The hatefule dad torrent download

Setting up to download BitTorrent files is not as difficult as it may seem at first. There are (usually) several different steps you need to do and several different software packages needed to do them, which may lend to the confusion.

However, like I said, it's really not that difficult. Here's how I do it (this is for a PC, which I assume covers 90% of the audience; I can Mac-itize it if anyone needs it "translated" so to speak :)

1. First download BitTorrent software. There are a couple of different packages, but the one I use is BitTornado:

http://www.bittornado.com/download.html

Download the Stable version. Install that.

2. Download a FLAC/SHN converter. This is usually the step that sometimes confuses people. Most of the "bittorent" files you download are going to be either .shn files or .flac files. Lossless compression files, which means the quality is superb, but the size of the files are huge. So you need to "convert" these files to something a little bit more manageable. The FLAC converter I use on Windows is:

http://flac.sourceforge.net/download.html

The SHN converter I use on Windows is:

http://www.etree.org/mkw.html

Download and install both of those programs.

3. Find a bittorrent site. This is the easiest step. Here's a list of the sites I use:

http://bt.etree.org
http://www.thetradersden.org
http://www.dimeadozen.org
http://zombtracker.the-zomb.com

Those are the ones off the top of my head. There's plenty out there.

Anyhow, let's use bt.etree.org as an example. If you go to the site, you'll see lots of listings of shows. Find a show you like--if you click the Show name (something like "Jerry Garcia Band 030-30-1976 Late Calderone Concert Hall, Hempstead, NY), you'll get details about the show--setlist, source, files, etc. In the details screen, you'll see a row called Torrent. That's the file you want to download. A torrent file is usually very small in size, so it should download quickly. When you're new to this, sometimes it's difficult to actually find the .torrent file. But keep looking and you'll find it.

4. Once you have the .torrent file downloaded to your machine, double-click it. Your computer will either automatically launch the BitTorrent client that you downloaded in Step 1 or it will say something like, "Windows can't open this file...choose the program to open this file". If you get this popup, you'll have to "Select the program from a list" and then choose the program 'btdownloadgui' from the list of programs.

If all goes well and you double-click the .torrent file and it opens the BitTornado client, all it will ask you for is a location to save the files. This is where you're going to store all the really large FLAC/SHN files, so pick a location that has a lot of space and a place where you'll remember where it's located. I have a directory on a large drive called E:\Torrents and I store all my files in there.

Now, sit back and wait. Depending on what you're downloading, the total file size can be anywhere from 200MB to 20GB. So it can take awhile. You can minimize the BitTorrent client (it'll put itself in the taskbar) and continue doing something else. It's usually good to start this before going to bed.

5. Once the download is complete, you'll have a bunch of files in a directory. Usually the files are .shn files, but sometimes they're .flac files. It depends on the torrent. Anyhow, go to the directory where you downloaded the files. Doubleclick one of the files you downloaded. It will either launch the appropriate program (SHN or FLAC converter) or you'll get that Windows popup saying it doesn't know which program to use (in which case you'll have to pick it from the list like step 4).

SHN files--use the MKW program to decode. Basically it will turn the .SHN files into .WAV files. Once you have the .WAV file, you can play that in iTunes, WinAmp, burn it to an audio CD, etc. Unless you burn it to an audio CD, I would recommend "converting" the file again to an MP3. It will save space.

FLAC files--use the FLAC frontend program to decode. It will also convert the files from .FLAC to .WAV. Again, burn the WAV files to an audio CD or listen to them in iTunes (and/or convert them to MP3 to save space).

That's about it. I just whipped this up while drinking my morning java, so I might've left stuff out. If anything is not clear or you have any problems, please post them and I'm sure either I or someone else can help out.

It's all about spreading the music. Enjoy!

http://db.etree.org/jck_strw - Tapelist
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