Xtorrent 1.0 Review
Written by Ernesto on March 26, 2007Xtorrent, the highly anticipated BitTorrent client for the Mac, is finally out of beta with a shiny 1.0 release. Here’s our review of it.
Xtorrent, the new BitTorrent client for Mac OS X, just rolled out of the beta phase. In September, we reviewed the first public beta, which initially looked like a promising application. However, issues like the problematic libtransmission library, and the intrusive shareware policy make this client a lot less attractive.
The first major drawback of Xtorrent is that it is not free, which is extremely unusual and awkward for a BitTorrent client. In addition, Xtorrent has a very intrusive shareware policy. If you do not register the application, a floating window that you cannot close gets stuck on your screen, and searches randomly start to fail. To make things even worse, it seems like the application throttles the available bandwidth to 10kbps after an hour of usage.
The second drawback is that Xtorrent’s core is made up of the libtransmission library. This library is known to hammer trackers, and is banned from an increasing number of them, which makes Xtorrent useless for members of Oink, for example.
If you decide to buy Xtorrent you’re mostly paying for the (stunningly) beautiful user-interface, not because its download speeds are the best or because it is the lightest BitTorrent client available for the Mac. Azureus still leads by a wide margin in download speeds, and Transmission is hands down the lightest BitTorrent client for the Mac.
Xtorrent looks good, it integrates well with iTunes, has iPod support and subscribes to RSS feeds. But to be completely honest, it just doesn’t seem like it’s worth the money. Perhaps that’s just because I’m a Windows user. Paying for software just isn’t in my blood.
Previously: The Human BitTorrent Swarm
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21 Responses
It’s not that good that I would pay for it. BitRocket does the job for me.
It’s a nice client, but seriously who is going to buy Xtorrent, even with tongue in cheek we all know what an application like that is going to be used for, Piracy. The only real way to make money out of clients for Bittorrent is to use advertisements built into the interface or marketing searches and paid content being mixed in with legitimate searches from the client.
Xtorrent will be heavily pirated so I don’t know why they bother charging for it.
Why would someone pay for something like that. Az is free and though it may use a bit more resources it is way more customizable and it is free. I mean it just isnt worth the money.
:/
I paid for it, it’s a nice simple app that does everything I’d like, the way it can wrap multiple site searches saves me loads of time jumping around and the interface just feels right. Watanabe’s apps are renound for being hard to crack, I’ve paid for both Inquisitor and Acquisition before cause they’re the same sort of thing.
I’ve been using the beta of this program and it is very nice. The inbuilt search is good but it’s not the best at finding torrents. Overall I was very unimpressed with it. I’m moving back to transmission
there is a mistake in the review
to xtorrent’s credit, while it does use libtransmission, the developer did patch the hammering issue.
I cannot register my xtorrent as the floating box is no longer available…would anyone know how to register it once that box is gone?
a torrent for downloading it is that it so far does not convince to me to buy it without before seeing of as it work
What does “swarm” in Xtorrent mean? Are many hits under “Swarm” a good thing?
I was an idiot who purchased Xtorrent because I was a n00b who didn’t know any better. I tried the free version and it seemed to work really well and I liked the interface, etc. And I thought, hey, I should support developers if I like their stuff. Plus the 10kB dowload cap was pretty annoying. I paid the $20 and was also suckered into buying the $9 lifetime license because I was told that my $20 purchase would be invalidated with future releases. Ok, ok, I was a total sucker.
NO SUPPORT!!
The worst thing about Xtorrent, what I realized only after wasting $29, is there is no support. There is no Help, no FAQ, and because people who know better don’t use it, not even a user community forum with advice.
After having Xtorrent somehow lose a 350kb file it had claimed to have downloaded for 15 hours, I started looking for that support and it was no where to be found.
What I did find, with a bit of research was Azureus, and I’m now kicking myself for having been foolish enough to spend $29 without noticing the lack of support, or doing more research into the best clients.
If this blog post wasn’t enought to stop you from going out and buying an Xtorrent license, I hope my comment will.
20 bucks wasted. It is so slow that it makes pulling out fingernails seem like fun!
@Gwen
put your license in a torrent and push it into the world, if you don’t like these suckers.
[quote comment="73409"]Az is free and though it may use a bit more resources it is way more customizable and it is free. I mean it just isnt worth the money.
:/[/quote]
A bit? That’s the biggest understatement I’ve ever heard in my life! And although I do agree that Xtorrent shouldn’t be charged for, it’s written by a douchebag, so you can’t expect much.
Personally I decided to ask the developer by means of e-mail why I should pay the $29 for both the product and the lifetime upgrades – why xTorrent was better and what assurance could be given that there would ever be future releases.
I didn’t even get a reply. In my book that was enough to warrant a boycott.
I have previously used Tomato Torrent, and the advantage of xTorrent to me was that it has the interface and was reasonably quick, but to be honest if the developer(s) cant be bothered to give a less than 5 minute reply to an e-mail to get a sale, their software product is likely of a similar standard.
Damn it…. I can’t get my file downloaded… it is always inactive and I seriously cannot find help or support to help me with this crap here and I felt my cash wasted!
I paid for xtorrent and there is no help? which is weird as I am having problems seeding, there is no where not even a forum anywhere to help
I was just about to fork over the money, but, like others, I have not been able to find support or even get a response from the maker. The app IS beautiful and light, and I love the search integration, BUT, recently it keeps hanging, and I can’t figure why.
I REALLY like this app, BUT, no support sucks–why buy it?
He also makes Acquisition, which I like, but, NO SUPPORT-NO FAQs NADA.
SO, No pay for either.
It is so slow that it is useless !!! DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY XTORRENT COMPLETELY SUCKS !!!
Agreed, the app is sooooo slow now and can’t find anything.
BTW, If you want Dave to respond, just post on his blog telling him how worthless this app is. We went back and forth about 4-5 times with insults. He really is a douchebag. Don’t support this developer. I regret ever giving him a dime…never again.
please can somebody help me? i have put some items to download in my xtorrent. 5 of them are downloading and 7 of them are connecting the whole time. how come i don't get a connection with those torrents? all have lots of seeders so that can't be the problem i guess? thanks in forward for your comments!
Hi people…if anyone want the xtorrent full version.. its here: http://rapidshare.com/files/190364622/Xtorrent.zi...
works on my mac with leopard… and the speed is very good. enjoy
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