Since we discussed playing video files on your Mac in our last Switch to Mac article last week, this article will follow on that theme and look at obtaining videos from BitTorrent. Of course, you can find all sorts of other files on BitTorrent too. BitTorrent has stayed within the realm of the geeky for the most part, but there are some good apps for OS X that makes it easier for beginners. Before we jump right into those apps though, it’s a good idea to understand what BitTorrent is and how it works.

BitTorrent: An Introduction

BitTorrent is a file transfer protocol that makes it efficient to transfer large files over the internet. For regular downloads, many users will download a whole file directly from one source. Due to limited bandwidth, a bottleneck will occur and users will experience slow download speeds.

Instead of downloading a whole file directly from one source, BitTorrent users download different pieces of a file from multiple users. Users with a complete copy of the file are known as seeds while users with only a partial file are known as peers. This group of seeds and peers is known as a swarm. Therefore, the larger the swarm and the higher the number of seeds of a file, the faster your downloads will go.

The final piece of the puzzle is the tracker that helps to coordinate the file distribution. The information about the tracker and some details of the file are contained in a small file called a torrent. These files have a .torrent file extension.

So, here are the steps you need to take to download a file with BitTorrent:

1. Locate the movie/video/etc file you want to download from tracker websites.
2. Download the associated .torrent file.
3. Open that .torrent file with your BitTorrent application.
4. Seed the file once it has finished downloading so that others can download the file by leaving your BitTorrent client open overnight.

BitRocket: BitTorrent with Mac style

You can see from the introduction above why BitTorrent can be confusing for newbies. Fortunately, BitTorrent clients like BitRocket makes the whole experience simpler and streamlined for Mac users.

BitRocket is an Open Source (free) application for the Mac that handles the four steps for downloading files from BitTorrent above, and also allows you to create your own .torrent files. Best of all, it packs all those features into a nice and pleasing user interface. Let’s have a look.

BitRocket has built-in search to find .torrent files for videos and movies you want to download. The built-in search searches BitRocket.org’s directory and presents you a list of search results. Click download and your torrent will automatically start downloading.

You can customise this search box to search other tracker sites. Unfortunately, if you search other sites, BitRocket can’t download the file immediately. Instead it will open your default browser and bring you to the search results page for your query. Hopefully, the BitRocket developers will add a feature to allow users to search other trackers and download the files directly from within BitRocket.

If you do go this route, or you prefer to search for torrents from tracker sites, you can open .torrent files within BitRocket to download its associated file.

Here’s how BitRocket’s Torrents view looks like. You can see the total ‘pieces’ of a file downloaded by selecting the torrent and clicking the Progress tab.

Another great feature of BitRocket is its support for RSS feeds. This means you can automatically have a list of the latest TV shows delivered to BitRocket ready to download. Here’s how to make a custom TV torrent feed. Once you’ve got the feed, go to the RSS view in BitRocket and click the Add RSS Feed button.

As a matter of etiquette, it is good practice to continue to leave your BitTorrent client running after your download is complete to seed the file (Step 4). After all, you got the file from others who were kind enough to seed it too.

BitRocket like most good BitTorrent clients has a feature to manage your seed ratio (torrent ratio). In the screenshot above, I set my torrent ratio to 2, meaning that BitRocket will upload twice the amount I’ve downloaded before transfer completes. You can find this setting in the preferences.

Since we’re looking around in the preferences, I want to show you another feature that BitRocket has. BitRocket can automatically map your computer and router ports to make sure that BitTorrent traffic passes through your firewall. Bottom line, you want to make sure that BitRocket says that ports have been automatically mapped to ensure the best transfer speeds. If BitRocket can’t automatically map your ports, you’ll need to configure your router manually.

Other BitTorrent clients

Besides BitRocket, there are a whole host of other BitTorrent clients available for the Mac.

Transmission

Transmission is my favourite BitTorrent client. It’s a simple and lightweight client that does its job very well. Like BitRocket, it’s a great looking app and an Open Source project. Unlike BitRocket, you can’t search for torrents and create .torrent files with the app. I also really like its dock icon that tells me my download/upload speed at a glance and low memory footprint.

Azureus

Azureus is a popular, cross-platform Java BitTorrent client that’s packed full of features. In addition to its default feature set, Azureus can be extended with lots of great plugins. However, being a Java application it takes up more memory and definitely does not look very “Mac-like”. Paul Stamatiou has a great series on how to configure Azureus (Part 1, 2, 3) if Azureus is your BitTorrent client of choice.

Xtorrent

Last on our list is Xtorrent, a BitTorrent client with every feature including built-in search, RSS support, iTunes support, Growl support and even the kitchen sink. Despite its long feature list, it’s simple to use with a low learning curve due to its gorgeous Mac UI. This shareware app is a product of Mac developer-superstar David Watanabe and will set you back USD20.

BitTorrent is something with a pretty steep learning curve but hopefully this article will give you the confidence to try it if you’ve never used it before. Feel free to leave comments if you want to ask more questions, or check out these other resources:

• BitTorrent on Wikipedia
• How BitTorrent Works
• Brian’s BitTorrent FAQ and Guide
• Buy and download content via BitTorrent Inc’s official site
• Download free content from Legal Torrents
• Portforward.com – Help on configuring your router

Have fun downloading your videos!