AllPeers: The New P2P Firefox Extension

This new “thrilla from Mozilla” allows you to harness the power of BitTorrent from the comfort and safety of your Firefox internet browser. It’s much like the security of an FTP setup, where one predetermines what and with whom media and data files are shared. But, unlike FTP clients, AllPeers harnesses the power of BitTorrent to speed up transfers amongst users. Instead of being limited by your maximum upload rate, sky’s the limit depending on how many users already have, or are in the of process of downloading, a given file.

In addition, the ease of use, “drag and share,” as AllPeers calls it, makes it a favorable means of transferring files from person to person. Unlike BitTorrent client servers where sharing requires the creation of trackers for each individual file, you can add an entire directory simply with a single click, or a single file with a “drag and drop.”

Anonymity is also a plus as it enables you stay out of the public torrent swarms of Torrentspy and the like that are menaced by the watchful eyes of the RIAA and MPAA. Private tracker sites are safer, but for whom and for how long? To get caught file-sharing with AllPeers is virtually impossible.

One can even create a private community of friends that thereby “drag and share” files to make available for them all. Each person could put their favorite music, movie, and application files in their share folder for everyone in this private community to download. Now I must admit this feature seems too good to be true but, it does indeed work as advertised.

TorrentFreak had an interesting interview a while back with Matthew Gertner from AllPeers where he discussed how the plugin supports BitTorrent and how he sees it progressing in the future.

Torrentfreak: A lot of people were assuming that allpeers could be used as a “regular” bittorrent client (downloading torrents). Are you planning to integrate this functionality in a later stage?

Matthew: Actually we already support standard torrents. We haven’t added a user interface for this yet because: a) there a still a couple of issues we want to iron out and b) we still want to add features that make it competitive with leading BitTorrent clients (such as the ability to turn on/off individual files in a torrent). We’re 100% focused on getting out the AllPeers public beta and (soon afterwards) the 1.0 version. We’ll finalize our support for standard torrents after we’ve gotten this squared away.

Torrentfreak: Bittorrent is designed to transfer files between large groups of people at once. Are you planning to integrate “open” and searchable groups in the future (the option for people to create open groups, and a searchable directory within the extension), so people can get the best out of bittorrent?

Matthew: Absolutely. We have big plans for letting people set up peer-to-peer communities and share files within them. Once again, this won’t be in the 1.0 release but it is something that we are very excited about.

Now keep in mind that this version of AllPeers is still in the beta stages but, the final release is to include additional features such as chat, comments, tagging, and support for external torrents.

INSTALLATION
SETUP
>> Contact List
>> Sharing Files

INSTALLATION

First off, if you aren’t a convert to Firefox, download and install it now.

Then it’s time to get the AllPeers plugin. Download and install the plugin from the Firefox plugin page.

Then close and restart Firefox to activate the new AllPeers extension.

SETUP
CONTACT LIST
First thing we need to do is add some contacts so that we have somebody to share with.

Click on the “Add a Contact” tab on the upper left-hand portion of the browser.

This will bring up the contacts editor on the right-hand side as pictured here in the screenshot. Just as the message indicates, you can enter either the AllPeers Name or e-mail address of the person or persons you wish to add.

Also, there is an option to select after you enter each person, placing them in one of two categories, family or friend. Then simply select “Add Contact” to finish up each submission.

SHARING FILES

First select the “Share” tab located at the top left-hand part of the screen.

Now for the fun part. If you’ll notice, I have already dragged and dropped 3 different types of files in the share “window” as pictured to the right. The first one is an XVID clip, the second is an MP3 song, and the third is a .Zip file (data).

To make it easier you can also use the options listed beneath it, either to add by folder, by file, or even paste from clipboard. The third option is the coolest and most convenient method for copying and sharing pictures from the internet

Here’s an example:

After you’re finished selecting which files you wish to share you then need to select with whom you wish to share them. The contacts you entered previously should be visible in the “contact” box as shown to the right.

You can also add a message to the user or users you will be sharing the files with by entering a message in the message box.

Lastly, to begin sharing, click and select the “share” button.

Moreover, this new AllPeers extension will revolutionize the way people share files. Instead of hassling with an FTP client or fiddling with Azureus or another BitTorrent client server, you can simply drag and drop with no hassles and no worries. It’s fast, easy, and most importantly, secure. As the extension begins to roll out and gets further into the hands of the users at large, I can already see people banding together and creating AllPeers communities where people can safely trade media files away from the prying eyes of the RIAA and MPAA powers that be.

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