Today I was able to get my hands on the FoxTorrent Firefox extension to give it a whirl and see what it was all about. Apparently last week one of the members on the team developing the extension had leaked a copy of it and created quite a stir…but at that time they didn’t really want to open the doors of the extension to so many people.
The page where FoxTorrent was originally posted to be downloaded has since been removed, and in its place is a nice little story saying how they didn’t mean for it to get leaked. I really wanted to try out the extension to see what it was all about, so I followed their instructions for joining the “beta team,” which consisted of sending an email to this mailing list. A little bit later I received an email saying how they had to move the site to a new location, and they provided me with a generic username and password that they are trusting no one will give out.
The email was automated, so if you want to try the extension yourself I’m sure you should receive the username and password in no time. What’s the extension all about though? FoxTorrent is aiming to be the next big BitTorrent client since it integrates with the Firefox web browser. This would mean that you don’t have to download any other program in order to download your favorite torrent files, which could be BIG news. All kinds of companies and organizations have begun to provide BitTorrent download links to some files with Linux distributions being the first to pop in my head. Most people shrug off those downloads because they don’t feel like opening the BitTorrent application just to download something that also has direct links provided. If Web browsers begin integrating BitTorrent into the browser itself I think that it could start to become even more mainstream.
I tried the FoxTorrent (Beta) extension out to see what kind of speeds I would get and how well it worked. After installing the extension and restarting Firefox I downloaded one of the recommended video files from a Diggnation podcast. The file was 282MB in size and chugged along quite well…most of the time it was maxing out my Internet connection. I then wanted to see how well it worked with normal Torrents that most people get from sites such as The Pirate Bay, so I searched for some obscure things that didn’t have too many people sharing the files.
I found some files very quickly, but then I also noticed one big problem with the FoxTorrent extension. It can’t handle Torrents that have multiple files in it. So, for example, if you’re trying to download 50 MP3 files you’ll actually only receive the first one that it finds. Before reporting it I noticed that it was already a known issue, and here were the four things that they still have to work on:
- Windows only (Mac and Linux well underway)
- Single file only (multi-file not yet released)
- Torrents with sub-folders have issues
- A memory leak and CPU usage issue with the JavaScript
So whenever they get the multi-file version release I think this extension is going to become really really popular. Here are the actual features that are listed for the extension:
- Download torrents right in Firefox
- Accelerated torrent downloads
- Stream
Play streamable media (e.g. .WMV, .MOV, .MP3, .AVI) files as your torrent downloads!
Download in Firefox’s Download Manager, and manage your torrents from right in Firefox.
Torrents are downloaded from both the BitTorrent and RedSwoosh network, resulting in greater speed and availability.
I didn’t try streaming any media files but that sounds like a feature many users will love. That will allow people to watch videos or listen to music as they download it instead of having to wait for it to finish.
Opera has had integrated BitTorrent support for quite some time, and I’ve tried using it for on occasion, but there always seems to be a huge speed decrease compared to what I get with a well optimized BitTorrent application. I tried FoxTorrent on about 10 different files (all single file downloads that FoxTorrent can handle) and then did the same files in Opera…and FoxTorrent beat Opera in speeds every time. Maybe it is just some sort of fluke for the time being, but FoxTorrent looks really promising. I think BitTorrent file sharing as we know it is on the verge of becoming a standard method for downloading files.
| Update: | As Max pointed out in the comments below, the extension does install software by Red Swoosh in order to manage the downloading of the torrents. In my opinion this takes away a lot from the usefulness of the extension and leaves Opera as the only browser with an integrated BitTorrent client without needing an external application. |
You wrote
“FoxTorrent is aiming to be the next big BitTorrent client since it integrates with the Firefox web browser. This would mean that youdon’t have to download any other program in order to download your favorite torrent files”
but when I tried to download and install this extension, it installed RedSwoosh on my computer. I didn’t even know it had been installed, which is why I won’t be trying this extension out in the future. I’ll stick with regular BT clients.
Wow, I didn’t even notice that it installed that software. There was no Start Menu entry or anything, but I did notice the Red Swoosh software in my Uninstallation menu. That is pretty disappointing and I’ll have to update the article accordingly. Thanks for pointing that out Max!
The thing about Opera torrent feature is that it is said to be Banned by many trackers as it is not a proper Torrent client so I wonder if this extension will be as useful in this case. [forums.torrentspy.com]
I use Linux primarily and as I do multiple files torrents sometimes and since the extension is still in early stage I probably will not use it, at least until it is more finished and depending on how Trackers and BitTorrent clients see it.
There were a couple of BitTorrent projects for Firefox before that were started but has not gotten very far.
[firepuddle.mozdev.org]
[moztorrent.mozdev.org]
I thought this thing was new, but it says in your screenshot “Enabling BitTorrent downloads in Firefox since 1963.” Is that some kind of joke?
I may try this out, because if it’s fast and has many files available, I’ll probably replace LimeWire
As far as the piece of software installed, so long as it doesn’t hog resources or run at Windows startup I probably wouldn’t mind
Wow, I didn’t even realize that but that could explain a lot! I was always disappointed with the speed in Opera’s torrent downloader but maybe it isn’t their fault after all. Don’t I feel bad.
Oh yeah, I was going to mention that in the article. I am assuming that is a joke since Firefox has only been around itself for a few years.
It did give me a good laugh though.
Hey Ryan, to read your site posts, I look through new posts in Y! mail beta’s RSS, and check for unread comments on your dashboard site and sidebar. The thing is, though, I only read the commments of sites I’ve commented on, so it’s good I can find them with the “~”. However, it would be really helpful if the commented on articles could appear at the top (on the dashboard and sidebar), so I didn’t have to scour the list for the symbol.
Hey Ryan, … .as you know, the FoxTorrent extension was leaked before it was ready.
Once we release for real, we’ll have all the info for users on what the client does, install/uninstall, turn off/on, and all the basics.
It’s the swoosh-i-ness (i.e. Redswoosh.exe) that makes the files stream, makes downloads blazing fast and makes for such great integration
Thanks,
Travis
chief swoosher
Good idea! I’ve added it to my ToDo list and it shouldn’t be that hard to do.
Yeah, I completely understand that this isn’t a finished product yet, I was just a little surprised to see it install an extra application without ever notifying me. Hopefully you’ll add a popup or something warning users that continuing to install the extension will install a program on their PC.
FoxTorrent is a plagiarized name. The real FoxTorrent is an open source project, available at [foxtorrent.mozdev.org] I notified RedSwoosh about a month ago on the “FoxTorrent” mailing list, but they continue to use the plagiarized name.
It was probably never copyrighted or trademarked though, which means nothing will be done about it.