Hi, I am new to this!

**electrix** · 03-23-2014, 10:52 AM

Looks like I have a lot of catching-up. Although my trade is in computer technology, I rarely find the time to chat in forums and if I do, my interest usually fades. After discovering BitTorrent, it looks like things are about to change. It is just ironic that I am in the business of computer technology and never have looked into this area. Also, being a musician, my focus has always been in the analogs of the Arts. But I now believe that digitization of the Arts is unavoidable. As to where in the past I used to trade LPs with friends, record tunes on cassettes to share with them and attend live concert, I must say, things have changed since then. This new method of sharing and distribution seems as fresh as the day I began surfing on the Internet. I hope to learn a lot from this site.

**TheFoX** · 03-23-2014, 11:07 AM

I dunno what to say? Sounds like you have a good thirty years of technology to catch up on.

Cassettes? I remember them, in the distant past, alongside Eight Tracks and other prehistoric technology.

One wonders what you have been doing to have failed to notice that things have changed. We no longer have party lines. Instead, everyone now has a mobile phone, and some even have two or three. In fact, starving children on the continent of Africa have mobile phones. There is a mobile phone mountain of surplus stock that they just cannot get rid of.

As for digital distribution, the current systems have all been around for about fifteen years, and the internet and filesharing has just celebrated its twenty fifth anniversary. My question is, simply, what have you been doing since you were born?

You claim to be in to computer technology, yet a vast area of your knowledge seems to be missing. Computing is essentially about processing data, and at its core, binary manipulation, to create software that manipulates that data for a specific purpose, such as documents and pictures, sound files and audio clips, and anything else that can have a digital representation, such as simulations. A secondary requirement of a computer is the ability to store that data on a non volatile medium, such as a disk (disc). Leading on from storage, is filesharing, where you can send those files to another system for it to view, or store. Essentially, the whole internet is a network of computers, some acting as clients and some acting as servers, essentially sharing all the information stored on them.

Filesharing has become the hub of what we do with this technology. The ability to create pails in comparison to the ability to share, spread about, and generally disseminate. Filesharing is the evolution of the early computer technology allowing different systems and OS's to communicate with each other. Remove filesharing and you essentially destroy the one single mechanism that has revolutionized the world.

And where have you been while all this has been going on?

**gr8fuldea** · 03-27-2014, 12:25 AM

BitTorrents are fine, but personally I prefer Usenet. I've been using it for over 20 years and it's never done me wrong and always top speeds with a good provider. Retention was a slight issue for a bit when I was with Newshosting, but since I switched to Astraweb my retention woes have disappeared. Anyway, welcome to our world and I hope you enjoy the ride!

**Mr. Mulder** · 03-27-2014, 08:22 AM

Usenet is fine, but personally i prefer to wake up screaming and covered in blood only to find there isn't a cut on me???

**electrix** · 04-01-2014, 06:19 PM

Hmmm... I think we got lost in translation.

I meant to state that the feelings I have today about sharing media remind me of back-in-the-days, 70's & 80's when I traded physical media.

I have been around, is just that my music downloading and music sharing has not been my primary focus. I am now discovering BitTorrent and Usernet and what it has to offer. For example, the quality of MP3 has never appealed to me. When I was looking for lossless, such as FLAC, a few years ago they weren't that many. I thought Napster was a big waste of time. Now I see there are plenty of lossless being shared on the Internet. I also had (have) the impression that Torrent was/is full of potential viruses & malware, this deterred me from exploring that avenue. Are such viruses and malware prevalent on Usernet?

It is just ironic that I am computer tech guy but never found the interest in playing video games, downloading movies, hacking and such. And as much as I love music, again, MP3 doesn't appeal to me. I am now finding out that there are VPN protection outfits for downloaders and user-privacy for this sole purpose, and that Usernet has many sharing sites to offer. The Usernet that I used to know back in the '90's was long forgotten in my mind. I also don't hangout in forums, if at all, like this one. I usually get bored with that activity, post and chats. I find it fascinating for awhile and then I lose interest.

Refreshingly enough, forum web apps (like this filesharingtalk app) seem to have evolved considerably. There are HTML editors, analytics, customization, profiles, etc. Back-when in my sojourn, there were forum threads that had no customization, less user control, and heavily monitored and controlled by a moderator. Somehow I walked away from that scene only to comeback and see how much it has all changed.

I know this sounds kinda a weird, but I just never had such a fascination for file sharing even though I am tech guy. It is sorta-of-like I have this blinder . . . I just decide to stick to the technology that interest me at the moment. And there are a LOT of new technology out there waiting to be discovered . . . a theme explored in the TV series "Almost Human." I think society is heading in that direction with the Internet of Things; not enough time for human to absorb all the technology that abounds and, for good or bad, could be use both genuinely or nefariously.

Anyway... I am looking forward to explore this area that I have largely ignored.