TrustyFiles software and the BrandedP2P program fully support Bit Torrent. The following is a brief summary of Bit Torrent as a platform for P2P Publishing.

Facts

• History. Bit Torrent uses web directory listings for people to find files. The convenience and accessibility of commercial web sites, and the accuracy of such file listings, led to Bit Torrent's fast rise in consumer use. These web listings were often used for the illegitimate downloading of large files, in particular TV shows, movies, and software. The film industry eventually and successfully shut down such web sites, resulting in a drop in consumer usage in the middle of 2005.
• Performance. Bit Torrent boasts about the ability to download any part of a file. But this and other Bit Torrent features are typical of other networks and software clients. Such features include uploading and downloading a file at the same time, partial file downloading, partial file uploading, and swarm downloading (downloading from multiple sources). Bit Torrent performance is similar to most networks.
• Speed. More Bit Torrent hype is focused on the speed of downloads. But again it is similar to other networks. Most P2P networks are quite efficient and will use all available bandwidth.
• Efficiency. Bit Torrent is a wash in terms of sharing efficiency. On the plus side, Bit Torrent forces users to share. On the minus side, that only applies to active torrents. Node-based networks always share the files in their shared folders, including ones that have been downloaded or are currently downloading. In contrast Bit Torrent only shares files for which there is an active torrent. If the torrent tracker is not active, or if the file has been downloaded and the torrent removed, the file is not shared.

Publishing Advantages

• Easy Publishing. The file-based architecture of Bit Torrent is more conducive to publishing files and integration with web sites than other P2P networks.

Publishing Disadvantages

• Limited Publishing. Bit Torrent is oriented to publishing individual files, not multiple files. You can't simply upload a batch of files to the server. You must individually create, distribute, and promote torrents for each file.
• Difficult to Use. The architecture of Bit Torrent requires the user to use the browser, a second application, to find and download a torrent. The process requires several web clicks and web pages to search Google or directories for the torrent, register if required, download the file, and then click the file to start Bit Torrent and downloading. In comparison non-Bit Torrent clients require only one click to start a search and a second click to start downloading a returned match.
• Requires More Marketing. Bit Torrent doesn't support P2P network searches. This means you just can't host a file on the P2P network and wait for the file to show up in keyword matchees. Instead you must invest resources to ensure the file is listed in Bit Torrent web-based directories and search engines.