Well, this might as well be the inaugural post here at StartDownloading.com. I’ve been playing with seedboxes for awhile now, and they’re awesome. They’re addictive. So without further ado, here is why you should get one:
1. You belong to one or more private trackers where ratio matters.
Private bittorrent trackers have been growing in size and popularity for quite some time now. Everybody wants to get in, but membership is invitation only. So if you are lucky enough to get into a private tracker, you’re suddenly in a high-speed downloading environment where rules matter. And the rules that matters the most? The ratio rules. If you download a 4.7 gigabyte movie, you had better upload 4.7 gigabytes as well. That’s what Bittorrent is all about, right? Right – so – what to do when you can download big files much faster than you can upload them? That’s the case for most home-based internet connections, so what can be done about it? Well, you either let your large file seed for a long time until you get to a 1:1 ratio or, worst case scenario, your account can be disabled or handicapped for failure to meet ratio requirement rules.
Seedboxes solve this problem. Downloading a huge file? No problem – when you download it to your seedbox, your seedbox can upload it to others at the same speed you download it. Leave the file running as a seed, and you’ll soon upload a lot more than is required. Now you’re really a valuable member of your private site. Valuable members get rewarded, which we’ll talk about a little further down the list.
2. Seedboxes keep seeds alive indefinitely, 24/7.
So you seed your 4.7 gigabyte file for two weeks and end up with a total of 470 gigabytes uploaded. This happens regularly when seeding a popular file with a seedbox. It helps that a seedbox never has to reboot (at least very, very rarely), and a seedbox never has to turn off at night. Your mom doesn’t check her email on it, and your boss can’t see what you’re doing. Your seedbox is dedicated to uploading and downloading, 24/7.
3. You’d like to download files at ridiculously high speeds.
I think I mentioned this above. But for the record, burstable speeds of 30+ Mbits per second are common. That’s a little faster than your average internet connection at home, right? Uploading is the same story – wouldn’t it be fun to watch your huge files seed to 100% in five or ten minutes? I can answer that question for you, actually…it is really fun to watch. Just be careful…you’re going to need that new external hard drive you’ve had your eye on sooner than you think.
4. You’d like to seed files at ridiculously high speeds.
Same as above, right? Right. It deserves it’s own spot on the list, however, because this is really what a seedbox is all about. The ability to seed at high speeds is a huge part of the reason for obtaining one. The upload speeds are simply incredible, and you’ll be rewarded for them.
5. Your seedbox is accessible from any internet connection, anywhere.
So you’re tired after a day of island hopping in Micronesia. All you can think about is sitting down with a margarita and watching the latest James Bond movie. But video rental stores are sparse in Micronesia. And video rental stores in this day and age are rapidly approaching the same elite status enjoyed by 8-tracks, LPs, and Beta-Max, right?
But we digress. You’ve got a seedbox, and you downloaded that Bond movie there several weeks ago. So, you order your margarita by the pool and hop on the wireless network. You log in to your server, and a little while later, you’ve got the Bond movie on your laptop. Nice, eh? If you don’t want to wait for the whole movie to download, why don’t you just stream it to your laptop using the built-in VLC streaming ability that your seedbox has? And hey – don’t forget to order another margarita.
6. No traffic shaping, bandwidth throttling, or rate limiting occurs on a seedbox.
Comcast and several other large ISP’s engage in these practices, and the home user is the one who feels the effects – your torrent downloads become slow or are blocked altogether. Well, seedboxes are an extremely effective work-around in these instances. Getting one is like giving Comcast a giant virtual middle finger while laughing maniacally. Sure, Comcast will never know – but you will.
7. Seedboxes are fun.
Get one with some friends and split the cost. Google seedbox hosting and you’re sure to find what you’re looking for. And you’ll be the most popular geek in your neighborhood.
8. Seedboxes are cool.
Yes, you might have a lot of very cool internet savvy friends, but I’ll bet not many of them has a seedbox. At least not yet. The fact that you have one increases your coolness ratio by a factor of infinity. Enough said.
9. If you look around, you can find a seedbox on the cheap. I’ve had an awesome seedbox from seedboxhosting.com for a long time now.
Some seedboxes cost a lot. Some cost a little. It’s pretty likely you can find what you’re looking for, especially if you have some like-minded friends to share the cost with. Ask yourself these questions as you poke around:
1. Can I share the cost with friends?
2. Can I reboot my seedbox myself whenever I want?
3. Can I run more than one Bittorrent client on my seedbox if I want to?
4. Will my seedbox be set up right away or do I have to wait?
5. What kind of satisfaction guarantee do I get?
Etc, etc – those are good questions to start with anyway.
Have fun. And remember – seedboxes are truckloads of awesome. Once you get one, you’re probably going to have it for awhile. Plan accordingly.
