I've been taking notes on yesterday's viral video posting from BoingBoing on Prodigem of the Berkeley Laptop Thief rant. It shot to the number one spot (past the tsunami downloads) within 6 hours for most complete downloads. Even at this moment, it sports greater than 400 seeders and has been seeing a steady average of 10-20 "leechers" at any given time. A leecher in BitTorrent parlance is just the name given to someone that hasn't completed the download of the content. People with completed downloads are called "seeders" (seeders who stick around to help seed the torrent are the people that make bit torrent work).

Though, I've never quite cared for the term leecher. As it turns out, on the day prior to the BoingBoinging, I completed some upgrades to Prodigem which provide insights into the upload/download status of torrenters at the point at which they complete their download. To that end, at this very moment, with 8171 complete downloads, "leechers" (the people who themselves haven't even finished getting the whole video) have just past 1 GB of donated aggregate bandwidth to the laptop rant cause.

Still, some may scoff at this number in comparison to the total amount of bandwidth consumed (4.9MB * 8171 downloads =~ 40 GB), but I'm still impressed by this 1/40th effort. Considering that at any given time you join the torrent, there are roughly 20 times more people with the entire content available, I would say it's a rather valiant showing for the lowly leecher. Moreover, over 35% of all leechers provided at least 1 Byte of upload before completing their download.

So, why give a name with such negative connotation to those who haven't completed their downloads? After all, we all start out this way. Such is how it is. Perhaps leeches (and maggots) just need a PR makeover.

By Gary Lerhaupt, 11:42 AM in prodigem | Comments (3)  

BoingBoing's doing the Prodigem thing again, this time to distribute out a video of Berkeley Prof ranting about his stolen laptop. They've got the viral touch (as in everything they touch turns viral). It's not such a bad thing. Currently there are 129 seeds.

Also, Sao Bento Music has taken up Prodigem to help sell for $0.99 an mp3 single from one of their artists, d.biddle. Now I just need the viral touch on the Prodigem marketplace...

By Gary Lerhaupt, 03:02 PM in prodigem | Comments (0)  

If you're going to start out an online marketplace, you might as well start it off with something cool like High Definition. The movie is called On Our Way Up, runs about 3GB in size. It's about escaping a life of drugs and killing in Atlanta's "Zone 6." Here's where you can buy it. For more info, check out the press release.

By Gary Lerhaupt, 12:30 AM in prodigem | Comments (0)  

Howard Rheingold, Smart Mobs:

Success will depend on achieving a critical mass of culture creators and paying culture consumers -- but if that happens, Lerhaupt might well have come up with a viable answer to the DRM wars.

Joi Ito, Joi Ito Web:

I'm very interested in the economics of the end of the long tail. My theory is that people will pay, even if they are not forced. I think price, the experience and the lack of DRM should have an impact.

David Weinberger, Joho the Blog:

I hope the marketplace takes off. But I'm worried about the "small monthly fee" Prodigem will require of users once it's out of beta. It may keep the chicken from ever getting out of the egg. But I assume they've thought this through better than I have.

Om Malik, Om Malik on Broadband:

Enck and I agree - this distribution model has legs

Marc Canter, Marc's Voice:

Gary Lerhaupt and the folks [at] Prodigem are gonna give Jeremy Allaire and Brightcove a run for the money - with the opening up of Prodigem Torrents marketplace.

Jordan Running, p2p.weblogsinc.com:

Prodigem has long been providing BitTorrent hosting services for legally-licensed material. Now they’re doing what I believe is a first: Selling BT downloads.

By Gary Lerhaupt, 12:49 PM in prodigem | Comments (0)  

A whole new look to the front page of prodigem.com. Check it out.

By Gary Lerhaupt, 02:39 AM in prodigem | Comments (0)  

The Creative Commons CC Mixter folks have posted a torrent on Prodigem of mashups from their Fine Art of Sampling Contests.

The torrent: mathowie-wiredremix.torrent.

And more info:

The entrants remixed songs licensed under sampling licenses, from the original WIRED CD that shipped in November of 2004 with every issue of WIRED. The winning tracks are all contained in this torrent, and they've also made it onto a free CD Creative Commons gives away at events and the winner of the Fine Arts Militia Mix ends up as a bonus track on their new album.

By Gary Lerhaupt, 03:23 PM in torrents | Comments (0)  

Interested in helping to weave together a new marketplace for the independent media producer? Prodigem has just launched a new part of its service that allows you to sell your content. Check out more info for all the details, but the gist is that you will shortly be able to upload your content into Prodigem, name your selling price and then have Prodigem collect your revenue while controlling access to the torrent. We take out 10% + transaction costs (PayPal) and then once a month you get a check in the mail. You're happy, we're happy and your customers are happy because they get stuff they can own with no DRM. If you want to try your hand at the new market, this torrent shows what everything looks like. The content is a 10 minute documentary I put together and as an example is available for $0.99.

As it so happens, we are currently looking for a handful of people excited by this opportunity with content that they'd like to sell. Please get in contact with our request address if you are interested.

By Gary Lerhaupt, 11:28 AM in prodigem | Comments (7)  

Spent the weekend giving Prodigem a makeover. Not fun work, but definitely nice to have everything consistent feeling. Hope you like it. Now with Prodigem, Inc. official (actually official as of April 1st, which explains the delayed mention) you can expect some very cool things on the near horizon. Oh, and no corporate worries please, if I should in the future need to decide to start charging for any services you are currently receiving for free, I promise at least a 1 year heads up.

By Gary Lerhaupt, 12:53 AM in prodigem | Comments (0)