Yes. All the yes. I was shaky on it at first, because I really didn’t want to dive out of my depth when it comes to piracy (which really only includes torrents). I thought it was going to be confusing, but it really is just “sign up, pay, and get your API key”. And the price is right (using realDebrid).
However, I’m a little concerned. This makes it all so easy to stream and such, but what happens when everyone starts using it and torrents are no longer downloaded and properly seeded? Should I go out of my way to download something after I watch it and then seed for a few weeks? I still keep my VPN around, so that’s totally an option. I’m using Stremio in conjunction with realDebrid.
I think I just want to know a bit more about how it works and how the P2P functions. I want to be able to give back, but I only seed a few torrents at a time. I just don’t have the money for a large seeding server right now (which I may fix with a Pi5 at some point). Seeding is currently my only option/skill in helping piracy stay alive and the digital world stay free.
Off topic question
As a curious afterthought: Does anyone remember Azureus when it was just Azureus? I had a hard time remembering the name (it changed to Vuze) until the other day when I was listening to this: Teleport Pro Keygen Music (YouTube for those that use other frontends). This tune really brought back some good old memories of the OG (loose term, they’re OG to me) torrent pirates and their BANGER keygen music. Legends of their time… I really do look up to them. They’re fucking heroes.
At least a couple of years ago, rd was looked down upon because users only share within the rd network so despite using torrent technology and maybe even torrent releases only subscribers get the benefits.
If you want an off ramp from it, private trackers are easy to get into now. They want interviews where they give you the answers first and people still fail them.
What are you torrenting and watching on?
If you’re one of those people who just leaves their computer on at home all day you can go ahead and set up the arr stack in preparation for getting that pi5 you mentioned.
No matter if you stick with rd or switch to something else: If you have a spare old computer lying around you can use that too. People will say “no, your power bill!” but the cost is almost always negligible and the hard drives you add for more storage will be the same power draw no matter what. For me, running twelve drives in an old gaming case with a 4th gen i5 comes out to a little under a buck more a month than my rpi3 in the same (not really, I couldn’t plug the sas expander and hba into it, but with the drives in a set of external enclosures) configuration. And the rpi was less stable. And less upgradable. And less powerful and less efficient as I started to use the cpu more.
A free/$20 “junk” pc starts to look a hell of a lot better in the long term when it’s competing against a platform that can only be cheaper per month at idle.
At the moment I’m torrenting and seeding through qBittorrent but now I have a bit of streaming through Torrentio via Stremio w/ realdebrid. I do a lot of older shows that seem to be hurting for seeders, as I like to rewatch my favorites.
Completely true. The most power consumption usually comes from the screen, unless you’re compiling something from source on the daily and ramping that CPU to 100%. Even then, screens have come a long way from the CRT power guzzlers. Running through SSH will negate screen cost and seeding takes nothing except network, which at the moment is still unlimited (barely, thanks to ISPs being allowed to throttle you now).
I do have a little XP system sitting in the attic. I last booted it up a couple years back and was impressed it ran, is it hadn’t been turned on in nearly 14 years. The problem is space, unfortunately. I have barely any space left in my tiny apartment for even a headless tower to run.
My PC runs and seeds nearly 24/7, barring some system restarts (I distro hopped to base Arch and am still settling in and changed prefs). One of the first things I learned in my PC Repair class was that turning your computer on and off is actually worse for it, especially if you aren’t running spinning drives.
According to my teacher, cooling down and heating up the PCB in your rig causes hairline fractures over time. One day you’ll flip that switch, a pulse of electricity will go through them and something will be toast. Not to mention you’d run up more of an electric bill. Like how a purely gas-driven car uses more fuel from starting and stopping. I’ve always left my PC on and, like I said, even my 14 year old setup still runs fine.