TorrentFreak

For tens of millions of BitTorrent users, uTorrent is the immediate client of choice. However, a recent decision by its creators to include adware in the client prompted some users to question their loyalty to the product. After numerous reader requests for an overview of other BitTorrent clients, here is a rundown of ten possible alternatives.

BitTorrent Inc, the parent company of uTorrent, is backpedaling on its decision to force advertisements on users of the popular file-sharing client. While the upcoming uTorrent release will still include “sponsored torrents”, users will have the option to turn these off if they don’t wish to see them. In a statement the company stresses that they will continue to experiment with new revenue models to support the development and innovation of file-sharing software.

With well over 125 million active users a month uTorrent is by far the most used BitTorrent client. Because of its success the software is also the main source of revenue for San Francisco based parent company BitTorrent Inc. It is estimated that the company currently generates between $15 and $20 million in annual revenue but this figure is expected to rise after it was quietly announced that uTorrent will become ad-supported.

BitTorrent Inc., the parent company of the popular BitTorrent client uTorrent, starts a new series of experiments today in which it will help artists monetize the BitTorrent ecosystem. The company has partnered with the legendary DJ Shadow who agreed to give away exclusive content to BitTorrent users. The free content bundle includes software from advertisers, allowing the artist and BitTorrent to generate revenue from users who opt to install it.

Last week The Pirate Bay took the drastic decision to remove all (well seeded) .torrent files and go magnet only. As a result, millions of BitTorrent users are now downloading through magnet files, and some noticed a problem with uTorrent. Unlike with .torrent files, uTorrent didn’t check for existing files if a previously downloaded file [...]

The uTorrent development team is working on a native Android BitTorrent client for smartphones and tablet computers. This will be the first uTorrent client for a mobile operating system, and most likely the only one. While development of uTorrent Android product is in progress, no ETA has been given for the first release.

The uTorrent team just released browser add-ons for Firefox, Chome and IE. uTorrent Control allows users to directly manage torrent in their browser. “Just like your tiny-but-mighty desktop client, uTorrent Control makes it easy to start/stop/pause torrent downloads, add/remove torrents, check on the status of your downloads, launch uTorrent Remote and much more – all [...]