BitTorrent clients coming to NASes and routers: PC-less downloads for all

First came the trickle, now the flood. See, BitTorrent is expected to announce 7 routers and 2 NAS storage devices with built-in BitTorrent clients sometime today. Asus will be adding two additional BitTorrent capable routers with 5 more on the way from Planex set to undermine the ethics of Japan. QNAP then, will bring the necessary networked disk with a couple of BitTorrent-enabled NAS servers. Look MPAA, RIAA, we know this isn't how you'd like to start your Monday but just look at the brightside: it's an environmentally friendly way for the kids to be kids since now their PCs won't be running all the time. Hell, we'll even provide ya a list of products for the injuction since it's doubtful you'll find a "made for BitTorrrent" logo anywhere on the box: Asus WL-500gP and WL-500gW routers, the Planex BRC-W14VG-BT, BRC-14VG-BT, BRC-W14V-BT, BLW-HPMM-U, and BLW-HPMM-G routers, and the QNAP TS-101 (pictured) and QNAP TS-201 NAS servers. The ASUS and QNAP boxes will be available Stateside with the TS-101 sporting an eSATA intereface, 3x USB 2.0 ports, and gigabit Ethernet interface for about $279. It certainly won't stop here (without legal intervention) since the client in many cases -- like the TS-101 -- is just a firmware update away. Look, why fight it, let the people embrace their legal right to download copyrighted material, uh, in Holland.

[Mike @ Oct 23rd 2006 10:44AM]

So you can download via BT without having your PC on? But instead you have this router on and a NEtwork storage device on?

Most people I know leave their PCs on 24/7 anyway so what's the big deal? I must be missing something.

[Alex C @ Oct 23rd 2006 10:54AM]

Well it's one less thing for your computer to have to think about, meaning, better performance (though on a quick machine the gains might be negligible).

[David @ Oct 25th 2006 8:11PM]

Most people I know don't leave their computer on through the night since your electricity bill will go through the roof. It can overheat too.

[HughJass @ Oct 23rd 2006 11:23AM]

As if people turn off their routers and networking devices at night...?

[Dean Lowe @ Oct 23rd 2006 12:32PM]

A router uses less power than a PC.

[Dale @ Oct 23rd 2006 5:56PM]

Most people leave their PC's on 24/7 because they are downloading though, with this you don't have to leave your pc on 24/7, that is the point. I know I will sleep better without the sound of my pc running all night. I hope they bring out a uTorrent variant, it would be perfect for their webUI.

[Dave @ Oct 24th 2006 12:43AM]

Consider the few of us who would gladly save on the power bill by shutting down the laptop overnight, and enjoy being able to just grab the lappy and go in the morning without having to worry about stopping the BT download.

[champ @ Oct 23rd 2006 11:05AM]

It is not in the machine, the main point is download autonomy... A great thing!

[Rishard @ Oct 23rd 2006 11:09AM]

I was JUST looking for one of these things. I hope they give us a few options. Maybe one where there is no built in hard drive where you can plug a usb drive into it.

[Kenn @ Oct 23rd 2006 11:12AM]

Gah, Asus can't even get the BT client on the 700g right, and they wanna crank out 2 more, with probably the same crappy client?

[Pirateinmymind @ Oct 23rd 2006 11:13AM]

You are missing th point... You can strat the download and then take you computer/ laptop elsewhere (away from your home network) and join a LAN party or something. In other words you don't have to pause your download when you bring your compy into a no internet area.

[kansei @ Oct 23rd 2006 11:16AM]

Now if only they'd come out with a router than that outpower my desktop, other desktop, fileserver, htpc, work pc, and laptop so I can start leaving them off.. they all just sit doing Folding@home all day long :D

[tiuk @ Oct 23rd 2006 11:28AM]

I think you completely missed the point.

[HughJass @ Oct 23rd 2006 10:41PM]

Um... no, I didn't miss the point. I was replying to Mike's post where he said "So you can download via BT without having your PC on? But instead you have this router on and a NEtwork storage device on?" My point was that no one turns off their router or network attached storage device. His logic of "but instead you have this router on" doesn't make sense. Who shuts off their routers? No one. But people do shut off their PCs.

[Joe @ Oct 23rd 2006 11:54AM]

that would be awesome. i take my laptop to my classes and hate having to pause everything evertime i move. now i can run downloads all day long!

[sixspeed @ Oct 23rd 2006 11:55AM]

The Synology DS-106e also has a bit-torrent client (and a few others in their range no doubt) as I just picked one of these up at the weekend :)

[Matt @ Oct 23rd 2006 12:49PM]

Bittorent Inc. will be sure to take advantage of this when they offer premium subscription content and have feeds set up so people can download thier subscribed content overnight .

[irony... @ Oct 23rd 2006 12:54PM]

Wait. This is not new at all.

