The Battle Of The Mac Trackers - BS, Vortex & Coratee

March 23, 2009 by sharky

Mac user? Torrent addict? While most 0day-general trackers serve up at least some Mac / OSX releases, not many cater exclusively to Mac torrents. If you’re a Mac-freak, there be only three private trackers that you need to be a part of; and that’s BrokenStones, SaveTheCoratee & VortexNetwork. While all three are closed communities, here’s a few tips for getting invited, and what each has to offer.

BrokenStones

BrokenStones.me is the granddaddy of all Mac trackers. While they suffered an absence from the scene at their old domain, BS has rebounded nicely - offering more than 5,000 active torrents (735 new torrents just in March ‘09, alone). BS is a great tracker; a must-have for Mac users. Features include:

  • • Torrents can be downloaded as *.txt files.
  • • Tons of large packs, including video packs (DRM-free *.m4v files) for iPhone or iPod.
  • • Heavy focus on Mac utilities & software, including audio & graphics apps.
  • • Very active forums. Large tutorials section for BitTorrent, software & graphics.
  • • Reseeds can be requested for dead torrents.
  • • Offers "free" torrents (where no data is collected in either direction - 101 in all) and "freeleech" torrents (known as "Golden" torrents - currently lists just 14).

BrokenStones Invites — Qualifying members receive either 1 or 2 invites every 10 days, although they can only be used when the member limit drops below 18,500. http://bswillyouinvite.me is a great starting place, also lists various trackers which offer recruitment. There’s also the BS IRC channel, but we should mention it’s not for invites:

irc://irc.p2p-network.net/brokenstones

BrokenStones… At A Glance

Alexa Rank: 70,340
Maximum Users: 18,500
Members: 18,038
Online Since: August, 2008 (as BrokenStones.me)
Torrents: 5,080 (active); 6,247 (total)
Torrents By Category:
Apps (all): 1,888
Games: 439
Music: 993
Audio (samples, effects): 225
Graphics: 745
iPod/iPhone: 284
Others (Movies, TV, ebooks): 991

SaveTheCoratee

Few actually know that SaveTheCoratee is actually a ratio-free site. It works on a heavily-customized system known as ‘Coratees Saved’, in which 4 criteria are used to calculate the number of saved coratees (or points), which include: Number of uploaded torrents; seeding hours & torrents seeded; overall download GBs; and number of snatched torrents. It’s rather complicated, but we can tell you this: one will never be promoted to Power User without saving at least 1,000 more coratees than as deemed ‘needed’.

StC offers more than 2,600 Mac torrents, more than half of which are for apps & games. One really keen feature is the integrated Collages (adapted from What.cd), which lists groups of similar torrents.

The Writing Apps collage at StC:

SaveTheCoratee Invites — As originally planned, all new members receive 5 invites upon signup, but we can’t verify is this still holds true. StC is also considered a ‘no movement’ tracker on many torrent invite boards (including TPS and TR) and thus invite requests & giveaways are forbidden. StC has never been publicly open to direct signups, but there is recruitment for aspiring members in PU threads at What.cd & Waffles.fm, as well as StC’s own IRC invites channel:

irc://irc.savethecoratee.org - go to channel #invites - type !queue and be prepared for a short interview. Be sure to have some of your private tracker "profile" links on hand, proof that you’re a Mac user, as well as a speedtest from Speedtest.net.

SaveTheCoratee… At A Glance

Alexa Rank: 288,882
Maximum Users: 5,000
Members: 3,362
Online Since: August, 2008
Torrents: 2,640
Torrents By Category:
Apps (OSX/Classic/office): 1,060
Games: 332
Music (alac): 305
Components (fonts etc.): 199
Materials (ebooks/audiobooks): 116
Video (AppleTV/iPhone): 135

VortexNetwork

The first rule of Vortex: Don’t talk about Vortex. The second rule is, don’t give out the URL. Third rule: refer to them as "The Eye Of The Storm" - cool moniker, if it stuck. That was the plan, until it all got somewhat complicated.

Regardless of their troubled past, Vortex has quietly re-established itself as one of the leading Mac trackers. While their fora have all but been abandoned, it’s a great site for downloading OSX applications & games, as well as DRM-free video & films to watch on AppleTV or an iPhone. It’s worth noting that Vortex doesn’t carry music torrents, but offers a strong selection of components and materials.

Vortex Invites — By default, members need to have uploaded at least one torrent (and 25 GB UL) to be bumped up to the "Citizen" class in order to start receiving invites. Even then, invites are only distributed periodically once every three months or so - thus invites are difficult to come across. Vortex has never been publicly open to direct signups, but a great starting point is their IRC channel (read the MOTD), where an invitation may be requested.

irc://irc.vortexnetwork.org:6667/vortexnetwork

VortexNetwork… At A Glance

Alexa Rank: 300,534
Maximum Users: 22,000
Members: 5,732
Online Since: July, 2008
Torrents: 2,625
Torrents By Category:
Apps (OSX/iPhone/Classic): 1,288
Games: 248
Music: 0
Components (fonts etc.): 257
Materials (ebooks/audiobooks): 401
Video (AppleTV/iPhone): 385

Other OSX / Mac Torrent Trackers:

  • • www.mac-torrents.com — public tracker (1,616 torrents)
  • • www.emaczone.com — Private tracker, but uses public torrents (380+)
  • • www.proaudiotorrents.org — Not specifically a Mac tracker, but offers a vast array of audio-related torrents for OSX platform. Signups are currently closed.
  • • forum.audionews.ru and forum.gfxnews.ru also have their own Mac sections for audio and graphics torrents, respectively. Each opens signups at the beginning of every month.

Mininova & ThePirateBay also have an impressive selection of Mac torrents:



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