Alexandria vs. LBRY: Who will dominate the next generation of file sharing applications?

BitTorrent is gradually being phased out. Not only is it not as user-friendly as users expect it to be as a media consumption application, but more importantly, better network infrastructure has begun to be used, such as IPFS, which has faster download speeds.

While BitTorrent is more popular than ever, it has competitors like Netflix and Hulu that are easier to use and offer downloads so fast that users forget they're downloading until the job is done.

The user market's demands are very clear, that is, minimal login and no waiting, not just free content, and in this regard, some developers are trying and improving the whole concept of file sharing, doing everything possible to make it smoother and faster.

Now, cryptocurrency is in the works, and 3D printing is also being considered. File sharing systems like BitTorrent have never been able to charge for downloads until a project called JoyStream recently emerged. This project is a pioneer in the industry and was the first to advocate linking torrents with Bitcoin. Unfortunately, the project is still unfinished, and it still handles tracking links very similar to BitTorrent.

Authors, directors and artists who want to use this platform to sell their work may find that the potential viewership is no longer greater than it is currently through BitTorrent, but they can still make more money by selling their work through iTunes or Amazon, and even use this to pay for listing costs, at least for now.

Some of these challenges have prompted the laggards Alexandria and LBRY to step up their next-generation publishing platforms. Both are fully decentralized applications that accept Bitcoin to purchase files and make it easier than ever to find what you are looking for. Both are very fast compared to the previous BitTorret, and at the same time, they are able to provide instant video and even high-definition video like Netflix.

Both allow sharing of any type of file or media and redesign the backward BitTorrent "tracker" system. Like The Pirate Bay, they do away with the steps needed to track sites. Both allow cryptocurrency to pay for access to content, which has made publishers start to seriously consider using these platforms to sell their works. But unfortunately, these platforms are not finished and do not support TOR user privacy.

Alexandria was launched in April. Their client was up and running very early and supported many operating systems, but there was not much content on it and the upload process was not perfect.

Alexandria offers this app, which is more useful than BitTorrent ever:

Once connected to the peer-to-peer network, the search bar and filters can find any media shared on the network. Since it uses IPFS to store files, it always chooses the shortest path between you and the copy of the file you are looking for. The benefit is that you can play it immediately when you click the play button.

Alexandria allows a variety of free and paid content, and you only need to pay other users a small amount of Bitcoin to download the content they upload. You can also store (cache) the content locally for free.

Where is this program most interesting? That is when you want to charge for the uploaded content. Users can have many options when demoing and purchasing content, such as being able to try a small sample of the song for free, paying a certain fee to listen to the high-quality music but not download it, and paying different fees to download the song in different qualities. You can also choose to let others consume your content if they wish, which is called "temporary playback."

Although Alexandria's main currency is Bitcoin, the system is also compatible with the cryptocurrency Florin. Florin's blockchain can store more data per transaction than Bitcoin's blockchain, so they use it to store content index data, which can tell your application that the data you are looking for is already stored.

It turns out that this information is a bit too large for Bitcoin’s blockchain, which made it a painless choice for them to make Alexandria compatible with another currency, which they did very well; even adding a florin wallet and offering free exchange of Bitcoin for florins on the app.

At present, Alexandria has not released any information on how to deal with the piracy of copyrighted content. Perhaps the developers of this open source application do not seem to have much interest in intellectual property laws. But at the same time, they currently do not plan to support TOR anonymity.

You can browse Alexandria's content right now without downloading anything, just watch it, and if you want to help test it, the download link is here. Although an official release date has not yet been determined, the developers say testers will be able to upload their content soon.

Meanwhile, LBRY, pronounced the same as "library," was unveiled in September, and its development team recently released a runtime client application that is only available to Linux users.

The LBRY system is very different from Alexandria and BitTorrent, including the fact that it has its own blockchain to its database. The platform also encrypts all content, allowing publishers to keep private keys, while only some of the content can be viewed using public keys, and these can be sold or given away for free.

Perhaps the most interesting difference is the naming system, which works a lot like the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS).

Most of the time, when registering a website name, the domain name starts with "HTTP://", but when registering with LBRY, the name of each piece of content you want to share starts with "lbry://".

Web browsers will eventually read these links automatically, so that you can simply click on a link like "lbry://wonderfullife" to go directly to the movie "It's a wonderful life."

"Whoever wants to hold the domain name will have a dedicated window to bid for it, as long as they promise to abide by the highest credit rules."

—LBRY

Initially, the LBRY development team strictly followed the theory of Nobel Prize-winning economist Ronald Coase to establish the concise domain name lbry:// in order to ensure that every user can browse the correct content by obtaining the most effective price point.

Unfortunately, it seems that this high value will not be compatible with Bitcoin. The founders of LBRY decided to use another cryptocurrency called "Credit Coin" (LBC). The project's director, Jeremy Kaufman, told Brave New Coin that "our ability to survive as a company is the best reflection of the holding value of Credit Coin."

There are three different ways to earn LBC in the system. Hosts can provide disk space for other people's encrypted content blocks, while miners can secure balances and metadata. If publishers have high-quality content that other users demand, they should receive a lot of revenue and can charge high viewing fees.

In terms of copyrighted content piracy, they handle it much the same way as Alexandria. The app is open source, there are no official fines, but they take every step to avoid copyright lawsuits, so they have already hired an intellectual property lawyer.

Linux users can get their hands on LBRY here, and at this writing you'll get 1000LBC for testing it, and then you get to tell their developers how you feel about it.

Both Alexandria and LBRY have their own advantages and disadvantages, and perhaps they can find business opportunities and grow. Because it is not compatible with Bitcoin, LBRY has a very difficult time convincing its users to buy and use additional currencies. At the same time, Alexandria has a very clear development prospect. No matter who succeeds, those new ways of publishing content are worth looking forward to.

－－－－
Original article: http://bravenewcoin.com/news/alexandria-vs-lbry-which-will-be-the-file-sharing-application-of-the-next-generation/
By Luke Parker
Translator: Wang Er
BTC address: 16enj2bapYdzPfa2DWSVaT1g95MCXg2hHt
Source (translation): Babbitt Information (http://www.8btc.com/alexandria-vs-lbry)