Have you ever been stuck trying to send an HD home movie to a friend over the Internet? Or a batch of high-resolution photos? How about longer smartphone videos?

It’s not easy. You can try a complicated FTP service. Or pay big fees for a file sharing or cloud service. Or dramatically reduce the size, quality or length of your creation to send via email or social networks.

Today, we are very excited to preview an entirely new alpha software client – built from the ground up by the same engineers who develop BitTorrent and µTorrent. It’s fast, free, and totally unlimited. No limits on the file size or the number of files, or even the number of recipients. No hidden fees. Just you, your friends, and your media.

It doesn’t yet have a name (during the alpha, we’re calling it “Share”), and it is available for immediate download here.

Share’s power, speed and “unlimited” philosophy are possible thanks to the ultra-efficient BitTorrent protocol. Instead of requiring users to store files in remote data centers, Share users seed files from their own computer and recipients may download them directly. Once downloaded, a recipient also seeds a file. If multiple members of a group actively seed files, download speeds are dramatically increased thanks to the distributed nature of the sharing protocol. To ensure quality of service and file availability, we will also initially host and remotely seed a file for a limited time.

Features:

• No Limits: With no limits on number of sends, file size/quality, or number of recipients, users may send HD videos, high-res photo collections, and other oversized files – with no fees.

• Ultra Fast Downloads: Share is built on top of an innovative file-sharing technology that is already used by over 100 million people every month. Friends may now download the biggest files without the endless wait.

• Private: Choose exactly who may access shared files. Set up groups to share with friends, family and co-workers, or just send a file to one person.

• Social and Fun: Friends may comment on the files in real-time. Share is interactive, conversational and social.

“Share is the culmination of over a year’s research into personal media sharing. We have always known that BitTorrent is one of the fastest ways to send or receive a large file. With today’s consumer cameras/video recorders producing stunning quality, traditional media sharing requires concessions,” said Shahi Ghanem, our chief strategist. “With Share, you don’t have to crop photos, reduce resolutions or cut video length to easily share something with your friends, family and colleagues. It’s much faster than traditional ‘cloud’ solutions and easy for anyone.”

Share can trace its origins back to the BitTorrent Mainline ‘Project Chrysalis’ experimental software released last May. Continued Ghanem, “We believed personal media sharing would be an ideal extension to our existing µTorrent and BitTorrent software. After evaluating the user response and feedback, we realized we had the right goal, but users identified challenges with the implementation. Ultimately, we took what we learned and started again from scratch. Share was born.”

Share will also be integrated into all BitTorrent and µTorrent software clients following alpha testing.

Will you check it out and let us know what you think? We really value community feedback for all of our software clients, and we hope that you all will give us a hand and help us build the best personal media sharing service ever.

Many thanks for all of your support –

Catherine Meek, Director of Product Management, Share (powered by BitTorrent)