BitTorrent opens digital media store

In the battle for the nascent online video market, BitTorrent could be a competitor that already has a reputation for speedy file distribution. It also has an established user base that the company says numbers 135 million.

That is the kind of muscle that could immediately pit the company against some of the sector's heavyweights such as YouTube, Brightcove and Joost, a new peer-to-peer service started by the founders of Skype and Kazaa. Joost recently partnered with some big entertainment companies including Viacom.

The store's opening marks a triumph for San Francisco-based BitTorrent. Despite the software's reputation for helping people illegally share millions of unauthorized video files, the company's managers have convinced studios such as 20th Century Fox, Lions Gate and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios that they come to Hollywood with a laurel branch in their hands.

But the deal did not come cheaply. To sell entertainment companies on the idea that they could profit from the file-sharing system, BitTorrent executives had to make some important concessions, such as wrapping songs and movies on the site in a Digital Rights Management (DRM) system.

Among the many challenges the new store faces are proving the technology can bring movies to users faster than the clunky distribution methods now available and not alienating the millions who have grown accustomed to using BitTorrent to snatch files off the Web with virtually no DRM and at no cost.