iTorrent

FAQ:

How do I know what the URL of podcast is?

On the web page for every podcast, there is a link such as , , or maybe . (Do not use iTunes links, such as , since they are not standard podcast feeds.) Simply right-click on the link and select "Copy Shortcut" or "Copy Link Location". You can then paste the URL when you subscribe in iTunes.

How do I subscribe to a podcast URL into iTunes?

If you have never manually entered a podcast URL into iTunes before, you can do so by selecting "Subscribe to Podcast..." under the "Advanced" menu:

When iTorrent starts up, it tells me that port 80 cannot be used. What do I do?

Either you have accidentally started up two copies of iTorrent, or there is a web server already running on your machine. If port 80 is already in use by another program such as a web server, then you will need to use a different port number, as described below:

I don't want iTorrent to use port 80, how do I use a different one?

To use a port other than 80, you need to use the --control_port command-line option. For instructions on how to use command-line options, refer to the advanced use page. For example, to use port 3333, you would invoke iTorrent with this command-line:

> iTorrent --control_port 3333

Now, you must specify port 3333 in all of your proxied URLs by prefixing them with "http://localhost:3333/". For example: "http://localhost:3333/http://podcast.org/torrents.rss".

Why does iTorrent ask me for my password on OS X?

iTorrent uses port 80 as its default port, but port 80 is considered to be a reserved port that can only be used by superusers. iTorrent therefore asks for your password so that it can use port 80 as a priviledged superuser.

Technically, iTorrent uses a small helper utility that listens to port 80 on its behalf. The first time you run iTorrent, it asks for your password in order to setup the helper utility with superuser permissions so that it can use port 80.

When I double-click on itorrent.py, the console window pops up, flashes some text, and then quickly closes again. What's going on?

iTorrent has encountered an error while trying to initialize. If you are using the alpha-1 release of iTorrent on Windows, there was an undocumented dependency on Win32 Extensions and ctypes. You can find and install those Python packages, but it is much easier to simply upgrade to alpha-2 or higher.

For any other problem, there should be a debug.dump file either in the iTorrent directory or in the data directory below the iTorrent directory. Please submit a bug report at http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=add&group_id=163841&atid=829332 and attach the debug.dump file to the submission.

Does iTorrent work with podcast readers other than iTunes?

In theory, yes, you can enter proxied URLs into any podcast reader in order to make it use iTorrent. iTorrent has been specifically tuned and tested to work with iTunes 6, however, and your milage may vary with any other podcast reader.

What are the future plans for iTorrent?

A later release of iTorrent will feature a nifty GUI that will let you see the progress of each download. It may also contain any other features that are backed by popular demand.

Technical: How does iTorrent smooth out the downloads for non-BitTorrent podcasts?

When iTunes updates a podcast, it has the nasty habit of spiking the CPU to 100% while it waits for the first few kilobytes of data. When it updates more than one podcast at a time, each update will try to consume 100% CPU time on its own. The result is that some of the updates will be starved of CPU time and eventually timeout. iTorrent resolves this problem by prefetching the first 2KB of each podcast, which it then immediately feeds to iTunes whenever it updates. The immediate feedback prevents iTunes from spiking the CPU for extended periods of time and starving itself.