Former king of the Bit Torrent P2P software, Vuze is still a popular client to download anything your heart desires. Formerly called Azureus, it lost its crown when the popular uTorrent client came out. It changed the way people did downloading, allowing for multiple downloads under one GUI (Graphical User Interface).
Vuze was released in June 2003 at SourceForge.net, as experimentation with the Standard Widget Toolkit from Eclipse. The reason bit torrents are so popular is because of the seeder and leecher concept, where the honor system suggest you should give more than you take to the Internet. Vuze is no exception, and you can even set max speeds for uploads and downloads if necessary. Other none unique features include download priority, where you can adjust and readjust what file you want to get speedily downloaded first, or last for that matter. You can ban certain IP’s from downloading from you, or make favorites of those you like to download from.
To download Vuze, just Google “Download Vuze 3.1.”
The change from Azureus to Vuze
“The two most notable things about Vuze 3.1 are the search engine and the social networking. It's rejiggered but still open source; users can spider across multiple torrent-tracking Web sites such as MiniNova while looking for content. The social-networking features let you share your favorite torrents directly with friends and create profiles, although more advanced features like chatting haven't been introduced yet.
Although Vuze has taken steps in the past few months that put it squarely in the path of the oncoming ISP juggernaut, taking on Comcast with the introduction of a plug-in that tracks and compiles statistics on ISP throttling behavior, it's not clear how many Azureus users welcome the jump to the new Vuze.” (Webware)
I actually find the change annoying. The Pirate Bay is the only search engine I’ve ever had to use, so adding those flashy new networks bugs the hell out of me. That’s why I only use the advanced tab in Vuze. You may find yourself doing the same thing. The only thing I do like is the new preview ability if I ever do get bored enough to download Vuze videos, which also remind me of YouTube.
But some change is good, Vuze is now not only a BT client, it now contains a full-featured UPnP streaming media server.
I just downloaded Vuze for the first time, what do I do now?
Find a file to download, easily done so by using The Pirate Bay, and use the open with option instead of save to/as and choose Vuze. Everything else is done for you. Some programs will be downloaded zipped, so I suggest getting Daemon Tools for CD imaging as well as WinRar for unzipping. You can even get the pro version through The Pirate Bay and download it with your new Vuze client. Don’t forget to set your default location for where to download your new goodies to, I suggest making a folder on the desktop for ease of access. There really isn’t any other step 1-2-3 process after you get the load with Vuze every time option clicked.
Speed
If you download more than just a couple at a time, you will see some torrents qued. This is normal, and you should not try to force start additional ones as your over all speed will decrease to less than what you had while downloading less. It has something to do with the additional connections. Also, the best way to increase your speed is to download “good” torrents. That is, they have lots of seeders. The better seeder to leecher ratio the better off you are. This is why The Pirate Bay is great because it will you’re your search field to show the most seeded torrents on top. Keep your versions up to date for additional speed.
If you try to download a torrent without any seeders, or only a couple, you’re likely to fail in getting that torrent downloaded.
A warning about P2P
”Warning: while P2P file sharing technology is completely legal, many of the files traded through P2P are copyrighted. Unless you live in Canada where citizens are shielded from P2P copyright lawsuits, downloading music, movie, and TV files will put you at risk for a civil lawsuit in any other country. These lawsuits usually take the form of class-action suits, filed against groups of users who are logged as blatantly copying and distributing copyrighted materials. Recently, the MPAA and RIAA, along with the governments of England and Australia, took several thousand users to court, demanding that they pay thousands of dollars in copyright infringement penalties. Please keep this lawsuit risk in mind when you install and use any BitTorrent software in the USA, Europe, or Asia.” (Netforbeginners)
Sources are embedded.