uTorrent Announces Plans for Special 'Sponsored Torrents'
uTorrent is introducing sponsored content to give revenue a boost.
Filesharing client uTorrent has quietly announced plans to change the way it pulls in revenue. TorrentFreak reports that the company last week revealed plans to introduce sponsored content into users' torrent lists. Specifically, users will soon start seeing a featured torrent at the top of their torrents list. uTorrent says this spot will be used to offer a variety of different types of content and that the site is working towards "bringing [users] offers that are relevant to [them]."
"You are all very familiar with how we have paid the bills so far. These new changes mark our next step towards finding that difficult balance between keeping our lights on and providing a positive user experience," uTorrent said in an announcement.
"This new build will display a featured torrent at the top of your torrent list. This featured torrent space will be used to offer a variety of different types of content. We are working towards bringing you offers that are relevant to you. This means films, games, music, software...basically anything that you will find interesting. We may not get it right on the first try but we will continue to improve our efforts based on your feedback."
TorrentFreak reports that these sponsored torrents promoting content from advertisers will also be used for important updates and to promote artists. What you see will vary depending on your location (determined via your IP). The sponsored torrents cannot be switched off but users will be able to 'click away' individual ads.
It's thought BitTorrent's main motivation for the change is increasing revenue, though TF cites a source that puts annual revenue at somewhere between $15 and $20 million.
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'Download MS Office 2013'
* looks down at active torrents *
Currently Seeding MS Office 2013
'oops'
'Download MS Office 2013'
* looks down at active torrents *
Currently Seeding MS Office 2013
'oops'
did not know Usenet was still active :-)
I suspect most people who get annoyed at this will just revert back to an older version and disable update checking.
Now will any content be downloaded to your computer without permission?
Agreed, µTorrent isn't very "µ" anymore with its bloatware and buggy junk. I can't even use their new versions since it drops the speeds to about 0.01% of the original speed. Completely useless.
Anyone got any recommendations for a new slim, fast and bloatware-free client?
I am trying out deluge - so far so good.
µTorrent is bloated adware these days. Transmission runs on my router without needing a computer to be on. Transmission FTW
On my Linux box I use Ktorrent, and Vuze on the Windows machine.
He asked for a bloatware-free client and you list Vuze. I dont even...
Yes, and I also said Windows, which is totally bloat-free, right? Relax - I just stated what I use. Ktorrent is what I use 99% of the time.
All the 3.x branch is total crap. Nobody forces you to "upgrade"
Well, Windows may not be lightweight no, but that doesn't mean I want to add more bloatware to it
qBittorrent is currently my client of choice -- lightweight, cross-platform, open source and actively developed.