music, movies and more without the fear of being reported to the copyright owners.

Not really.
All the ip's are right there.

That's what torrents are, great explanation by nexus

But, they are used commonly for piracy, etc

It's actually quite easy to track torrent users, just join the download and see all the IPs..

Its not about who you track but what they are moving. Other data distribution techniques failed because it was easy for copyright holders to see the data that was moved. You chuck a ripped file on your ISP server to share amongst your friends and see how long it will stay there.

Use a torrent and the poor copyright holder suddenly has a swam of users to deal with, not a single person or corporation. Copyright pirates have a herd mentality for it provides protection in large numbers.

torrents are great, If you are confused about what software you should use use Utorrent. apparently it gives you a boost if you seed.
And you don't have to seed your own torrent, you can just continue seeding a good torrent, or reviving old ones.

Well, in that case more power to them. Art belongs to the people, modern extreme capitalist copyright laws not withstanding.

I think now, artists have grasped the fact that REAL fans will buy there work, and fans are formed because the artist loves what he/she does and not for the money.

O and i recommend to anyone interested in the future of media to see this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj8ZadKgdC0

!!!User Warning!!! Torrents are notorious for improper activity, when you open ports for downloading. I'm a Linux user, and when I download via torrent, I can use EtherApe and see all types of activity that is not logged elsewhere. The pretty much can gain access to your entire system.
This doesn't stop me, but I recommend you not have sensitive data anywhere on any connected media if you conduct this activity.

what exactly is a torrent?
how do they work?

they are small hobbit like creatures that live in a web and steal each others goods

http://www.cedmagic.com/featured/tolkien/h-2-0849-spider-bundles.jpg