Xtorrent 1.0 for Mac OS X

Xtorrent uses Yahoo and Google search as its default searching sources, but you can easily add others such as Pirate Bay to your list of searched sites for your torrents.

Of course, Xtorrent also features: RSS, Growl, Apple TV, iPod and iTunes support straight out of the box. SvenOnTech also states that, “You’re free to check it (XTorrent) out but if you’re like me, you’ll be hitting PayPal within your first search completion.”

Well, as great as they and many others might think that XTorrent is, before you actually pay for the program, please note that, like most things, XTorrents has its drawbacks too.

One of the biggest being, of course, is that Xtorrent is not free, but rather shareware, and, at up to $42, a very expensive one at that. Competing BitTorrent software for OS X, such as Azureus, are not only free, but some also say even faster, something that I admit I didn’t compare because of time constraints.

Still another downside to XTorrent is that if you do not register the program it will, within about an hour of use, throttle itself, thus limiting your bandwidth download speed to a measly 10k and it adds even more frustration by then constantly pestering you with repeated ‘Nag’ notices to pay up!

Another drawback of Xtorrent is that its core is made up from the libtransmission library, which is known to hammer trackers, which bans XTorrent from an ever increasing number of them, making it rather useless, for example, if your a member of Oink.

David Watanabe is an excellent programmer and I highly recommend that you download XTorrent and try it out, if you’re into such things. Despite the rough edges XTorrent, over all, like his other programs, are wonderful to use and of very high and professional quality. However, if you only use BitTorrent occasionally, I can’t see any justification for its purchase, especially considering its high price and all of the other great OS X Torrents alternatives out there, and free ones at that.

XTorrent’s beautiful interface, ease of searching, downloading, adding RSS torrentcasts and subscriptions, etc. are all very compelling indeed, but the price and the few other cons really trouble me.

One of these other cons is the support, or should I say lack of support, that I have received personally in the past from its developer. With Acquisition, I learned, after losing my product key, was that Mr. Watanabe’s mastery of programming does not match his after purchased support. After sending what seems like millions of email requests for assistance, not one was ever answered! I was left on my own. Not a pleasant experience to say the least. Fortunately for me, I did, by chance, find my password. Otherwise, my hard-earned $15 purchase would have been wasted!

I won’t tell you not to buy the program because, over-all, its a beauty, but I will tell you, that if you do purchase XTorrent, please back up your product key because if you lose it, well, don’t expect any type of support in getting it back! Yes, they have an automatic email verification system set-up, but if you move to a new ISP, as did I, well, you’re on your own. Sadly, I’m not the only person I heard who experience this same frustrating lack of support.

Recently, I read that it was estimated that BitTorrent downloads now comprise some 30% of the Internet’s entire bandwidth. So, in conclusion, if you want to join in, then XTorrent is a great program to do it with and one that can only get better with time. If the constantly updated and improved Acquisition is any indication, then XTorrent can be expected to improve as well. Could it be that the lack of support by Mr. Watanabe is because he is too busy constantly upgrading and making his products even better to get back to people? I don’t know, but it is one of the biggest cons to me in recommending the product.

So, after all, is XTorrent really the best of the best of its kind? Well, indeed, despite its drawbacks, it very well could be? For sure, I know of no other program quite like it. However, knowing Mr. Watanabe’s programming skills, if it isn’t the best now, I’d be willing to bet that it will be soon. Mr. Watanabe is a great developer and I give him oodles of credit for it.

So, by all means, try this amazing program out for yourself, because I am sure that you will like it, but considering it’s high cost and that it is still an early version, plus the lack of support, the question is will you like it enough to pay for it? Only you can answer that question. As for me, I can live with out it, but I’m really not sure that I want to. It’s just so damn cool! What more can I say?

XTorrent is $24 for a single license, with a Household option that you can add for an additional $ 9. An extra $9 will also get you a Lifetime Upgrade Option, or $42 for the total package and according to a lot of people, very well worth it.

XTorrent can be downloaded from either Mac Update, Version Tracker or the official site.

Don Williams has been an Apple enthusiast since the earliest days and is a contributing editor for Techgage.com and you can find his blog here.

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