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Kadokawa Tests BitTorrent File-Sharing for Anime
posted on by Egan Loo
The Kadokawa Digix company is experimenting with online file-sharing in Japan by putting certain anime materials on the BitTorrent peer-to-peer network on December 22. Kadokawa Digix is owned by Kadokawa Holdings, the same umbrella company that owns the publisher Kadokawa Shoten. In fact, the trial service is presented on the Anime NewType Channel, the website for videos tied to Kadokawa Shoten's Newtype magazine in Japan.
Kadokawa Shoten is offering the first episode of Mushi-Uta and a promotional video for Rental Magica for free on the trial service. Each has the original Japanese soundtrack and no English dubbing or subtitles. The downloadable files are in Windows Media Video format with a bitrate of 3Mbps, and require the Microsoft Windows operating system with Windows Media Player 9 or higher.
American companies such as ADV Films, Funimation, and Manga Entertainment have already been previewing anime clips or selling entire episodes in English via BitTorrent. Kadokawa Holdings' own Kadokawa Pictures USA offers live-action titles on BitTorrent in America. Vuze, a company founded by some of the developers of the third-party BitTorrent client Azureus, offers anime from several distributors as well as a free anime called Neko Rahmen that premiered worldwide exclusively on Vuze's service.
Source: Broadband Watch
