Downloading torrent files is easy enough, but once you’ve downloaded them how do you open them, or watch them, or listen to them? Is there software that I have to obtain now?
In short, yes, you are going to need a software program in order to download media files.
When you use a bittorrent protocol to download media files, there are two distinct steps involved. First, you download the torrent, which I think you have done successfully. The torrent file is a small file, it usually downloads in seconds, and it contains the data that your computer will need in order to download the media file that you selected. When you first select a song or a movie and download the torrent, all you have downloaded are the instructions that will help get you the file or files that you are actually after.
So, in order to use the torrent control file that you have downloaded to access the media file that you want, you need a software program, a torrent software client.
There are a number of good torrent software programs.
uTorrent, which is also called MicroTorrent, is popular for requiring only 1MB of space on your hard drive, as well as for being good, fast and user-friendly. Azureus, a close second behind uTorrent, has a user-friendly graphic interface, is fast, and has a built in search engine to help you find media files for download without leaving the program fast. A few others include BitComet, ABC, TurboBT and BitLord.
Since you are just getting started, you can choose any software program now and then revisit the decision after you have been downloading torrents for a while and have a better idea about what you want. So, choose a program, go to its website, and download the appropriate version for your computer. Follow all the steps until the end of the download.
Now that the program is installed on your computer, when you visit a torrent search engine, like isohunt, and choose a torrent file, the torrent software that you downloaded will open automatically and add the torrent media file to your download list. The torrent should take a while to download, depending on its size, and you can watch its progress on your software program. Take some time to get familiar with your program, they can seem alien at first, but once you get comfortable, there is nothing to it.
Before you start, make sure that your computer has the most recent Java runtime. There are versions for all operating systems easily available from http://www.java.com/. You will also need media players, Windows Media Player works well for most types of file, but make sure that you check their website for updates. VLC is also a good and versatile media player.
