After 2 full days of the Bittorrent experiment, it all seems to be going well. There are enough people who are kind enough to continue seeding the files after downloading that the files are going out consistently, some without much of my involvement at all beyond the initial seeding. Counterintuitively, the file I have served out the most bandwidth for is the oldest of the three I am seeding, which I would have thought had the least demand of all of them. I think that is because the newer ones have more other people seeding it, so I am the sole provider or one of a smaller group seeding for the 9/16 episode. At least, I think that’s the reason. I could be wrong.
I think this experiment has huuuuge implications for podcasting. Since the dynamics of downloading of a newly posted file from a feed are exactly those most favorable for a Bittorrent (ie, a swarm of users that all want the same file in a short time with much overlap and simultaneity of those downloads), getting the tools using Bittorrent and publishing BT feeds will be a quantum leap forward for this platform. One of the best things is that it will allow people to get in the game and get popular without exceeding their bandwidth or worse – getting stuck with huge bills for the mistake of publishing files that people want.
Thanks to everyone who is playing along in this experiment. It is working well. I thank you for your time, enthusiasm and your upstream bandwidth.
