Is there something similar to Soulseek for MAC?

March 9, 2007 1:30 PM

Is there something similar to Soulseek for MAC?

I am beginning to convert from using a PC at home to a MAC.

I love using Soulseek, to me it's a very hassle-free program/network (vs. anything bittorrent, which makes me feel e-tarded, and I couldn't get it to work in the past).

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find anything that works for a MAC, I tried downloading Nicotine, but that didn't really work either. Any suggestions?

posted by deinemutti to computers & internet (11 comments total)

I had a hard time with this when I switched over to my new macbook back in September. Closest thing I found was SoulseeX. The interface sucks.
posted by hypocritical ross at 1:35 PM on March 9, 2007

"SolarSeek is an Open Source SoulSeek client for Mac OS X."
posted by basicchannel at 1:41 PM on March 9, 2007

It doesn't connect to the Soulseek network, but there is Acquisition on the Mac. It's not free, though.
That's probably as close as you are going to come to the whole "community" thing...unless you care to go to the trouble of installing Windows on your new mac. Then you can keep using Soulseek.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:51 PM on March 9, 2007

Limewire?
posted by mattbucher at 2:20 PM on March 9, 2007

You don't have to SHOUT every time you say MAC, you know.

It's a Mac not a MAC.

Acquisition is very good indeed.
posted by sweet mister at 2:25 PM on March 9, 2007

SoulseeX is the way to go; my sense is it's the most popular of the Soulseek clients for the Mac. The interface is a bit of a beast, yes, but you'll get used to it soon enough.

The developer's site is here. He was hired by the Soulseek people recently, it appears.
posted by wemayfreeze at 2:33 PM on March 9, 2007

careful with limewire; it's nicknamed slimewire for slowing down Macs and being very hard to remove.

the trial version of acquisition bugs the shit of you but it's free, and some decent music can be found.
posted by pinto at 2:55 PM on March 9, 2007

SolarSeek is a bit buggy, but the interface is better (a lot fewer windows for one thing) than SoulseeX. The only other alternative I know of is Nicotine, but it requires X11 installed and that way lies madness.

Acquistion is ok for a Limewire client, but I've found far more interesting stuff on the Soulseek network.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 3:14 PM on March 9, 2007

I just run soulseek in xp through parallels, personally. Maybe it's just that I'm more comfortable/used to the xp version, but it really seems like SoulseeX doesn't turn up as many hits as Soulseek does. Plus why the hell did they design it to run in 5 separate windows?!
posted by hypocritical ross at 3:21 PM on March 9, 2007

Limewire and Acquisition are terrible IMHO. I use Soulseex - the interface isn't that bad, and it gets all the music I need.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 12:02 AM on March 10, 2007

Limewire and Acquisition are not substitutes for Soulseek. They run on a different network and will not get the same (quality) results you'll get from Soulseek. They are good for the occasional odd single mp3, but if you were using Soulseek to grab whole albums, don't even bother.

I haven't found a good replacement for Soulseek on the Mac, but I will implore you to give Bit Torrent another try. Some of the invite-only torrent sites put what I could find on Soulseek to shame. When friends ask me how to use Bit Torrent I generally point them toward Slyck's guide.

If you're dead set on soulseek, running it under Windows might actually be your best bet.
posted by cosmic osmo at 6:01 AM on March 10, 2007