OSX File Sharing

December 11, 2004 3:52 PM

Best peer-to-peer file sharing program for Mac OS X? I'm using Limewire now, and am wondering if there is another program offering a better selection, ie, with more members. I'm mostly interested in audio files. Is there software allowing the downloading of entire albums at a time?
posted by cahlers to computers & internet (9 answers total)

You want Nicotine, the soulseek client for OS X.

It works best if you pony up $5/month to "jump the queue" - i.e., you get priority to download from any given user, while non-payers wait.
posted by stonerose at 3:56 PM on December 11, 2004

You want a better program? Poisoned is what you want.

You want a better network? eDonkey/OverNet is where it's at.

You want entire albums? You use BitTorrent. Try the Azureus or Tomato clients.
posted by majick at 3:58 PM on December 11, 2004

FWIW as a Limewire/Gnutella client Acquisition is superior to Limewire and it's free. I can't use BitTorrent and I look forward to trying out Nicotine and exploring Soulseek (thanks stonerose). For full albums I pay Russian royalties and use allofmp3.com for convenience (English link on the top left) but their selection is limited depending on your tastes and your need for the newest of the new.
posted by Cryptical Envelopment at 4:45 PM on December 11, 2004

Err, Aquisition is not free, sorry. acqlite is and is what I meant. You can get the latest version here (link to .zip file) but it seems to be a dead project.
posted by Cryptical Envelopment at 4:57 PM on December 11, 2004

Poisoned is easy to use and has access to a lot of users, but it's pretty much only good for audio files.
Carracho is good, but is lacking in some areas. if you lose your connection, you have to find the exact same file to resume.
Bittorrent is usually a bit slow, but not bad
KDX is similar to Carracho in format, but is supposed to be better. I haven't tried it yet.
posted by getupandgo at 5:01 PM on December 11, 2004

does Bittorrent provide files in mp3 format which I can play in iTunes? What is the .flac format?
posted by cahlers at 5:43 PM on December 11, 2004

BitTorrent provides all kinds of files, from mp3s to DVDs, small and large. You can get almost anything if you are willing to wait. Here is a bit of info on FLAC.
posted by Cryptical Envelopment at 5:51 PM on December 11, 2004

I use Acquisition, and it's great. I haven't registered it though, so I get the extremely annoying nagware.
posted by Succa at 7:18 PM on December 11, 2004

Poisoned is what you want.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 11:02 PM on December 11, 2004