In much the same way that illegal music sharing sites pushed recording companies to allow the set up of legitimate online shops for their products, BitTorrent is paving the way for the future of the television and movie market.

Of course Internet sites carrying downloadable copies of movies or television shows are breaking copyright laws if they are not being distributed with the blessings of the television studios and networks that own them. However, until the companies that own the shows or movies allow the online sale of such shows, the illegal distribution of video will continue.

It is now as easy to download a pirate TV show as it is to programme a VCR, perhaps even easier as I discovered in testing the technology. Pirated copies of almost every first-run TV show in the US, such as ?The Simpsons? or ?Six Feet Under?, are now available for free download on the Internet a few hours after they are shown. Many UK and European shows such as ?Eastenders? and ?Big Brother? are also available. Envisional, a piracy watchdog, says it recorded a 150 percent rise in TV copying in the UK as a result of increased bandwidth and new technology such as DVD recorders.

Copies of shows are on the Internet hours if not minutes after they are shown in the US but months before they make it to the UK. One site claims that each episode of ?The Simpsons? is available for download 15 minutes after the show ends on television. The UK accounts for 18 percent of worldwide copying, according to Envisional?s research into the issue (available at www.envisional.com).

About 70 percent of the downloads are being made through BitTorrent technology, currently a target of legal attacks by the US film industry.

?On one level, there is ample opportunity for television companies to exploit this space and, in the same way that Apple?s iTunes has shown that on-demand music purchasing can be successful, offer their episodes for download at a small cost at the same time as they air offline,? Envisional says.

?At the same time, entertainment companies must be aware of the dangers of losing their core audience to a delivery method that is free, unregulated, and open to anyone with an Internet connection.?

So what exactly is BitTorrent? It is a simple piece of file sharing software that allows the download of a show within a couple of hours. The quality of the compressed video file is good enough to watch via a computer monitor or, when burned on to a CD or DVD, on a television screen. BitTorrent is one way to speed up the process. First you download BitTorrent from one of the many sites offering the free software. The software sits hidden as part of your browser. When you click on a link for a video presentation (or any other file for that matter), BitTorrent downloads the TV show to your computer in fragments from many different users who have bits of the file. As the file downloads to your computer other users also downloading the file will connect to your machine and get the bits they want from you. In this way they use your unused upstream capacity while you download using their upstream capacity. The more popular the file, the faster the download. At many video-sharing forums the more file sharing capacity you offer to other members, the faster your download of the show you want. After a download is complete you will have a local digital video file for the programme you want to watch. You can then use Real Player or Windows Media Player to watch the show. Do a search on the Internet using the term ?BitTorrent? or go to the BitTorrent site (www.bittorrent.com) for the software and links to other information.

You will notice that, due to the current spate of lawsuits, many of the sites are closed down. Others are springing up to replace them. According to the software?s creator, programmer Bram Cohen, BitTorrent was created to help businesses legally distribute copies of files either within an internal network or to a wider public.

?Distributing stuff that is clearly illegal with BitTorrent is a really dumb idea,? Cohen has said in a recent interview. Users are not anonymous and downloads must be run from a vulnerable central website, making your name available to studios that want to pursue you legally or may expose your computer to hackers. Sooner or later the studios will have to make some form of their products available online. When they finally get around to it, a new method of distribution will have been ushered in, thanks to the illegal file downloaders.

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If you own an Xbox be sure to get the power cord on your machine changed as it is a potential fire hazard.

Microsoft has issued an alert about the danger and is offering a free replacement for the 14.1 million of Xbox consoles it has sold. Microsoft says about one in 10,000 of the consoles have experienced a problem. The defective cords can burn people or singe carpets.

In 30 consoles worldwide, the failures are reported to have caused minor injury or minor property damage. In seven instances, customers reported sustaining a minor burn to their hand, Microsoft says.

?In 23 instances, customers reported smoke damage, or minor damage to a carpet or entertainment centre,? Microsoft said. The problem affects Xbox consoles manufactured before October 23, 2003. If you bought your console in continental Europe, consoles manufactured before January 13 last year require a replacement power cord. To check if your Xbox is affected and to request for a free replacement cord, go to the US section of www.xbox.com and click on the ?Power Cord Replacement? link. You will need your serial number and date of manufacture handy to order the replacement online. Until you get your replacement cord, Microsoft advises users to turn off their consoles when not in use. If you registered your Xbox with Microsoft you will have received the notification in the mail.

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