Noob question

[t_fields04]

I'm a former Napster user(from back when Lars was sueing and it was free to everyone) and I haven't done any file sharing in a long time. I'm new to torrents and just want to make sure I understand what is going on.

So you have software on your machine that reads the .torrent file, which is a small file that you use to point to people that have the file. The client software uses the torrent to communicate with a tracker and the tracker regulates the traffic. So the kind of files you can download are based on what tracker you get the .torrent from. I know there are public and private trackers and with most good ones, you have to be a member. I recently tried getting using pirate bay with the bittorrent client built into Ubuntu, but the download was horribly slow. Is that because my end is misconfigured or because Pirate Bays just sucks??

[cheapprick]

It usually means that there are few people seeding [offering] the file. If there were a lot of seeders, try a different client.

[carpefile]

It could also have lots to do with your end. If you are connected behind a router or a firewall (and some modems have firewalls built in too) then you will need to open listening ports so your client can communicate with others.
Otherwise your speeds will suck no matter how many seeds there are or which client you use.

[robincheema]

well it really depends on how many seeds(people who provide the file throught thier computer).. don't worry about seeds when you become more fimiler to bittorrent you will get into better trackers and trust me you will beg for leechers(people who take the files/downloaders)
the whole bittorrent idea came when high speed internet was introduced and now insted to going to te servers, people can just use thier computers are servers.. but thier is a need for a client (like utorrent: http://utorrent.com) and a trackers who make sure file is getting where it is spose to get.. now i would reccomend utorrent to be your client for downloading and here: http://utorrent.com/guides.php are few guides you can read to get started. Later i will explain you ratio and private trackers in more detail or you could just use google.