Monday, August 11, 2014

BitTorrent Finally Comes to iOS


By BACKLINE STAFF

After years in the dog house, BitTorrent, the highly criticized, and equally undervalued file-sharing protocol, has entered the prolific world of iOS.

Until now, apps that enabled users to download torrents were rebuffed by Apple because they allowed widespread piracy on its devices, but a developer has created an app, Blue called Downloader. This piece of ingenuity only allows users access to above-board torrent sites, most of which offer content within the public domain. These include BitTorrent’s own Bundle, Bitlove (podcast archiving), Archive.org, Public Domain Flicks and Librivox, among others.

The availability of Downloader is a plus for BitTorrent’s Bundle program, which now has 800 million devices (with 75 billion app downloads) to court. It could also be a godsend for the protocol itself, which has suffered from associations with piracy.

Bit Torrent has done some great PR, and a remarkable job in beefing up it less than stellar image. To date, they have attracted Madonna, Death Grips and Kayne West’s Brooklyn-based label, Fool’s Gold to use the digital distribution platform.

 

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