Your choice of Bittorrent client comes down to personal preference, computer skill level, OS and platform. There are many clients to choose from, so I'll just describe a few of the best.

µTorrent is one of the most popular Windows clients. It's lightweight but full of features.

Java-based Azureus, which exposes every Bittorrent nook & cranny in a nice visual interface, and works with Windows, OSX and Linux. For many people, all the extra settings can be overkill (but it's up to you, of course!)

Linux / OS X command-line clients

If you prefer a text-based client and run Linux or Mac OSX with python installed, check out the original python scripts, which work just as well as any of the GUI clients. (a sample package is available from Sourceforge but there may be more recent updates available on the official BitTorrent page).

There are two flavors of the command-line client: btdownloadheadless.py and btdownloadcurses.py -- essentially the same, with btdownloadcurses looking a little prettier. Though neither have the nice graphical display of the GUI clients above, they allow you to easily monitor your downloads quickly and remotely, anywhere you have a shell to your computer (for instance, to watch your download while you are at the office, using your home computer's bandwidth). By adding --spew 1 to your command line, you can see many of the stats available with the GUI clients. Here's an example download command: For convenience, add an alias to your startup shell script (example for .bashrc): Then call your download with: That's all you really need to do, but if you want to delve deeper, read on...

A good trick is to use the above syntax in conjunction with the screen command. What does screen do? To quote the manpage: "When screen is called, it creates a single window with a shell in it (or the specified command) and then gets out of your way so that you can use the program as you normally would... Programs continue to run when their window is currently not visible and even when the whole screen session is detached from the user's terminal." (type man screen for more information) If you decide to go this route, you may want to update your .bashrc line to look something like: Once you have started the download, you can then "detach" the screen by pressing CONTROL-A, then D. Your download is still running and active, but is now in the background, waiting to be "reattached" to a terminal window.

Later, (say, when you are at work and logged into your home computer remotely) you can bring up a list of all detached screens with: Choose a screen and reattach it to your current terminal session with the command: (the d will detach the screen from its existing terminal, if necessary, and the r reattaches the screen.)

Voila! You've successfully transferred your screen from one terminal to another. To kill a screen altogether, type CONTROL-A, then K.

One final note: I'd recommend using the --display_interval setting when watching your download remotely. It limits the program's display update rate, which can really save on bandwidth. If you're just doing a local download, however, there's not much need to set this option.

After you've gotten a client, you need to find the .torrent files. There are many places to get .torrent files on the web (see this page). A quick aside: a torrent file is just a small text file which is a "roadmap" to the file you want, which is why it's so small. You still need to load the torrent file with a Bittorrent client in order to get the real file. (This is a common source of confusion for people new to Bittorrent.)

MST3K Torrent sites (including *giant* full-season torrents)

• YouTorrent (my new favorite torrent meta-search site)
• Every MST3K Episode (Updated link since Torrentspy's demise! Link good as of Oct 2007. Page can be slow to load but this is probably the link you are looking for.) Note: 10/16 People have reported the trackers for this torrent are down. I'll keep the link up, just in case.
  
• Completorrent (searches multiple torrent sites at once)
• MySpleen.Net (registration required)
• mst3kbt.blogspot.com
• TorrentSpy
• ISOHunt
• Mininova
• TorrentReactor (Ads may not be safe for work)
• Novatina
• TorrentBox
• http://tracker.mainsteam.net
• Livetorrents
• YouCeff
• Suprnova
• Torrentsearch
• ... or even Google

Warning: If you have Cox High Speed Cable, they seem to be scanning for the KTMA episode Hangar 18 (who knows why). Read here for more info.

Slow or dead download? Here are some common culprits:

• Your firewall is blocking TCP ports 6881-6999. See your firewall documentation to find out how to add custom port ranges to the "ok" list.
• Your firewall is blocking TCP port 6969, which is commonly used by Bittorrent Trackers. See your firewall documentation to find out how to add particular ports to the "ok" list.
• The tracker is using an unconventional port, like 7001 or 2710 and your firewall is blocking it. Look for the tracker status message in your client. If you see 'tracker-address.xxxxxxxx.com:7001', or any other number outside the range of 6881-6999, you'll have to unblock the port (TCP) manually in your firewall config.
• The tracker is down or you don't have permission to download from this tracker. Look for the tracker status message in your bittorrent client.
• Too few seeders. When only a few people have the bytes you need, you'll have to get in line behind the other peers. Priority in line is given to those peers who have uploaded the most, to encourage sharing.
• The distributed file is not complete. Across all peers, there must be at least one full copy of the file. (Look for the "number of distributed copies" number in your bittorrent client, this should be 1.0 or higher) Patience helps, since this number fluctuates as peers come and go.

To get the most out of Bittorrent, there are a few terms you'll probably want to get familiar with:

• Seeder: someone with a full copy of the file, actively sharing with others. Confirm there is at least 1 Seeder before starting your download (most torrent websites usually have a data column indicating this number)
• Leecher: someone with a partial copy of the file, who is still in the process of downloading (and, due to the nature of Bittorrent, uploading too).
• Peer: either a seeder or leecher of the current file. Peers transfer pieces of the file directly to each other, with everything coordinated by the tracker.
• Tracker: this is a server that coordinates all the seeders and leechers. Typically, users don't really need to know much about the tracker (from an average user's perspective, they simply click a torrent link on a webpage and the client does the rest.)
• Torrent File: A small text file, found on a web page, that can be opened with a Bittorrent client.
• Client: the program that handles .torrent files once you've clicked on one.
• Upload/Download Ratio: for the torrent to stay alive, it's crucial (though not mandatory) to upload as much as you download, so try to keep the client open until you've reached at least a 1 to 1 ratio. It's an easy way to "give back" to the digital MST community, if you are so inclined.