Some responses to ur statements.

Although I'm arguing for direct downloads, i stand by my decision that which one is better all depends on the situation. I'm just arguing against ur opinion that torrent is always better.

Ge64 Wrote:yeah but that's due to the fact that you can't upload a 30gb file via direct download. anyway, imho direct download and especially HTTP downloads were meant for very small files such as images, small software or web pages.

u can upload a 30gb file with direct download, if u really want to bother, so it's not impossible.

And there's no such thing as what HTTP is meant for. HTTP was there way before torrent or anything ewlse. Once upon a time, there was no torrent or any other P2P sharing system. HTTP is meant for everything.

Ge64 Wrote:but torrents never fail as far as I know, they just stop downloading because there are no sources. and that doenst happen often.

U also get a lot more fake stuff on torrents. And having no sources happens ALL THE TIME. It really depends on what ur trying to get. what i try to get mostly have <5 seeds.

Ge64 Wrote:also, most torrents have enough upload throughput to max out most people's line, whereas direct download speeds can be limited by the server to ensure other ppl get some bandwidth as well

Like with most of ur argument, that's assuming that ur torrent is popular. If ur torrent is not, more likely it'll go really slow. Unfortunately, most of the stuff i download go really slow. Fortunately, my internet is not fast, so the slowness is not too bad.

Like what I'm downloading now as an example. Tales of Phantasia (the animation) has like 2 seeds at max, and the speed really changes. yesterday, i was getting 10kb/s, right now, I'm getting 500b/s.  Fate-stay Night Character Image Songs = like 3kb/s average. random manga = slow or dead. a game = Fast, Office 2007 = very fast. Romsets = often dead.

So yeah, looking at what i download, u cannot say torrents are that fast fast or reliable all the time. Although torrent is way better than any other form of P2P at relabiliy.

Ge64 Wrote:if I want 200 episodes of Sailor Moon, I need to right-click, download, 200 times (at least, because in my case you also have to point it to where you want to store it. but that can be automated). then, i have to check which downloads failed, and redownload them.

...

2-4 clicks or 200-300 clicks? hmm. not much of an issue?

Do remember that one of the advantages of direct download is that it downloads the data in nice sequential order. thus u don't have to wait for something to be completely downloaded to start using it. So if u were to download a large archived file or something, u can check on it after u downloaded a little, to see if it's right. While with torrent, u have to wait until pretty much the whole thing is downloaded before u can get any information form it at all.

This is also relevant to ur 200 episodes of sailor moon, because direct download will get u the eps in order. U may argue that for torrent, u can always make torrent download the eps in sequential order as well, but that involves even more clickes than with http, which counters ur 1st argument on how torrent is simpler and requires less clicks.

And c'mon. direct downloads don'ty fail like even close to as often as u say it does. I rarely ever occurs to me. Unless if ur internet is that dodgey.

Ge64 Wrote:Set the priority for the first 50 eps to high and the priority for the last 50 eps to low, or chose to skip certain files entirely

u can on;y make sure to get the 1st 50 eps 1st, and then the last 50 that way. I can't get the 1st then 2nd then 3rd ...in sequential order, unless u keep setting priorities each time an ep completes, and that's more annoying than direct download.

Also, one big disadvantage of torrent is also the fact that u need to run a program in the background, which eats memory.

And also to get torrent to run at maximum efficiency, u need to configure the client and stuff. If ur ISP provider is gay, they may also block certain commonly used ports and stuff, so u have to also screw with that. People who are new to torrent is not likely to get max efficiency out of torrent.

Ge64 Wrote:it also costs time if the compression is high and the file is large or there are a lot of small files inside.

That time it takes to unarchive is nowhere close to the time u save on downloading a smaller file. Especially if the compression is high.

Go and try to download the N64 romset NOT ARCHIVED. If u cana ever find someone stupid enough not to archive it, it'll be over 100GB in size. The archived size is 4.8gb. Massive size difference cause there are multiple dumps of the same rom and that kind of stuff in there that compresses very well. So like 10 similar copies of the same 32mb rom will only compress to lets say, 20mb. compared to the 320mb raw, that's very good. Don't tell me u want to download 320mb just to save the time of extracting it.

Ge64 Wrote:when you have to unarchive a file it takes up more than double the space, so if your harddisk tends to fill up quickly that can be a huge pain because u'll need to find temporary unpacking-space somewhere.

that's why u leave most of ur stuff archived. That way it saves space in ur HDD. If all the stuff i have are all unarchived, i would need a HDD like 3x the size. Stuff ur not going to use for a while may as well be archived.

Ge64 Wrote:yeah, but it doesn't happen that often, and usually if it happens there are better torrents for the same thing around. theres very very little cases where something is SO impopular that there are no seeds at all anywhere.

Happens way too often. And if something is that unpopular, there would not be multiple torrents of it. Happens like 1/4 of the time for me.

I guess wee must download very different stuff. ^.^

Ge64 Wrote:those do exist, but they are usually to provide better download speeds than usual. however with direct downloads, the popular sites such as megaupload actually limit the download speeds, and require payment for normal speeds.

Private tracker = u may have to pay/ get invited or something. And also u have to seed to a certian requirement. Seeding that rato for everything u download is VERY annoying. Way more trouble than direct downloads ever give u. Especially if ur download speed is that much faster that ur upload speed.

Provate tracker also = way less people get to download = slower speed than normal server.

+ the limit for megaupload of 45kb/s (360kbit/s) is fast enough for me anyways. my internet connection can never hit that speed anyways.

Ge64 Wrote:this is due to the fact that people actually upload data themselves instead of one big server having to do it, so such costs don't exist with torrents.

With direct download, people who host the files pay. u don't. so whichever way for u, it's free.

Ge64 Wrote:and torrent uploads never fail (badly. a packet may get lost but that's neglectible)

Direct download that doesn't get downloaded often = good. that's good for the server. less strain.

Torrent that doesn't get downloaded often = dead.

Torrents also involve waste. like when 2 people send u the same stuff, or like when people send u bad stuff. The waste percentage is generally like around 2-5%, up to 20% if ur connected to like a LOT of people. So ur basically downloading 5% more on each download.


Ok, as i say again, I'm not anti torrent. I'm just trying to say that there is no absolute best at everything. They have their own purposes. I actually like torrent a lot, even thought my downloads seems to die all the time, i can never get these downloads directly anyways, so it's still good. ^.^


If i had to make a choice on what's better, like if someone forces me, it would be torrents. All my above arguments cannot counter the fact that torrents allows u to downoad from a way larger range of stuff. Lots of stuff that can't be found anywhere else. ^.^ Dealing with the slowness > getting nothing.