I am a beginner at p2p and would like to know if there is an alternative to limewire für Mac OS X users?

Für MacOSX users there is no solche alternative. At least none that ich would recommend.

Phex works on MacOSX but it's java too and LimeWire is the more feature rich client. There are Acquisition and Acqlite, the former allegedly violates the GPL, the later is not maintained anymore and both of them are based on LimeWire.

There is Poison which connects to the Fasttrack network but I'd say LimeWire is better (still, you might want to try that). On windows or linux there would be some alternatives but not for OSX unless you manage to compile gtk-gnutella under OSX.

Can you explain what you mean here in more detail. I'm asking purely out of curiosity.

I just found this thread, and I'd like to comment on it, even thought it's quite old:

Acquisition has a proürietary GUI but uses the GPL licenses LimeWire Core.

It might be that the developer found a way around the GPL, but it's a narrow issue.

About Alternatives:
Phex is a real alternative if you look for a less resource hungry replacement which offers advanced features like private networks and decentral content distribution.
- Phex - Home
- Phex (Cross-platform) - Gnutella Forums

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Zone 7 Software is coming out with a new program called Nexus which is similar to limewire and other p2p programs in that you can download media such as Music, Movies, and Software... but it comes with built in virus protection. Its NOT actually p2p and you dont have to download the media to listen/watch it, you can just stream it, or you can stream it while you download it. Nexus will have two versions to it, Pro and Free, which are both offer some virus protection and faster downloads than p2p clients. The Pro closed beta will be released in January 2009. And the Free open beta will be released later. I will post a download link for the Free beta when its released.

If it isn't p2p, it isn't an alternative to LimeWire but just another media portal. Also it means that it won't be able to access the content from the Gnutella network.

Besides: Streaming is very similar to downloading. The main difference is that you throw away everything you downloaded as soon as you saw it, so you'll have to get it again if you want to see it another time.

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