Integrate BitTorrent Technology into iTunes

When Apple decided to integrate podcasting into iTunes 4.9, it turned the relatively obscure activity into a household word. But as much as the technology has exploded in the past six months, there still remains a major bottleneck between podcasters and their audiences: bandwidth.

While the MPAA has been busy shutting down sites that use this technology to illegally share movies, the production team of the Silent Universe (http://www.silentuniverse.com) has realized that BitTorrent could be used to make distribution of podcasts basically free.

We, the undersigned, would like to call upon Apple's attention to the great opportunity integrating BitTorrent-type technology into iTunes could offer: effectively bandwidth-independent podcasting, linking podcasters across the globe with their audiences while avoiding hefty data-transfer costs. This would encourage the production of more podcasts, lower barriers of entry and encourage more people to download and use the iTunes software.

Quoting the BitTorrent website:

"You have something terrific to publish . . . But the more popular your file becomes, the more you are punished by soaring bandwidth costs. If your file becomes phenomenally successful and a flash crowd of hundreds or thousands try to get it at once, your server simply crashes and no one gets it.

There is a solution to this vicious cycle. BitTorrent, the result of over two years of intensive development, is a simple and free software product that addresses all of these problems.

The key to scaleable and robust distribution is cooperation. With BitTorrent, those who get your file tap into their upload capacity to give the file to others at the same time. Those that provide the most to others get the best treatment in return. ('Give and ye shall receive!')

Cooperative distribution can grow almost without limit, because each new participant brings not only demand, but also supply. Instead of a vicious cycle, popularity creates a virtuous circle. And because each new participant brings new resources to the distribution, you get limitless scalability for a nearly fixed cost.

BitTorrent is not just a concept, but has an easy-to-use implementation capable of swarming downloads across unreliable networks. BitTorrent has been embraced by numerous publishers to distribute to millions of users.

With BitTorrent free speech no longer has a high price."

We ask that Apple give serious consideration to this opportunity and integrate BitTorrent-type technology in the next version of iTunes.