Thrifty students saving cash torrenting textbooks for free

Buying textbooks on a student budget seems impossible and the library never stocks enough of the one book you need. 

But some clever-clogs are bypassing the book price tags by illegally downloading their textbooks online.

And they’re saving a fortune downloading the required software from the internet compared to those forking out for hardbacks every term.

One second year said: “I haven’t paid for a textbook since freshers’ week. While my friends are blowing half their student loan in Blackwells on the first day I just spend a couple of hours downloading everything for free.”

Popular sites include the infamous Piratebay, but when big sites like this are taken down many others pop up to fill its place.

Torrent software such as BitTorrent, uTorrent or Vuze are all free downloads and aren’t illegal.

They are easy to use and anyone who can turn on their computer and search google can manage.

Last year online streaming was decriminalized, meaning you don’t have to worry about the police knocking on your whilst you’re binge watching TOWIE from a dodgy website just because you don’t want it showing on your Netflix favourites.

So it might not be too long before torrenting isn’t illegal as well. But while students are struggling to afford paper copies of books they only need a few pages from it’s a tactic many are happy to resort to.