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[fdrm]

Hi,
I'm new at this - just found out about the site yesterday - and can't quite figure out the basics.

I got utorrent, which seems to be working fine. I downloaded a torrent.  That seemed to work fine. I saw a lot of warnings to leave the file in utorrent so others can upload it. Nothing has uploaded at all, making me, I fear, a dreaded "leech."

Now, my main problem: how do I get the darn thing to play? There is a play button in utorrent, but it is not active. I see posts about playing these files with media players, but I don't know where the actual media file is; all I see is the little torrent file I initially downloaded, and then the track listing within utorrent.

I apologize for my ignorance, but can someone please tell me what to do next? I have checked the the instructional guides and other posts, but haven't found the answer.

Thanks very much!!
Florence

[mikebrakes]

First of all, being a "leach" just means you are downloading the file and haven't completed it yet. Nothing derogatory.  A "seeder" is somebody that has completed downloading the file. As far as leaving the torrent open, that is just a courtesy so other people can download the file also. The more people seeding, the faster people can finish their download. You are downloading the file in parts, so the more people you are connected to, the more parts you are getting at the same time. As far as a "warning" - some sites will ban you if your share ratio falls to a certain point. We won't.

As far as playing the file, you need to finish downloading the file first before you can play it. The torrent file itself won't play. Once you download the torrent, you open the torrent (you can choose where to download the file on your hard drive) the actual file needs to download onto your computer before you can play it. There a several tutorials in the forum to explain everything.

And don't worry, we were all just as "ignorant" when we first started using torrents. You'll get it in time. And welcome to Mousebits! A lot of good stuff out there.  

[fdrm]

Thanks for the kind words! I figured out my problem, which was that I didn't know where the actual files had downloaded to. A simple search located them, and now I'm in business.

Many thanks to all of you who record and upload all these tracks!!

Florence

[pixelated]

I figured out my problem, which was that I didn't know where the actual files had downloaded to. A simple search located them, and now I'm in business.

There is a faster (but perhaps not obvious ) way to find the downloaded files.
If you right-click on a torrent in uTorrent's main window, a pop-up menu will appear.  The second menu item from the top is "Open Containing Folder".  Choosing this item will open the folder/directory containing the downloaded file(s) in an Explorer window.