In a move that many expected but very few noticed, BitTorrent Inc. shut down its Torrent Entertainment Network, ending its brief foray into the paid download market.

The move follows last month's reduction of about half the BitTorrent staff and the appointment of former CTO Eric Klinker as the company's new CEO. According to BitTorrent vice president of marketing Simon Morris, the company's download store was shuttered on Nov. 17.

The closing of the download store brings to a close the company's failed attempt at monetizing its technology by competing with online video retailers like Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL)'s iTunes.

The company launched the service in February 2007, but didn't see as much take-up as it had hoped. Despite striking content deals with 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., MTV Networks, and Paramount Pictures Corp., the download store never developed much of an audience.

With the download store gone, Morris says BitTorrent will refocus its efforts on the company's BitTorrent DNA content delivery service and on its software development kit (SDK) for embedding BitTorrent technology into consumer electronic devices.

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