Popular IMSLP downloads via Bittorrent?

[Leonard Vertighel]

Just a wild thought: how about trying to offer the most popular IMSLP downloads via Bittorrent, in addition to the regular download from the server? I have no idea how well it might work, however possible benefits could be:

• less bandwidth usage for the IMSLP servers;
  possibly faster downloads;
  users can contribute bandwidth simply by running a bittorrent client on their computer;
  publicity for IMSLP, if we label the files as originating from IMSLP.

Thoughts?

[matthew]

interesting idea, but would there really be enough interest for this to work? you would need quite a few people wanting the same score to make this possible, plus i don't really see the need to do this as it takes an almost negligible amount of time to download anyway.

This sort of p2p transfer is good for 2 things: transfering large amounts of data to lots of people(which we're not doing here just yet anyway) or avoiding the law (which we're not doing here either). However, it would be interesting to know what bandwidth the server can handle atm, and what the demands on it are right now, because this would indeed be a good way to minimise server traffic if/when it gets overloaded.

[Funper]

i think it is very good idea. but i am thinking about something a little bit more peer-to-peer...

we could put up a hub on DC++ (or use an already existing one, namely sheetmusic.serveftp.net:412) so users could share their collections with eachother and we'll get out to those many score collectors that are unfamiliar with IMSLP. there are many many score collectors out there who are collecting and collecting, thinking that the treasure they're sitting on will never be shared by anyone. well, here they will!

[Leonard Vertighel]

This sort of p2p transfer is good for 2 things: transfering large amounts of data to lots of people(which we're not doing here just yet anyway)

Probably not; we do have some quite large files, but I did not really consider that it's rather unlikely that they are also very popular.

I know nothing about DC++ Funper is talking about; I'll go read up on that

[matthew]

I've just had a look @ DC++ (looks like a directable version of limewire) and i don't think it would be the right thing for what's being proposed atm (though it would be good for sharing personal collections), i think a BitTorrent transfer would be more appropriate for providing an alternative to downloading direct from the server.

But again I doubt the current need for anything like this: the server appears to be handling the current demand without much problem.

[Funper]

trust me on this, DC++ is something that IMSLP needs. E.g. you have a collection of Liszt scores that you can't upload because you don't got time. I on the other hand, don't got any time at ALL, but unluckily I have a genuine interest in Liszt, so I download your collection and submit scores that are permissible.

[imslp]

Actually, Bittorrent is something I've considered for a long time. The problem is this:

1. The torrent cannot be changed easily without making a mess [this is the biggest problem, with no solution].
2. There is no stable "source". I suppose this can be sort of mitigated by using web-seeding, but this is not a function all BT clients have.

At first, I considered using BT as the primary distribution route, but these problems got in the way majorly.

Currently I'm still planning to use BT, but for the distribution of image backups (I'm still thinking of ways to make the bulk of IMSLP minus sensitive information accessible via dumps). In this respect the issues with BT are slightly less problematic. And no I've not forgotten about this : I've been planning to make IMSLP's databases accessible (as dumps) piecemeal. The problem is that IMSLP has a non-standard database setup which is different from normal Mediawiki, so a straightforward dump may not be a good idea, while XML dumps would miss some of the important parts of IMSLP (the index, etc). I may in the end settle on a mixed XML/MySQL dump. The files will come later in BT torrents (and is much more of a headache, especially automating the process).

With regards to sharing things on DC++, that is fine with me; though in the end everything needs to be on IMSLP (to prevent scores from disappearing, etc). Maybe you can set up some page describing the process, Funper.

[Funper]

Basicly, DC++ works like this: users have the option to share files (in most circumstances, hubs put up a threshold e.g. you must share at least X gb of files to join hub Y; the more you share you will be able to join hubs of higher thresholds), these files will be listed in a so called "filelists" which are available for everyone in the hub to view. from the filelist one can choose which files to download. there is also an option to search the whole hub (the filelists of all users in a particular hub) for scores that are shared.

the client is available on http://dcplusplus.sourceforge.net/
an example of an already existing hub for scores is sheetmusic.serveftp.net:412 of coarse scores could be found in many other hubs, but this seems to be the only hub specialized for scores.

[matthew]

I don't disagree that DC++ is very useful, and many good collections of scores are undoubtably avalible there. But it's not appropriate for distibuting files from imslp instead of direct downloads.

Another thing i've been thinking about is which files would offered as torrents? Would it be the entire collection (an awful lot of stuff), all files that recieved more than x downloads per day (would need to be either automated or manually kept up to date), or a list of "popular" files determined by admins (or others).