Torrent API with more/better results

[jcutrell]

If I use another (unnamed) torrent search engine, I get results with nearly 7000 seeders for a certain unnamed search, while I get a result of 8 seeders for the same unnamed search.

Seems like there might be a better option?

[AaronO]

Check out my reply #15

While the number of seeds is a good indicator of the estimated download speed, it isn't just about that number (check out the different signals I listed).

Another way of seeing it is that 7000 seeds probably isn't better than lets say 2000 in practice, because with 2000 seeds you'll probably most likely saturate your bandwidth anyway.

Let's look into that, we went with isoHunt because it was easy to integrate and it covers already a good share of torrents.

[jcutrell]

There is an unofficial API for thepiratebay, if you trust that kind of thing. It has torrent magnet links exposed.

[aranw]

The Pirate Bay and a lot of mirrors are blocked in the UK.

[SamyPesse]

Maybe a good solution could be a configuration which lets you choose easily between different sources (The Pirate Bay, Isohunt, ...) and a back-end with a good abstraction for the different torrents search engines.

For exemple in config.js :

module.exports =  {
    /* Debug mode */
    "debug": true,

    "torrent": {
        "api": "isohunt"
    }
};

Sorry for my english, I'm french ;)

[eladmeidar]

@SamyPesse maybe even designing it in a way that will allow to add the torrent engine via a package - instead of a hard coded solution, anyone would be able to use what they want.

[AaronO]

@eladmeidar That would be a good suggestion in theory, but in practice I fear it would complicate the installation process and add more frustration that the added flexibility is worth.

I believe it's important to keep the installation process as simple as possible (it still needs simplified) so as many people as possible can set it up and get it working.

[BrysonR]

i have been working on creating a patch for the pirate bay. they don't have an api but someone has developed a simple one at apify.ifc0nfig.com if anyone else is interested in working on it. I've not gotten it working yet but getting there.