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Tue, Mar 16, 2010 - 05:23 PM EDT — AAPL: 224.45 (+0.61, +0.27%) | NASDAQ: 2378.01 (+15.80, +0.67%)

Swarmcast launches free Autobahn Accelerator for Apple’s iTunes; speeds video and music downloads

Tuesday, June 19, 2007 - 10:03 AM EDT

A free tool launched today enables consumers to download music, movies, TV episodes and other videos from the iTunes Store more quickly than ever. Autobahn Accelerator for iTunes speeds music and video downloads and means users can start enjoying their chosen content much sooner.

Autobahn Accelerator for iTunes has been developed by Swarmcast, the provider of multi-source streaming technology for high-quality online video delivery. It is the first in a series of free applications developed specifically to speed the download of video content from popular video sites.

Swarmcast says that by installing the Autobahn Accelerator for iTunes once, users can reduce wait time by up to 90% with every video and music download. Since Autobahn works well over standard broadband, users can cut download times without having to increase their broadband connection speed or upgrade their wireless network.

Autobahn Accelerator for iTunes is a small application runs in the background every time music or videos are downloaded from iTunes. The Autobahn Accelerator is currently available only for users with Windows 2000, Windows XP, and 32-bit Vista, running Internet Explorer 6 and 7, as well as Firefox. It will also soon be OS X compatible.

“With more feature-length movies, TV shows and an ever-increasing number of songs available via iTunes alone, internet music and video are becoming a daily part of our lives. Unfortunately, waiting for content to download is also becoming a fact of life,” said Justin Chapweske, founder and CEO of Swarmcast, in the press release. “We’re cutting down the waiting times so people can enjoy their content when they want and where they want. And, for the first time, we’re making this capability available for free.”

Autobahn Accelerator is based on multi-source streaming technology pioneered by Swarmcast. Multi-source streaming provides more reliable delivery of high quality content by streaming different pieces of music or video files from multiple sources (such as designated Web servers, Swarmcast’s network of SwarmMirrors or third party Content Delivery Networks) at the same time. For live, streaming music and video, these multiple pieces are assembled in order so that the content can be heard and viewed as it streams. Multi-source streaming is not based on peer-to-peer file sharing.

The accelerator application can be downloaded at http://www.getautobahn.com/

[UPDATE: 11:58am EDT: Changed "by up to 1000%" to "by up to 90% "as per Swarmcast.]

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Jun 19, 07 - 10:10 am Comment from: Jimy

"...users can reduce wait time by up to 1000%..."

It has finished downloading even before the click. Amazing!

MW=want, as in "Me WANTee!!!"

Jun 19, 07 - 10:15 am Comment from: TV boy Common Sense

junk?
gimmick.

spamware?

Jun 19, 07 - 10:17 am Comment from: Road Warrior

Actually it predicts what you want while your sleeping, downloads it, charges your credit card and plays it automagically.

It has Amazons "One click" beaten by long shot.

Question is, why isn't Apple providing enough bandwidth to keep up with demand? Or could this be patented technology and Apple can't implement/license it?

Jun 19, 07 - 10:18 am Comment from: Karl b

Some links on their website don´t work.
I smell bogus.

Jun 19, 07 - 10:19 am Comment from: AYK

Wow, iTunes was on the mac first. Why do M$ users get this first, iTunes was on Mac OS before Windows. Oh wait Windows Users can test out all the bugs for us. You know they are used to it.

Jun 19, 07 - 10:20 am Comment from: DistantThunder

"...users can reduce wait time by up to 1000%..."

Jimy, it's even better than that: the ETA for the download = time of click - (9 * usual download duration). So this software actually gives you big files faster than small ones!

Of course, this all hinges on what they mean by "wait time."

Jun 19, 07 - 10:30 am Comment from: hs

"...reduce wait time by up to 1000%"

What the hell does that mean? I am so sick of people who think it's more important to sound or look good than to actually say something meaningful.

Jun 19, 07 - 10:33 am Comment from: ABQ Peter

i don't know about others, but i have a hard time taking a "technology" company seriously when they can't even get percentages right.

Jun 19, 07 - 10:40 am Comment from: qka

No OS X support in an iTunes helper app?

Pox upon them! Not on my Mac, if and when it ever is available!

Jun 19, 07 - 10:44 am Comment from: nukeman

@hs

Me thinks 1000% corresponds to 10 times. so its 'reduced by upto 10 times'. So at max the reduction is 1/10 of original, i.e. it'll now happen in 9/10 of the time, i.e. 90% of the 'ordinary' download time. That seems reasonable, considering the user bandwidth isn't being increased.
However if that means 'reduced to upto 10 times', then that might be totally unrealistic. Heck, some ought to include that in BT clients

Jun 19, 07 - 10:47 am Comment from: Drunk Cheney

Useless.

Jun 19, 07 - 10:59 am Comment from: Bizarro Ballmer

That means if I order a movie today it should be here yesterday.
Wait while I check......WOW there it is.

Jun 19, 07 - 11:03 am Comment from: qka

Digging around for some background on Swarmcast, it seems that they have a proprietary P2P technology. So maybe they speed your downloads by making you an uploaders?

I question the legality of this, especially given that iTunes material is mostly DRM'd, and that which is not is still "watermarked" with your ID.

I'm staying away from this one!

Jun 19, 07 - 11:10 am Comment from: AshNazg

Stupid... downloads are already at 1 mb per second for me... why wuold I want it to be faster? That's plenty fast for me... not worth the extra processor cycles to put that on my laptop.....

Jun 19, 07 - 11:16 am Comment from: Eddie Nakamura

If it is true,
It is time for iTunes to deliver HD cinemas.

Jun 19, 07 - 11:43 am Comment from: Wade

Using Safari on the PC, the download site thinks it's a Mac. Won't download this app.

Jun 19, 07 - 12:22 pm Comment from: Jim - TIV

Just did a speakeasy test online...

"Last Result:
Download Speed: 14796 kbps (1849.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 496 kbps (62 KB/sec transfer rate)"

Not bad for wireless.

I'm guessing that I don't need this.

Jun 19, 07 - 12:23 pm Comment from: Jim - TIV

Wade... I'm using Safari on a mac and it downloads the exe file fine.

Jun 19, 07 - 01:25 pm Comment from: Wade

"Wade... I'm using Safari on a mac and it downloads the exe file fine."

Yeah, I could do that too, from a Mac, after the site _let_ me, but try it from a PC running Safari- the site thought I was on a Mac, and didn't even give me the chance to bypass the auto download and grab the file manually.

Jun 19, 07 - 06:24 pm Comment from: Camel's Milk Drinker

Does this mean that I churn out typhoon of a fart the moment I wrap my lips round a cool cold bottle of Camel's Milk?

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Tue, Mar 16, 2010 - 05:23 PM EDT — AAPL: 224.45 (+0.61, +0.27%) | NASDAQ: 2378.01 (+15.80, +0.67%)

Swarmcast launches free Autobahn Accelerator for Apple’s iTunes; speeds video and music downloads

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Tue, Mar 16, 2010 - 05:23 PM EDT — AAPL: 224.45 (+0.61, +0.27%) | NASDAQ: 2378.01 (+15.80, +0.67%)

Swarmcast launches free Autobahn Accelerator for Apple’s iTunes; speeds video and music downloads

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