Vuze

Pros

• Completely Free
• Open-Source
• Many Options
• Quick Transfers

Cons

• Resource Heavy
• Torrent Expirations
• Not Optimally Intuitive

Vuze is essentially a remake of Azureus, a piece of software for downloading torrents. While Azureus was infamous for being a platform where illegal torrent sharing occurred, Vuze operates entirely within the legal arena. It uses the torrent client from Azureus, which is extensive and highly useful on its own, with an online system where legal video and audio downloads are plentiful.

Users of the old Azureus software will find Vuze to be a totally different ecosystem. Online media content is now the focus of the developer, and the goal is to increase user participation. When you first open Vuze, you'll see a screen that asks if you want to download, play, or find something. On the left side of the app is a file browser that includes divisions for tags, channels, and time.

At the top of the interface is a menu that connects you with the newest additions to the Vuze system. Thanks to the web2.0 foundation used by Vuze, many of the files are tagged with meta information. If you want to add you own info, you can leave comments and ratings. You can email videos through the app, and you can take advantage of hyperlinks to send users to the content from another location.

If you'd rather search for files to download, you can do so with the simple search bar. It will search only Vuze, or you can set the search results to come from any torrent site you like. The list of sites that are searched can be altered at any time.

The Azureus client speaks for itself since it was so popular for so long, and there are a few additions that try to make Vuze something unique. The Vuze HD Network contains a decent selection of legal HD content, and there are social elements for better communication. While there are a great number of channels, the selection of general content in the system is a bit lacking. Even in crisp HD, bad content is still bad content.

Like other apps of this nature, Vuze has a fairly serious issue when it comes to its use of system resources. The software requires heavy use of both your internet connection and your system RAM.

The Vuze app is deceptively simple, but that won't stop it from lagging on occasion since it has so much going on under the hood. Even without a tremendous selection of free and legal content, Vuze has the potential to become the industry standard for free torrent utility.

The most recent update to this software added a sidebar icon for compatible connected devices, and it removed a number of obsolete plugins. Some of the core code was altered to help streamline device detection, and the UI is now faster thanks to a rearrangement of the table refreshing code.

Pros

• Completely Free
• Open-Source
• Many Options
• Quick Transfers

Cons

• Resource Heavy
• Torrent Expirations
• Not Optimally Intuitive