johno wrote:oh just one more thing...(i sound like columbo)
this should be a yes or no answer - if i want to upload the shows i just downloaded (so that the burden is spread out a little more and i'm not called a "leecher") can i just upload them as they are or do i have to go through all that stuff about checksum and other terms that are not in my dictionary?
if the answer is yes then i'll be a great help to the etree community. if the answer is no, then i'll never download again because there is absolutely no way i'll be able to learn all that computerese. the FAQ at btetree only tells you how to seed shows that are in a raw unedited form, which i'm sure i'll never possess. they don't think to tell you how to simply share the shows that are already there (share the burden of hosting them), unless that info is somewhere else on the site. for all i know my hip concerts are already available to people. i have no idea how this stuff works.
When you finish downloading a show, you automatically go from leecher to seeder (because you now are a seed for the entire show). If you don't disconnect from the tracker, you will keep uploading as long as others are still downloading.
If you have turned off your bitTorrent program and want to share again later, as long as you still have the original files you downloaded, you should be able to re-open the torrent, and point your bitTorrent program to the files you downloaded, to resume seeding.
If you have deleted the original downloaded files or renamed them, you cannot go return as a seeder. Even if you decompressed them to .wav, then deleted the .flacs, you cannot recompress them to .flac and seed, because the files have been altered.
Whenever I download a show, I burn a copy of the files exactly as they came in, to my backup discs, then I can make mp3s (for myself) or burn audio cds after that. This way, if later on, somebody is looking for a seeder on a particular show, I can simply put the original files back onto my computer, and help seed.
Also, if you are thinking of uploading a show from one torrent site to another, just double check that somebody else hasn't already done it. If that's the case, you may be able to seed on the 2nd tracker as well, as long as the uploader hasn't changed the original files either.
Hope this helps.
