Heaven Awaits: BitTorrent versus Streaming Internet Telly

Eva Wiseman over at The Guardian has ruined my life. Okay, fine, I exaggerate. She’s “ruined my life” in a "hurts so good" way. In the 24 February 2007 edition of the guide (“TV Quick!”) she shared websites that have links to free, streaming television shows and movies. I, being a selfish cow, would’ve kept this windfall to myself. Eva, however, is much more generous. Why, then, am I sharing now? Because if my productivity levels are going to drop from an Internet-based activity other than cruising around looking at gadget porn, all you Shiny Shiny readers are going down with me.

The scoop: rather than peer-2-peer downloading television shows or films over the course of several days and risking imprisonment with Bits on Wheels or Mininova, there are websites that aggregate links to streaming TV shows and films. Streaming means that you click n’ go. The main site Eva recommends is Alluc.org (“all you see” - took me a while to get that one). Search by category (i.e. TV show, film, cartoons, music videos, sports) and find links to older shows and more recent fare. I spent an entire Sunday watching episodes 1-16 of NBC’s fabulous new programme Heroes. On another night, I came across a Google Video Canada link to the far-fetched boy fantasy film The Last Kiss with Zac Braff and Rachel Bilson. Stop watching telly and get a life? I do have a life. It’s television.

Before Alluc redirects your browser to the site with the TV or film link, there’s a legality disclaimer, but that’s more to cover their tuckuses than users’. Surely, it’s illegal to post links to copyrighted material, but is it illegal to watch these streams? A lawyer I consulted (my flatmate in the kitchen) gave the clarification that they (meaning The Man) will find some way to make it illegal. Website owners try to skirt the legality issue by claiming that streaming TV is a good way to check out material before purchasing somewhere like iTunes or on DVD. And, trust, if these sites all vanished tomorrow, I would be all over an iTunes Heroes season pass like a rash.

Verdict: Streaming media websites make me feel like it’s those early, heady Wild West days of the Internet all over again. Posting and hosting these files can’t be legal and it can’t last, so I say, “giddy up!” These streaming websites are so much better than downloading with BitTorrent. There’s no software to fiddle with, no learning curve, you get instant transaction satisfaction, and you don’t use up your broadband download allowance. There are drawbacks: broken links; episodes or films posted in parts rather than as an entire file; and some sites confine their streams to their own interface and don’t allow for full screen.

If you’ve got willpower, go on and check out some streaming telly. If you’re susceptible to sloth like me, I dare you to watch just one episode of Heroes…or The Office (US version)…or The L Word…or…