Despite some high-profile operations, the BitTorrent network remains one of the main sources for exchanging multimedia content. Unfortunately, many users still struggle with traditional clients, and the Popcorn Time saga got too "dense", so to speak. A good alternative is Soda Player, a player that, besides supporting locally stored videos, can also start a BitTorrent streaming session with just a magnet link or the corresponding .torrent file.
I am sure most of our readers are perfectly comfortable with conventional BitTorrent clients, but it's not hard to see why they can sometimes feel intimidating. Static IP addresses, port forwarding, DHT, PeX, peer search, trackers, obfuscation, saturated routers... that's a lot of material to digest, and that's what leads us to tools like Popcorn Time. It's still possible to find malware-free builds and other nasty surprises in the background, but its technical problems are frequent, and the truth is nobody wants to fight with them. Fortunately, there is another option, called Soda Player. At first glance it works like any other media player, but its BitTorrent support quickly sets it apart from the rest.
Soda Player is very easy to use, to the point that it does not offer any advanced configuration menu. There are no ports, cache folders, or anything like that. The entire process is reduced to loading the .torrent file of the video we want to watch, or for more convenience, the magnet link. Soda Player includes a SOCKS5 proxy that helps minimize user exposure and hinder any throttling attempts by the provider. It is also compatible with Chromecast and Apple TV, and it can automatically search for subtitles using OpenSubtitles.org as a reference. If that doesn't work, you can always load them manually.
Soda Player is a relatively young application, and it still needs to add some critical features for any user, such as subtitle synchronization. In this initial development phase, access to the SOCKS5 proxy will be free, but it is likely that there will be a small subscription in the future. Personally, I was surprised by how easy Soda Player is to use, and if the price is reasonable, it could become a solid tool.
