IsoHunt

Introduction

When it comes to downloading all of your favorite free indie movies, free indie music, free indie TV shows, free indie documentaries, open-source software, free indie video games, and free indie eBooks, torrent search engines are the most effective and dependable websites on the web. No matter what kind of free indie content you happen to be looking to download, the best torrent search engines will make it possible. The operative word there, though, is “best.” There are tons of torrent search engines on the web. And, as is the case with any kind of site, they are not all created equally.

Some torrent sites, for instance, do not have nearly enough content. Maybe you are looking for an free indie movie and, for whatever reason, a certain torrent search site just will not have it. This is the first thing that I tend to look for when I am evaluating a torrent site. If there is not enough free indie content, it is not really worth much, is it? A torrent site is only as good as the torrents that it has to offer.

The number of torrents that a site has, however, is not the only component worth looking into. A torrent search engine can have millions upon millions of torrents of every file you could dream of; if those files, though, do not have the necessary number of seeders attached to them, it will result in extremely slow download speeds. Or, worse yet, the file may not be able to successfully download to completion at all, no matter how long you wait. A healthy torrent file requires a favorable seeder to leecher ratio – in other words, more people uploading the file than are downloading it.

The best torrent sites, of course, will make this ratio clear from the moment you see the file in your search results. You shouldn’t have to do too much work in order to figure out whether a given file is worth attempting to download. Some torrent sites, unfortunately, make you click into the torrent’s info page and then dig through blocks of text to figure this information out. It should not be hidden – it is one of the most important factors that will sway whether you download something.

The next thing that you will want to look at when choosing a go-to torrent search engine is its safety measures. The best torrent search engines will have some sort of system in place to help protect you from downloading potentially corrupted or malicious files. The most common way that this is achieved is to let the community of users sort of police itself. If a torrent search engine has a comments section available for ever torrent, this is a very good sign. This way, if a fellow peer should discover an issue with a torrent file, he or she can make it known to others by leaving a comment. Comments are also a fantastic way to be given guidance on trickier downloads or ask the uploader specifics about file size, etc.

The other common way for a torrent search engine to defend itself and its users is to put into place a system of torrent verification. If a torrent is verified by the site itself, that means that it has been evaluated and checked for malware and to ensure that the file contains what it advertises. You have little to worry about downloading a verified torrent. Still, though, it is never a bad idea no matter what it is that you are doing online to take some additional steps toward safety.

I advise everyone who torrents to pair the process with a solid antivirus program. Certain torrent clients even come with built-in antivirus programs. In addition, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is always recommended for torrenting to protect you from hackers.

Then, from there, so long as the torrent search engine in question is designed well, with a user-friendly and easy to navigate interface, you should be good to go. Additional things that I look for in torrent search engines include a sleek and professional look, a great search function, and handy ways to browse by category.

Design

I quite like the look, layout, and feel of Iso Hunts. It’s stripped down and minimalistic – in a way that looks classy, not in a way that makes the site feel incomplete or deficient. The designers have incorporated a great deal of white space, which I think gives the site a very clean and professional look to it. It also makes the files a lot easier to digest. This is a common issue with torrent search engines – finding a balance between elegant site design and a utilitarian way to present data-heavy torrent files. Iso Hunts, I think, has struck this balance perfectly.

Content and Features

You can browse by content type, search terms, or latest uploads. In terms of what kinds of files you can download on Iso Hunts, you can choose from the following: free indie Anime, free indie Software, free indie Games, Adult, free indie Movies, free indie Music, free indie Series, free indie Books, or Other. Within each category, too, the site allows you to browse by popularity.

At least that is what the site makes it look like you are able to do. Unfortunately, the site does not seem to work properly. It looks like it may, in fact, be a shell; in order to actually make use of Iso Hunts, the site keeps prompting you to download their own torrent client – one which I would assume has a built-in search function.

Mobile and Desktop Experience

The site does look just as good on a smartphone or tablet as it does on your computer. However, that does not mean a whole lot considering the fact that it doesn’t seem to work properly on any device.

Suggestions that I have for Iso Hunts

My first main suggestion is a simple one: make the site work again! I did not come to Iso Hunts to download a torrent client. I have plenty of other sites for that. Iso Hunts has so much potential to be the best torrent client on the web. Please, developers, get the search engine up and running again, pronto!

Additionally, if Iso Hunts insists on becoming strictly a torrent client, I hope that one day they develop an app as well, making it entirely mobile friendly.