GraniteBalls
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| Quote : | "I had a recent post about my 5 favorite BitTorrent clients for Mac OS X, but I have recently changed it up. So, I’ve decided to take the 9 major clients for Mac users and I have ranked and reviewed them below.
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1. Transmission - The only thing that has changed about Transmission on my list is their new icon. Transmission is a free, lightweight, cross-platform BitTorrent client. It features a simple, intuitive interface on top on an efficient, cross-platform back-end. It is also open source project run by the same developer that created Mac DVD, the popular Mac ripping program. A cool feature of Transmission is that it allows you to see your upload and download speeds in your dock on top of its icon. Transmission is my favorite torrent program because it is so lightweight yet it packs a lot of nice features and has very fast speeds. It’s just awesome. I really have no complaints. As their site says, “it just works”.
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2. Azureus - Azureus implements the BitTorrent protocol using Java language and comes bundled with many invaluable features for both beginners and advanced users. Azureus is a bit slower then other Mac torrent apps that I have used, but it has a bunch of cool features that the others don’t have. For example, it is the only one that features “selective downloading”, which lets you select certain files to download from the torrent file. There are also a bunch of neat plugins for Azureus on their site (such as an RSS .torrent feed, etc.). Something interesting about Azureus is that they just launched version 3.0 in which they are now calling it “Vuze“. It adds a lot more to the typical Azureus client that we saw in 2.5. It is more of an on-demand content interface. Looks interesting, yet I haven’t tried it yet. If you have, leave a review.
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3. BitTyrant - BitTryant takes pride in manipulating the torrent system in a way to greatly improve download speeds. Their site claims that their program tested with a 70% download speed increase over Azureus in a recent torrent test. The site also denies the claim that their program is a leeching client, by stating that it doesn’t change the amount of data uploaded, but rather which users receive the data. If you want speed increases on your torrent speeds, this is the program for you. Be careful however, as I have noticed that it can greatly decrease the browsing speed of users on your network when this program is running. I use this along side of transmission when I want pure speed and don’t have to worry about losing some speed on my browser. On some networks it lags you down, on others it doesn’t.
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4. Xtorrent - Xtorrent used to be my favorite torrent program on my Mac. However, the new versions now nag at your constantly to buy the full version, it caps your downloads after and hour, and disabled many features. This is why it has fallen in my list from 2 to 4. Why would I pay for a torrent app when I can get so many for free? Xtorrent is by far the most visual appealing torrent app on this list. It comes from the developer of NewsFire, Acquisition, and Inquisitor. It is currently still in the beta stage but it is soon to be released in its final version. The speed of the downloads on Xtorrent were good for me. However, my favorite feature on the whole program is the torrent search that is built into the program. There is no need to go to a torrent site in order to find your file, you can do it all inside of Xtorrent. It also lets your sort your search by seeds and much more. That feature alone has sold me on it. Now, if only they would stop charging.
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5. BitRocket - BitRocket is new to the Mac torrent scene. However, it has a lot of potential. As their site puts it, “BitRocket is a Native(Open Source) BitTorrent client for Mac OS X. At the heart of it’s core resides the powerful libtorrent BitTorrent library. BitRocket is aimed to be a good alternative to other Mac OS BitTorrent clients.” That is about right on. For now, it is an alternative at best. It is in an early beta version, 0.2.1, so it still has some things to work out. However, like I said, it really does have great potential. I really like the speeds that I get off of BitRocket. It flies. Definitely Give this n00b a shot.
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6. Tomato Torrent - This app has a neat icon and a cool look. It probably gives you the most “Mac-like” torrent experience out of all these programs. The only thing their site says is that it is, “A Macintosh BitTorrent Client”. Jee, thanks! Tomato has just recently switched to Universal Bianary so that has attracted some new users. Basically, you will get the best Mac feel out of this program but you will still want to choose Transmission over it. The speeds and ease of Transmission will beat Tomato. But, it is still a good app to have on your system.
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7. Acquisition - Acquisition isn’t a dedicated torrent program but it is a great Mac P2P program (like Limewire) that has a torrent downloader built into it. It’s download speeds aren’t amazing but one really neat feature is the amazing iTunes integration on the program. If you already use Acquisition, you might as well give the torrent side a shot.
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8. Democracy Player - This program has a ways to go, but it has some crazy potential. This is what their site has to say, “There’s an opportunity to build a new, open mass medium of online television. We’re developing the Democracy internet TV platform so that watching internet video channels will be as easy as watching TV and broadcasting a channel will be open to everyone. Unlike traditional TV, everyone will have a voice.” You can play all your Mac’s video files through it, you can subscribe to internet video RSS feeds, you can search YouTube, and yes, it is a torrent client. Sure, the client isn’t too great, but the surrounding program adds to it.
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9. BitTorrent - This is the application that started it all. Yes, it is the generic “BitTorrent”. However, this application has fallen way behind. The only reason it is still being widely used is because of its originality and name. To me, the program just doesn’t look right and the speeds are slow. I’d only use this client if the other 8 bombed out on me to be honest. Props for starting the whole torrent craze however." |
I've used Azureus. it does the job.
[Edited on November 6, 2007 at 1:59 PM. Reason : http://www.techpwn.com/?p=460] 11/6/2007 1:58:57 PM
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