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Torrent client for Mac as good as uTorrent?

Stiganator

Platinum Member
Oct 14, 2001
2,492
3
81
Is anyone porting uTorrent to OS X?

Azureus seems to be the most popular client on OS X, but it is written in Java and it hurts my heart. It's very laggy and no where near the foot print of uTorrent. Preferably something that has built in Encryption and PeerGuardian blocking. Alternatively, if there is a seperate application like Peer Guardian (the Mac version from my experience sucks) that would suffice.
 

silverpig

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
27,703
12
81
I use transmission for now. It's good.

You can get deluge via macports. It's probably the best torrent client out there IMO.
 

ubercaffeinated

Platinum Member
Dec 1, 2002
2,130
0
71
transmission use to blow but in the last 6 months ago they've been pretty stable. i liked it enough to dump azureus.
 

TheStu

Moderator<br>Mobile Devices & Gadgets
Moderator
Sep 15, 2004
12,089
45
91
I have used transmission for as long as I have been using a Mac and I have liked it rather a lot. When I switched back to torrenting primarily on my desktop (Windows XP Pro) I used uTorrent due to all the talk about it and found it kludgy at best and network ruining at worst. So I stuck with Transmission on OS X and then transferring my downloads to my desktop via wireless as I slept.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
51,642
7,274
136
Yup, Transmission.

Although I wish it had a WebGUI like uTorrent :p
 

Shlong

Diamond Member
Mar 14, 2002
3,130
59
91
I tried both Azureus/Vuze and Transmission, and Transmission is better (clean & simple). I don't know the mac equivalent of peer guardian, but I believe you could use safepeer with Azureus.
 

TheStu

Moderator<br>Mobile Devices & Gadgets
Moderator
Sep 15, 2004
12,089
45
91
Originally posted by: Kaido
Yup, Transmission.

Although I wish it had a WebGUI like uTorrent :p

There is Clutch which they are improving all the time, which they would have to since last time I tried it I couldn't get it to work :)
 

sourceninja

Diamond Member
Mar 8, 2005
8,805
65
91
Transmission is the best I've found, deluge is great but doesn't run so well on osx. I'm in the mindset to try to work on one using libtorrent and cocoa this winter. I really want something close to utorrent.
 

TheStu

Moderator<br>Mobile Devices & Gadgets
Moderator
Sep 15, 2004
12,089
45
91
Originally posted by: sourceninja
Transmission is the best I've found, deluge is great but doesn't run so well on osx. I'm in the mindset to try to work on one using libtorrent and cocoa this winter. I really want something close to utorrent.

What is it about uTorrent that so many people find appealing? Is it the UI, the customization of the settings? I hear people rave about it, but no one says why it is so appealing.

I like Transmission because it is straightforward, easy to use, drag and drop, and gives me good rates, plus it is low overhead so I don't have many issues with it lagging the rest of my system unlike Azureus.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
51,642
7,274
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Originally posted by: TheStu
Originally posted by: sourceninja
Transmission is the best I've found, deluge is great but doesn't run so well on osx. I'm in the mindset to try to work on one using libtorrent and cocoa this winter. I really want something close to utorrent.

What is it about uTorrent that so many people find appealing? Is it the UI, the customization of the settings? I hear people rave about it, but no one says why it is so appealing.

I like Transmission because it is straightforward, easy to use, drag and drop, and gives me good rates, plus it is low overhead so I don't have many issues with it lagging the rest of my system unlike Azureus.

uTorrent is easy and it works. If a program is too confusing and difficult to use, it won't be used by the large majority of people.
 

sourceninja

Diamond Member
Mar 8, 2005
8,805
65
91
It also has some features I like that utorrent seems to be missing. I can't think of them off hand, but if I was sitting in front of my mac at home I could tell you.

What I really want is a nice full features bittorrent client with a native UI. I want DHT support, encryption, etc. And I want it open source. Basically Deluge or utorrent with a native UI (not gtk, but cocoa). I'm really hoping I can find the time to contribute to the cause this winter. I'm thinking I could do it without too much issue, most of the heavy lifting is already taken care of for me.
 

silverpig

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
27,703
12
81
Originally posted by: TheStu
Originally posted by: sourceninja
Transmission is the best I've found, deluge is great but doesn't run so well on osx. I'm in the mindset to try to work on one using libtorrent and cocoa this winter. I really want something close to utorrent.

What is it about uTorrent that so many people find appealing? Is it the UI, the customization of the settings? I hear people rave about it, but no one says why it is so appealing.

I like Transmission because it is straightforward, easy to use, drag and drop, and gives me good rates, plus it is low overhead so I don't have many issues with it lagging the rest of my system unlike Azureus.

Well when utorrent came out the torrent spectrum was sort of like this:

btclient - no features
Azureus - wonderful feature set, but runs on java and takes up hundreds of megs of ram
Bitcomet/Bitlord/whatever - didn't follow the proper torrent specs and were getting people banned from ratio sites for cheating

So your options were something with no features, a huge hog, or something buggy. Utorrent came out and had the footprint of the original client in terms of memory usage, but a feature set almost as good as azureus. It was a no-brainer for a while. Now there are at least a few really good clients, and while utorrent is one of them, the hardcore fanboys probably sing its praises because they have for so long.
 

randomlinh

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
20,846
2
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linh.wordpress.com
Originally posted by: TheStu
What is it about uTorrent that so many people find appealing? Is it the UI, the customization of the settings? I hear people rave about it, but no one says why it is so appealing.
low overhead.
can use as is, or drill down in tweaking.
clean and organized when you have a bunch of torrents going.
PROPERLY handles selective torrent downloading (which is something transmission still lacks, files are still taking up space that aren't selected. hell, it just recently got that ability. i stuck w/ azureus until then).


 

sourceninja

Diamond Member
Mar 8, 2005
8,805
65
91
Yea, my only complaint is that it is not open source, which means it is subject to the control of the RIAA or anyone else who wants to screw it up. Which is why I use deluge on linux. Transmission is great for now on my mac, but I really want something as powerful as utorrent and open source. I wish deluge was a native OSX app.
 

silverpig

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
27,703
12
81
Originally posted by: sourceninja
Yea, my only complaint is that it is not open source, which means it is subject to the control of the RIAA or anyone else who wants to screw it up. Which is why I use deluge on linux. Transmission is great for now on my mac, but I really want something as powerful as utorrent and open source. I wish deluge was a native OSX app.

Open source + cocoa = mac version?