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CNET Editors' review
With all the other good BitTorrent clients out there for the Mac now, it's hard to make the case for using the official BitTorrent client for downloading torrents. (Note that this confusingly named application shares its name with the company, entertainment network, and popular protocol BitTorrent.) The current interface is much more clean and useful than in previous iterations, and BitTorrent does deliver on what it promises, with features like automatic port mapping and local peer discovery. But with well over a year since the last update and scant documentation, BitTorrent just hasn't kept up with the competition. Overall, we think BitTorrent does a fairly good job, but with some slow response times, a lack of development, and a noticeably aged interface, you might want to look elsewhere.
Publisher's Description
From BitTorrent:
BitTorrent's software client allows you to quickly download high-quality digital content such as video, music, and games.
Native Cocoa Mac client
Lightweight and Fast
Multiple simultaneous downloads
Protocol encryption
Peer-exchange
Trackerless support (Mainline DHT)
uTP transport for fast downloads and dynamic bandwidth control
What's new in this version: BitTorrent Stable (7.2.2 build 25801) features:
- RSS Feeds and Smart Feed Subscriptions: Subscribe to torrent RSS feeds inside �?????�????�???�??�?µTorrent and BitTorrent Mainline.
- Scheduler: Pre-schedule start, limit and stop activity for downloads at regular intervals throughout the week.
- Remote + Mobile: Add and manage torrents from any browser, mobile browser (iPad and more), and even a native Android app.
- Advanced controls and info
More Popular P2P & File-Sharing Software downloads
- uTorrent
5,043 downloads
- FrostWire
1,529 downloads
- Vuze
1,264 downloads
- Transmission
1,063 downloads
- BitTorrent
909 downloads
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All versions:
3.0 starsout of 22 votes
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Current version:
0 stars Be the first to review this product -
My rating:
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"Simple and gets the job done. Great application."
Version: BitTorrent 7.0.0
Pros
Works well with no extra bells and whistles. Simple interface and navigation.
Cons
None that I've noticed so far.
Summary
A must have application for the Torrent community. Thanks.
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"Very difficult to figure out how to use."
Version: BitTorrent 4.27.2
Pros
Presumably contains the latest tweaks for the BitTorrent algorithim: can?t wait for the tweaks to migrate to uTorrent and/or Vuze.
Cons
Just not useful except for geeks who are torrent experts. As a retired Computer Scientist of 30 years experience, I do understand the theory behind bit torrent: I am just not expert enough to figure out how to use this application.
Summary
BitTorrent is too difficult to use for the average BitTorrent user. I could never get it to search for torrent sources even when I knew the name of a desired application. I only was able to get it to work when I knew the URL of a source: in that case, it downloaded the application very quickly, but didn?t seem to locate other sources.
Choose uTorrent: its faster and much easier to use. Vuze also works for me. -
"it didnt work with my macbook pro"
Version: BitTorrent 4.27.2
Pros
not able to try
Cons
it didnt work with my macbook pro
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"Crashing, cpu hog, slow, vastly inferior to Vuze."
Version: BitTorrent 4.27.2
Pros
Simple, doesn't try to be more than it should.
Cons
No easy way to test for port forwarding.
Slow to connect.
Doesn't minimise to the top bar.
Occasionally hogs my cpu at 90%+ and causes my Macbook's fan to trigger.
Ugly.Summary
Buggy software that will annoy you. Get something else. Vuze is bloated with useless features but at least it works.
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"Horrible Speed...Mac users: Use Transmission!"
Version: BitTorrent 4.27.2
Pros
The layout is very clean and the site FAQ is great
Cons
Way too slow! It will take you DAYS to download a file that's less than 1GB in size on even the fastest connection. They claim the more files you 'seed' the faster you can download but that is not the case! Average file speed is less than 4 KB/s. If you're on Mac OS X get Transmission. You'll download files many many MANY times quicker.
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"Decent Torrent client for the Mac"
Version: BitTorrent 4.27.2
Pros
works good
Cons
live stats about down/up traffic could be nicer presented.
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"If using Mac, download Transmission."
Version: BitTorrent 4.27.2
Pros
Can be used to upload torrents
Cons
Bad connections, must program certain routers to use connection ports
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"Its free and it does work."
Version: BitTorrent 4.27.2
Pros
I was able to download some torrents files that "Tomato" could not.
Cons
It seems to be much slower than "Tomato". It appears to have a 'memory leak' problem: it crashes after about 4 hours of operation and has to be restarted. The user interface is not as informative and intuitive as it could be.
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"jghj"
Version: BitTorrent 4.27.2
Pros
ghjgh
Cons
gjg
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"slow, bad connections"
Version: BitTorrent 4.27.2
Pros
meh, it's a torrent client that works basically
Cons
it's slow at loading (macintel), it loads the torrent files slowly and it handles the connections badly.
try using Transmission, it just rocks.
(transmission.m0k.org)
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