Goodbye TV.....

Well, at least goodbye cable. I pay a bunch of money for a high-speed internet connection so that I can have Internet Phone service (all North American and some other major cities free). And now I use it to get what I want out of cable... without the stupid commercials, and I get to keep a copy without playing with the VHS.

How, you might ask? Bit torrent. That's how. I downloaded a couple of different applications, chose the best for me (Tomato torrent seemd to be the best choice. Then go to a "portal" to find available downloads, like this one and you're golden.

I discovered all of this in my frustration at only ever seeing half of the Malcolm in the middle burningman episode, then missing it on re-run. I started searching around for a copy and came across a portal. The cool thing about Torrenting is that 1) it's all done in the background, so you don't need to worry about it meesing with your mail and 2) it works on a b-tree distribution schema. Whenever you download, you automatically start uploading the same file to anyone else that needs the parts you have. the Trackers give preference to uploaders, so if you're uploading more than you download, the trackers will bump you up in priority for faster dowloads. It's terribly cool.

It takes about 6 hours for new shows to pop up in the trackers, which isn't bad for recording, editing, re-encoding, and uploading to a server. I get the Daily show and colbert report by the next afternoon and I don't have to pay $60 a month for the priviledge.

Now, i know what you're gonna say... Hey, what will the cable companies do if everyone drops off and starts downloading? i'll tell you what they'll do, they'll start "competing" against this new media and start offering smaller packages with no waste shows. The FCC mandates that small cable packages (pretty much broadcast only) MUST be offered and at a set fee (no more than $20 a month), but I donn't know ANYONE who gets away with that little. We face a monopoly. Time to start throwing raindrops at the mountian....

Go, look for your favorite shows now. you don't need to replace your cable, maybe you just want something that isn't in rotation....