I'm curious about whether it's feasible to create a streaming service for MP3s that operates on a torrent network. My idea is to build a free service for a community I'm part of, where torrenting would help to decentralize hosting costs instead of relying on paid models. The aim is to develop a client that can stream MP3 files on demand by leeching from torrents while also seeding them back to the network.
The community in focus is ocremix.org, a non-profit dedicated to remixing video game music, and they already provide torrents for their library. My hope is to leverage their existing torrent structure to offer features like playlists and better indexing, which their current site doesn't support.
I've seen tools like Seedbox Lite that appear to do similar things for video; however, I'm struggling to find relevant documentation because the links seem broken. I'm reaching out to see if anyone with streaming or torrent knowledge can advise on what tech stack might be needed and if it's possible to achieve this with low latency. Also, if anyone's interested in collaborating on this project, I'd love to hear from you!
4 Answers
It's definitely possible, but you'd have to get creative with how you implement the streaming. One approach is to split each track into smaller segments, say around 10 seconds, and treat those segments as separate torrents. The app could prioritize downloading the next chunks as early as possible to minimize latency.
While some services have tried this concept, you might run into challenges with the number of seeders in your community. If there aren't enough people sharing the files, it could hurt the streaming experience significantly.
I think the idea has potential! There are already platforms like Webtor and Stremio that have explored similar territory. The main issue you'll face is making sure you have enough active users seeding the music to support your service.
Streaming over torrents is tricky because torrents are built around downloading chunks of data rather than continuous streaming. However, if you can adequately buffer the content, you might make it feel like streaming. Just keep in mind the user experience might not be great due to variable speeds and potential legal issues regarding music rights.

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