I have been using Hotline and I am finding it frustrating. I am wanting to switch and thought someone would have some advice as to which is better to use for software downloads for Mac. Mactella or Limewire. Or does anyone have any other suggestions?

Thanks

mactella is a lot better than lime wire

mactella doesn't give you :
ability to control the upload/download bandwidth
what file type to search for
what file type to exclude
multiple folders to share
blocking 'freeloaders'
choice of connection quality

so how is mactella better?

Anyone who thinks that Mactella is better than Limewire has his head REALLY far up his ***.

I also started on HotClient - then moved to Napster. When that went by the way of the dinosaur - I tried Mactella. Did fine for a while, but then tried LimeWire - loved it. There was so much more you could control. And it was faster then Mactella. However - since upgrading to Mac OS 10.1 (worse decision I've made) nothing works. Downloading the Mac OS X versions are just illusions that they might work...haven't even been able to install LimeWire (The instructions don't work) and Mactella doesn't ever connect - so, now I'm stuck with nothing - By the way, the new version of Mactella (if you can get it to work does allow you to control the bandwidth of upload vs downloads...

"Unregistered" in his uninformed opinion states

mactella doesn't give you : what file type to exclude
yes, it does. preferences > search

mactella doesn't give you : multiple folders to share
again, yes, it does.
from their web page: "Mactella fully supports the use of aliases. No need to move all of your documents and files into the Public Folder for sharing. Just drag an alias on in and let the fun begin."

Personally Mactella is a bigger pain in the tush to use, but I have more successful searches and more successful *COMPLETED* downloads with it.
Limewire is OK, the interface is certianly prettier and I still use Limewire too ... but who cares if there's 17TB of files available if I still can't find what I want, or if I am constantly getting "unable to connect" messages when I try to download?
To me getting the successful completed file downloaded, that's what matters. Mactella just delivers more then Limewire for me at this time.

IMHO - try both, see what works for you. while you're at it check out iSwipe too ( http://www.hillmanminx.com/ ). After all, whatever works it whats best for you.