I'm not clear why the long complex and slow script would have been included ..
Hello Harry,

I suppose, KK did it for beginners without any knowledge about aptitude. The script by itself isn't slow; after collecting what to do, aptitude works and not the script.

For me there is no difference with download speed (nearby 240 kB/sec) using a Mirror within Germany or using Torrents. But you are right, to avoid corrupt downloads - especially of Knoppix - one should use Torrents.