Seeding shows

Most of the links in the BitTorrent 101 summary are for using an existing torrent, since of course that's how most people start out. If you're ready to try to seed a show, here are some useful links. Unless noted, all the software is freeware/shareware.

Remember that you have to read and follow the policies for the site and tracker where you plan to upload the torrent.

The most important thing by far is to start with a good quality source. It's always good to listen to or watch your version before seeding hundreds of copies; and if need be check around or ask around to see if there's a better version in circulation.

Some other useful general principles are:
- Try to seed the best available version of a show. Some shows have many versions, with varying sources, such as audience tapes, FM broadcasts, copies of pre-FM tapes, etc.
- Preserve the quality of that version by doing a careful job of creating the seed.
- Take the time to get the seed into good shape before creating and starting the torrent. It may take a little more time to do things like using real track names (not "Track01.flac"!). But if the seeder doesn't do things right, it's a lot more work for all the downloaders to fix problems.

And of course, look at how some other torrents are seeded and try to follow the better examples of that.

This should go without saying, but unfortunately it doesn't: Don't ever, ever, ever convert a lossy format to a lossless one. The compression to mp3 takes out some information. Just leave it as mp3, the sound quality never gets improved by format conversions. Any further format conversions can only lose quality (if lossy to lossy, like mp3 to mp4, or real audio or DAB to mp3) or just take up more space (like mp3 or DAB to flac, shn, wav or CD).

Please don't seed commercially available or officially released material.

Audio

You might have gotten a show as flac or shn files. If the files are in good shape and have no significant problems, it's best to re-seed those files. If there are problems with the files, you might consider fixing the problems (if you're certain you know how to do that!) and re-seeding the show with flac. But it's best to avoid creating new shn or flac seeds when a good seed already exists - odds are someone has the original files and could seed that show from an existing seed. That's going to be a better version than your CDR rip of that source.

There is a lot of info about seeding a show at the etree Seeding Guidelines, which has lots of links. While you might not understand the need right now for such a detailed approach, it's a tried and true method that works well for sharing live music. Try to follow it.

A couple specific issues:

Ripping audio. The audio info on a CD is stored in a different format than on a data CD - so you need to use software to "extract" the audio to files on your hard drive, not just copy the files. In addition, the format that audio CDs are stored in is not a very reliable format - it was designed over 20 years ago. Errors in reading ("ripping") the disc can go undetected. So it's best to use a secure ripping program, if possible.

On Windows, that means Exact Audio Copy, or EAC. Follow the checklist at The Coaster Factory for the settings - the Coaster Factory site is the missing manual for EAC. Just use the recommended settings, you can worry about what they mean later. The most important thing is to use Secure Mode; and using the suggested settings. By the way, while using the correct drive offsets is a plus, and they are not hard to find for common drives - drive offsets are not nearly as important as the other settings, so not something you need to worry about right away.

Another Windows option is Plextools, if you have a Plextor drive.

Mac users report using X-CD-Roast for secure ripping, as well as Toast (commercial software) and iTunes (with the more careful audio extraction setting).

Encoding with lossless compression. Once you've got lossless, uncompressed audio on your hard drive, convert it into flac files (not shn!) with flac frontend (for Windows, tutorial) or xACT (Mac OSX). Some tips at the etree Flac FAQ.

Video

DVDs, of course, are a whole different story. What seems to have worked at most torrent sites is to rip in file mode and seed the set of files (normally inside a video_ts folder). (Unlike with CDs, where audio and data CDs are very different formats, all DVDs are essentially data discs - a video DVD is just a data DVD with video files in a specific configuration.) But disc images can also work, though they can sometimes be a little tricky for various operating systems. Time will tell what works best for a particular group of users or a tracker.

On Windows, two tools are especially useful: DVD Decrypter and SmartRipper.

Mac users report using Toast and Apple's Disk Utility.

If you have trouble ripping a disc with one program, try another; and/or try another DVD drive.

Two good sources of info on video-related topics: videohelp.com and doom9.org

Related files

It's essential to include some other information with the file set:

- An info file in text format with the show name, the source, and show details and links. Describe the "lineage" - where you got your version of it, and how you transferred it to the files you're sharing. Be very clear about which version of the show you have.

- For audio, any shn sets should have an md5 file too; and for flac files a flac fingerprint file is good to include;

- For audio, include EAC logs if you're ripping original silver discs; and

- Links to or scans of artwork in jpg or gif format are a nice plus

Making the torrent

Once you've got a set of files in good shape (good source, named right, etc), put all the files into a folder named with the artist, the date of the performance, and the location or show.

Then you need to create the torrent file. Make Torrent is one easy way to create new torrents, or to check or revise existing torrents. Or, if you use Azureus, go to File, Create a torrent. Include the named folder in the torrent. Be careful to include all the files for the show, but not to include any extra files.

No matter what you use to create the torrent: it's good to put a little description in the Comment field; and you absolutely have to use the announce URL for the tracker you plan to upload the torrent file to. Check the site for the current version of their tracker announce URL and details on how to upload the small torrent file and start seeding the show.


There's lots more info at the links, but that's a short version to get started. It may also be useful to have a look at dimeadozen's Yahoo group links page (easy signup needed to see the page, but say no to getting the emails!).

For an introduction to the basics of BitTorrent, see BitTorrent 101

If you have constructive suggestions, please send them to contact at audiohub dot org.