- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows 95, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98
- Date added: March 28, 2005
- Total Downloads: 14,890,601
- Downloads last week: 33,109
- See full specifications
A newer version of BitTorrent is available.
(Download doesn't provide access to previous versions of this program.)
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 569 votes
See all user reviews
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: CNET Staff
BitTorrent hadn't seen a major update in about two years, but that was before it bought out uTorrent. Now, adopting its new sibling's interface has completely reinvigorated the original BitTorrent client.
Previously, BT had lacked features that other torrent innovators had spent time testing and investing in. Now, in one fell swoop, BT has access to everything it lacked. You can pick which files in a torrent you want to download, throttle your Internet connection to suit your whims, muck about with the Web UI and, basically, do everything that uTorrent can do.
There's an RSS tracker and search bar, just like in uTorrent, but there's where we encounter one key difference. Where uTorrent's search takes you to the MiniNova torrent site, BitTorrent's goes to BitTorrent.com, a pay-for-most-content site. There's also a menu bar item in the BitTorrent client called Get Stuff, with links to Movies, TV, Music, and Games at the BitTorrent content site.
Without a doubt, BitTorrent has taken drastic steps to reverse course and unsink its sinking ship. Although BT still eats more memory than its new sibling, it's hogging significantly less than before. The install file reflects the new code, shrinking from nearly 6MB for version 5 to less than 1MB for version 6.
BT also comes with a small piece of software called DNA. The BT site calls it protocol for "Delivery Network Acceleration," but beyond a nebulous description, it's hard to tell what exactly it does.
Publisher's description
From BitTorrent :BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer protocol designed to transfer files. Users connect directly to send and receive portions of a file, while a central tracker coordinates the action of all peers and manages connections without knowledge of the contents of the files being distributed. With BitTorrent, users upload at the same time they download, so network bandwidth is managed as efficiently as possible. BitTorrent is designed to work better than other file-transfer protocols as the number of people interested in a certain file increases.
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User reviews of BitTorrent 4.0.1
- Average user rating: 3.7 stars out of 569 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 19 user reviewsSee all 19 user reviews
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8 out of 12 people found this review helpful
Version: BitTorrent 4.0.1
"It's fast... that's about it"
Pros: BitTorrent is fast.
Cons: BitTorrent has too many donation signs everywhere and can get VERY frustrating. BitTorrent also does not have a very good interface and does not give much information about the download. I suggest getting BitTornado at bittornado.com BitTornado is based on BitTorrent but faster, easier to use, and gives a lot more information about what you are downloading with not as much donation stuff.
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4 out of 7 people found this review helpful
Version: BitTorrent 4.0.1
Pros: Not a lot. Despite the fact that this is the baby of bittorrent's daddy there are much better clients available.
Cons: Never seen so many stack overflows since the days of DOS. The FAQ page it refers you to is no help and stops with WinME. Has Mr. Cohen heard about XP?
It is just unstable and very frustrating.
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8 out of 17 people found this review helpful
Version: BitTorrent 4.0.1
"The original in BitTorrent, yes, but not as good as all the knockoffs"
Pros: Its free.
It is the ORIGINAL BitTorrent client.
No spyware or adware.
Cons: Not as good as the knockoffs. Azureus and uTorrent are much much better...in terms of download speed and information they provide about the downloads.
Does this support DHT? Not sure...doubt it.
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3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
Version: BitTorrent 4.0.1
Pros: It really makes sure you have the final downloaded product and in good condition. it's sometimes a lot faster than those other p2p's out there
Cons: you need more space for the torrents and its hard to find the specific torrents. but it saves a lot of web bites..etc..
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: BitTorrent 4.0.1
Pros: This program is great, it's simple, doesent jam up yer pc and gets downloads done...
Cons: you have to know the torrent links to download em
- See all 19 user reviews Write review
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