I went for free client program uTorrent ( because it’s small and easy to use, and sure enough the junk was out in force. I’ve also been deterred by the need to install torrent client software, which is a notorious minefield of junk. Linux, Madonna and even Auntie Beeb have used BitTorrent to distribute stuff, with a free Capaldi-era Doctor Who box set getting its official release through online platform BitTorrent Now ( ).īut BitTorrent happens to be popular with copyright-thieving scumbags, and that association has long put me off using it. Even the respectable Internet Archive uses them Torrents aren’t evil, just misunderstood. The Government uses torrents to distribute huge public files without bringing down the entire broadband network. You can set dozens of torrents to download simultaneously while you carry on streaming last week’s Countryfile, and you won’t notice the slightest blip in your broadband. The Archive likes torrents because they’re faster than HTTP and use many times less bandwidth. Among the download links for all these goodies you’ll see ‘TORRENT’. This online trove of digital treasure spans everything from Tamagotchi for Windows 3.1 to the original audio recording of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, all free to download and free of copyright. Why? Because The Internet Archive ( ) recommends torrents (BitTorrent is the official term) for downloading (see screenshot), and I trust The Internet Archive almost as much as I trust Blue Peter.

The Internet Archive recommends torrents for downloading, and I trust it almost as much as I trust Blue Peter Instead, I’m feasting on silent movies and MS-DOS programs that wouldn’t know a licensing restriction if they sat on one, and I’m using the maligned torrent network to do it. I’m not downloading pirated copies of Photoshop and Game of Thrones.

OK, you can unclutch your pearls, I haven’t turned to the dark side. My name is Jane and I am a BitTorrent user. Overcoming her long-held reservations, Jane Hoskyn browses the Internet Archive to…

Torrent software reviews