Can anyone explain this to me?

Question

I'm using an album for this project of mine that is due next Sept. for school. It's classical music and I've found it on two sites: Maxalbums, and a torrent site. I don't usually download things off the internet, only .mp3 sometimes so I don't know anything at all. The album from Maxalbums is linked to rapidshare and from there, the end of the file reads .rar and for the one from the torrent site, the end of the file reads .torrent

So my question is, can anyone explain what this means? the .rar and .torrent files. I know both are at risk of having a virus, is either "safer" then the other to use?

Few other questions:

-Converting the files using iTunes would change them into .mp3 files right?

-How would you know if either contained a virus?

-Are any of these places safe to get from files?

I know that it's kinda a lot to write so thanks to anyone who answers!

Answer 1

OK, a torrent isn't the song file that you want, but it's what you want to use.  A torrent, when opened in a torrent client such as bittorrent, tells where the file is.  When the torrent is created, the mp3 is scattered all over the internet in pieces.  The torrent retrieves those pieces and puts them back together so you will have the album without any conversion at all.  You would just download bittorrent and open the .torrent in it.

I think a rar is a zipped file.  To open that you would need something like winRar.  Then you could unzip it.

I do believe the torrent would be safer, only because you can see exactly what your downloading, but the rar would be faster since you already have it.

Answer 2

ok... a "rar" file is simply another form of a .zip file.  it's a packaged file, that has been compressed into one rar file. What you need to "unrar" a rar file is WinRar.

I have this, and I was wary at first about downloading it, but Its safe. I've had it for a year.

http://www.rarsoft.com/  

Download the program and it you can use it to unrar rar files.

now, torrent files are a different story.  torrent files are files that are shared from computer to computer.  the person who first posted a torrent file is "sharing" it with everyone who downloads it.  Now, in order to "open" a torrent file, you'll have to download a client.  A client such as BitTorrent or Limewire.  Then, after you've downloaded the torrent onto your computer, you'll have to select the file and click "open with..." and pick the client you've chosen.  I suggest Limewire.

I don't download stuff anymore though....i'm just telling you this because I know how to do it.

If you're wary of viruses, just scan your computer with Norton or something after you've downloaded what you want to download.

After your done with your project, you can go into "control panel" and then uninstall limewire and stuff if you want.

Answer 3

.torrent  files are safe, they are only info files for downloading torrents; i.e. from bittorrent websites.  You'll need uTorrent or Azureus for downloading.  

.rar file are like Zip files, generally safe.  You'll need a program called WinRAR to open them.  Though there are other Zip like programs that may also handle them too.

>-Converting the files using iTunes would change them into .mp3 files right?

... if you mean the .rar files or .torrent files, no.  If you mean m4a  to  .mp3  converting, then yes.

>-How would you know if either contained a virus?

just be carefule

-Are any of these places safe to get from files?

Btjunkie.org