People are doing this already with the linksys wrt54gls using the white russian linux firmware and a freely available bittorrent client compiled for wrt. see openwrt.org.

[Indy Steve @ Oct 23rd 2006 1:05PM]

The ASUS WL-500G has the same BT capabilities as the WL-700 is only $100 or less. Its just a router so it requires an external HDD. Anyone have any idea what sort of power savings that would offer over running a PC 24/7?

[Alex @ Oct 24th 2006 1:32PM]

Hello can anyone say wirless ap/brige to bittorrent box, not even your bandwidth youd use. althou the legallity is questionable, of course if your in an office hijack next doors wireless and plug int the box

[Pete @ Oct 23rd 2006 4:18PM]

How big are the NAS's? Would that be better than having a beige box linux NAS on all the time? Do they even make BT linux NAS distros?

[pgl @ Oct 23rd 2006 4:34PM]

if the bt clients on the NAS can support RSS downloads then im all for it. oh, and gigabit too please.

[mb @ Oct 23rd 2006 6:02PM]

Yes, just what I want, the piece of software that reads and writes to a drive more than any other (read: increasing wear) to run on the place where I supposedly want to keep important data.

I love bt, but hell, I have a dedicated box with a drive I can afford to lose in it running torrentflux.

["Big Gus" Dickus @ Oct 23rd 2006 6:08PM]

So how can this device launch torrent downloads when it has no display for showing that pop-up picture of some asshole with a baby?

[tekdroid @ Oct 23rd 2006 8:41PM]

Look, why fight it, let the people embrace their legal right to download copyrighted material, uh, in Holland.
=========
Sure, a lot of stuff is copyrighted, but there are also some legit uses. Seriously.

I've always wanted my "downloads to continue, but PC to be off". So this is a good thing. Not that I'll be upgrading anytime soon, but nice to know things are advancing in some small way. Now, the only problem is how bug-free the implementations are - and I definitely won't be buying one with an embedded HD. External eSATA or USB 2.0 is fine for me, though.

Open source firmware even finer, I think.

[DerekPowell @ Oct 23rd 2006 10:07PM]

wow I had this idea the other night when I couldn't sleep. Thought I was original

[Eric @ Oct 24th 2006 1:39AM]

I still say this is a bad idea. Use your computer. It's secure, the BT software is more updatable and won't flood/spam the network. And I can controll it (like not downloading while I'm trying to play FPSes).

[Rapax @ Oct 24th 2006 3:13AM]

I'm amazed how many people think this is something new. I have an old Asus WL-500g router running at home, with a 250GB external HD hooked up to it. Combine that with tvRSS, and I always have the latest episodes of my favorite shows ready to watch, either on the Mediabox in my living room, on my laptop, or om my PDA when I'm on the go.

[Oddmanout @ Oct 24th 2006 3:22AM]

"Most people I know leave their PCs on 24/7 anyway so what's the big deal? I must be missing something."

Yeah I'm occasionally one of them. I got into the habit, when I got into peer-to-peer downloading. I suspect the same is true for a lot of people. But now that I pay my own electric bills, if I DON'T have any torrents or such downloading, I turn my system off at night.
And I think other people might like to have that option back without having to give out their downloading capabilities.

When I get done with school and return to the US I'll be with my folks again for a while, but even so I don't want to waste power anymore. I've been hoping to pick up a NAS device so I could access all my data from any of the machines in the house anyway...this added funtionality is just icing on the cake. A NAS device with p2p (here's hoping for a Limewire client in the future) and a used tablet PC (circa Celeron @500mhz) soon to be purchased on eBay as my always on (but often sleeping) email and voip interface and I'm good to roll. My primary and secondary PCs will only be turned on while actively in use, and my laptop(s) will be free to go where I go, when I want to go...

As for this being predated by a hacked router...yes it was. And plenty of people have kept around older systems when they've bought/built new ones and used them as basicaly dedicated p2p machines. The concept isn't news, but the increasing availability of purpose built out-of-the box capable units with built in storage is. To some people anyway...

[Edward Lin @ Oct 25th 2006 5:04AM]

Synology's DS-106e has better review from Tom's Networking http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2006/06/28/synology_ds106e_full_featured_nas/. Check here for a full NAS comparison http://www.tomsnetworking.com/nas/index.html.

[John @ Oct 26th 2006 5:06AM]

In terms of download speed, this product beats all others:

Procare eShare
http://www.etmag.com/publication/magazine/2006-08/71.htm#4

Available for OEM.

[ivan @ Nov 23rd 2006 2:07PM]

I drop my synology NAS to my trash can when I found QNAP's NAS. because synology one is too noisy. and I saw the thermal report the synology one's inner temperature is extermely high, which can almost burn my HDD! it is not safe for my important data. TomsHardware's guys are purly PC mad, focus on some stupid throughout things comparion. Bad!
For home user, it is important to have a quiet machines, for this reason I bought QNAP one and now I'm quite satisfied with it.