OStatic

P2P is where it's at for online video these days. Not a week goes by without an announcement of a new P2P platform or distribution deal. It's easy to see why folks are excited about this: distributed data delivery can save you a lot of money, plus it's technology that millions of people already use to get their Harry Potter.

Hollywood execs reportedly got all giddy when they heard about the P2P-powered Vudu box. The jury is still out on Vudu's actual chances in the market place, but the device is a good example for a growing trend of P2P leaving the safe and boring world of the desktop P2P.

Bittorrent downloads are either illegal or DRM-infected, right? Wrong. There are plenty of websites out there that offer free and legal Torrent downloads to save bandwidth and make file sharers happy at the same time. Granted, sites like The Pirate Bay are still the major source for Bittorrent traffic. But legitimate platforms offer enough video goodies to clog your tubes for days. Here are 10 great places to get started:

Azureus beat Bram Cohen's Bittorrent venture to the punch when they soft-launched a Torrent-powered content platform in December. Zudeo.com features film trailers next to semi-professional HD content and has since seen 1 million visitors. All these folks will soon have to learn a new moniker, because Azureus is about to pull a Venice Project on us.

Mark Cuban has somewhat of a mixed record predicting BitTorrent's future, having once suggested that nobody would ever download HD content over peer-to-peer networks. Obviously, he got that one wrong. But he does have a point when it comes to a growing obstacle to P2P becoming mainstream:

With all the hype surrounding BitTorrent, it's easy to forget the other mainstream P2P network, Gnutella. While LimeWire still rules that roost, Phex should make a strong showing with their first major software update in a year and a half, version 3.0. The open-source Gnutella client now runs on top of Java 1.5, and is available for download on SourceForge.