LensRentals.com Macworld 2010 - San Francisco, CA Default LensRentals.com Default

Your source for all things digital.

Xtorrent: The latest kid on the block.


This post is older than 120 days, there may be a newer article that is similar on our homepage or in the Software category.

Xtorrent

Disclaimer: I do not condone piracy and am not suggesting that you use BitTorrent for illegal downloading.

If you do not know what BitTorrent is, it basically is a file transfer protocol that contests of seeds and peers. Seeds are sharers and peers are downloaders that automatically begin seeding when your download is complete. Someone who does not seed files is considered a leecher and is against most online BitTorrent sites' terms of service.

Today, I'm taking a look at one of the newcomers in the BitTorrent client arena, Xtorrent for the Mac. Xtorrent combines ease of use and style in a nice Mac interface.

Now you may be thinking, who would pay $20 for a protocol that is in the open-source industry? I thought the exact same thing before I came across this amazing client. A unique feature is the ability to subscribe to RSS torrentcasts that automatically update with the latest and greatest content from your favorite BitTorrent site.

You can also type in keywords in the search bar and search that particular torrent site for specific things like your favorite Linux distribution. Plus, before downloading, you have the option to drill down into a torrent file (the file that holds the bits for downloading) and see exactly what you're downloading and it's swarm status.

Overall, I enjoyed the interface and luxury of all these features that cannot yet be found in any other Mac client for BitTorrent and highly recommend this for anyone who lives on BitTorrent for their daily needs. I do understand that developers need their money to provide for future projects and resources, but no one should have to pay $20 for something that can easily be provided free of charge. Xtorrent is now available at the Xtorrent website for $20.00 USD.

Pros

  • Unique features like RSS torrentcasts and searching.
  • The ability to schedule bandwidth limits depending on time and user-activity.
  • Ease of use and very nice interface.

Cons

  • Price.

Final Verdict
4.5 out of 5 stars.



Similar Articles You Might Enjoy

This website uses IntenseDebate comments, but they are not currently loaded because either your browser doesn't support JavaScript, or they didn't load fast enough.