In fact, FrostWire has more than just a few similarities to Limewire although unlike the latter, it does not carry advertising and there are no annoying pop ups. Just as Limewire was, FrostWire is straightforward and easy to use. A simple search bar, divided by category, makes it a breeze to browse for a file, whether it is a video, image, audio, or program. FrostWire also has a What’s New button to check out what popular files users have recently exchanged.

One particularly handy feature of FrostWire is a special direct connect option. If you know the IP address of one of your friends, type it in the box and FrostWire will browse to that user’s files. This is a quick way of sharing files with someone you know although it would be even better if you could enter the username of a user rather than the IP address.

In terms of speed, much will depend on the speed of your own connection. It definitely helps though if you've correctly opened your router’s ports and whether you’re downloading a popular file or not. To avoid the risk of downloading copyrighted or adult material, FrostWire also allows you to apply content filters. Another handy feature of FrostWire is a built-in media player. Video and audio can be tested using Frostwire’s media player which gives you an immediate preview of your file.

However, one major annoyance with Frostwire is the number of fake files on it. Many songs and files look genuine but are in fact either completely fake or in the worst case scenarios, malicious. You should be very careful when opening files. It should also be noted that FrostWire is basically a stripped-down version of Limewire, but is a not-for-profit project. The developers claim it will never support Digital Rights Management (DRM) or any type of advertising. However, the demise of Limewire due to legal issues mean that FrostWire may well be targeted in the future for closure.

FrostWire for Mac is a hugely popular alternative for anyone who misses Limewire but there are a lot of fake files and it doesn't quite measure up to the latter in most areas.

Download FrostWire 5.5.6 in Softonic

By now everyone who has ever used a computer surely knows about Peer to Peer file sharing and the controversy it has stirred up since the days when Napster rocked the music industry. Although it's still illegal and you run the risk of being taken to court if you're caught with substantial copyrighted material, there are still plenty of file sharing networks and clients you can use to obtain free music, video and files like FrostWire.

What is special about aMule?

Using the eDonkey network, aMule stands out from most of its rival P2P clients because it is open source. This frees you from pesky spyware and adware, leaving you able to get on with your downloading in peace. In addition, aMule doesn't rely on one central server like many older clients. By using a multitude of different servers, the network is virtually impossible to shut down and is consequently very secure.

aMule is simple to use. This doesn't mean it lacks depth though, and aMule's features are some of the most advanced to be seen in a P2P client. For example, you can view all kinds of information on machines you're downloading from, call up charts outlining downloading stats and check download status through aMule's advanced progress bar.

What are the results like?

Since aMule uses a large network of servers its search results are pretty vast. There's one major annoyance that can come up with aMule though: it's very slow at downloading files. This is largely because of the way aMule handles download priority, which looks at the number of servers you're connected to, the connection speed and the size of the file.

aMule also relies heavily on a credit scoring system, where people who use the service a lot are rewarded with faster downloads. While some may champion this as being in the true spirit of file sharing, the system makes it frustrating for new users who get penalized with ultra slow downloads.

Still, with its simple interface and loads of features, it's not difficult to see why aMule has become a very popular P2P app.

Download aMule 2.3.1 in Softonic

At first glance, Poisoned may look like your average file sharing application. However, unlike more well known ones such as Limewire, which only allow you to connect to one file sharing network, Poisoned allows you to connect to several seamlessly.

Poisoned is very much a community-driven project and developers are welcome to improve and adapt it as they see fit. Poisoned connects to several networks, including FastTrack (Kazaa, Grokster, iMesh), Gnutella (Limewire, Acquisition), and OpenFT. This is all made possible by what's known as the giFT daemon who are the same people behind the OpenFT network. OpenNapster and eDonkey are other networks which have been recently added.

Poisoned supports multiple source downloads, so your files will download quickly and painlessly. I also like the way that Poisoned offers integration with iTunes by automatically importing music as it downloads. That is, however, if you can get it to download anything of course. Unfortunately, the death of many major file sharing networks means that Poisoned has died with it.

As the developer points out, "Kazaa and Fasttrack are gone. Ares is dying and almost dead now. Gnutella is the only network that seems to work. There is a program called Sandvine right now used by ISPs to terminate unencrypted network traffic from Peer-to-peer applications. Any network not encrypted will basically be rendered useless with most of the network filled with half transfered files." Because Poisoned relies on giFT, it is not encrypted and therefore affected by these problems. The good news is though, that the developer has promised to dump giFT and find another network instead.

When it works, Poisoned is widely praised by users for its ability to connect to several networks. However, the death of many of these networks has effectively sealed the death of Poisoned too, until the developer finds a way around this problem.

Download Poisoned 0.5191 in Softonic

When it comes to peer to peer (P2P) downloading, the best applications on Mac are still aMule and Limewire. Yet users looking for a friendlier alternative can turn to XFactor, a P2P application giving you access to most of the major networks like Kazaa, Gnutella and Ares.

The app cleverly integrates your iTunes library, accessible from the menu in the bottom left of the interface, making it easy to share all your music with other users.

The integrated player is also quite useful to preview videos being downloaded.

Download XFactor 0.93 in Softonic