I’m pleased to announce that Acquisition 2.1 (v210) is now available for download.

This release brings auto-updater support (similar to the recent NewsFire beta) to make future software updates as painless as possible. There are also a number of minor cosmetic changes along with general improvements to the app’s ability to consistently find robust connections to the search network.

As an aside, if you’re a twitter user, you can now follow us for the latest news about Acquisition.

Acquisition 2.0 (v209) is now available for download. This release fixes some connectivity issues associated with incorrect video metadata, and updates the appearance of searchfield autocompletion suggestions.

This is a free upgrade for users of Acquisition 2.0.

I love my software as children, and while I have unconditional love for Acquisition, in 2007 it started showing jealous tendencies as I showered attention on the new kids Xtorrent and Inquisitor.

However, now that the kids are walking, I’m able to spend more time on Acquisition and I genuinely think its best years are ahead. Acquisition 2 is a major new release of the software, many months in the coming. Almost every aspect of the Acquisition user experience has been refined and rethought, with a brand-new search list with folders, a newly designed downloads view and query results view, an improved media player and metadata browser, and higher performance searching and downloading.

Acquisition 2 is hands-down the best Acquisition ever, and looking back at the five years since I started this project, it’s astonishing how far its come. I just hope Xtorrent doesn’t become envious of its handsome elder brother.

Please note: Acquisition 2 is considered a major upgrade, and registrations from previous versions will not work. Qualifying users (those with lifetime upgrade options or who purchased at certain times in the past) have already been sent new activation codes for Acquisition 2. If you qualify and have not received a code, you obviously should contact the developer.

Acquisition 131.1 beta is now available for testing. This update includes an updated, slightly more resource-efficient Gnutella core and a modified BitTorrent core. Of particular note is that certain spam files that have become prominent on the network recently, characterized by having “100+” hosts but that fail to download, are now ignored entirely. These garbage files are so pervasive for some common searches that there may be a noticeable difference in number of results, though the number of genuine results should be unchanged.

Acquisition 130.1 beta is now available for testing. In addition to the usual bug fixes, this release is interesting because Acquisition now supports both UPNP and NAT-PMP for automatic port configuration of routers. In short, when you launch Acquisition, it will now tell your router what ports the router should open for optimal downloading performance, saving you the hassle of configuring it manually.

NAT-PMP is probably not something you’ve heard of, but it is important as it is the only automatic configuration protocol supported by Apple’s AirPort base stations. The only snag in this smooth process is that NAT-PMP needs to be turned on for this to work. Luckily that involves checking just one checkbox in the AirPort Admin Utility. For more detailed info on port configurations, I’ve written up a brief guide.

Acquisition 129.1 beta is now available for testing. The changes in this release are mostly behind-the-scenes, with updated BitTorrent and Gnutella cores. There are also improvements to download filtering behavior and a performance issue in 128.5 involving retrying or pausing a large list of downloads has been fixed.

Note: Anyone experiencing connection issues should firstly repair disk permissions and secondly delete the ~/Library/Application Support/Acquisition directory.

Acquisition has been revved to version 128.5. This release addresses compatibility issues with Mac OS X 10.3.9 found in versions 128.2 through 128.4.

The latest Acquisition beta, version 128.2, is now available for testing. This release is an incremental improvement over the previous beta, 128.1. This release fixes some issues with the main search field (in particular, the field now scrolls properly and the suggestions window autosizes for long suggestions). It also revamps some of the registration and activation user interface, bringing this forward one step from the preferences window into the main window.

The latest Acquisition beta, version 128.1, is now available for testing. This release brings a new aesthetic that cleans up the lines and modernizes the basic layout that has been in place for nearly four years, thus laying the interface groundwork for some very cool innovations to come.

That’s not all, however. This release adds some oft-requested filtering tools to the download pane. The first tool is a tab-filter that shows items based on their state – active, inactive, or complete. The second tool is a simple filter field that matches against file names. Together, these are useful for managing lengthy download lists.

Acquisition 125.2 beta is now available for download. Acquisition joins NewsFire in being a Universal binary, taking full advantage of the speed of Apple’s new Core Duo Macs.

Additionally, this release extends anti-spam technologies in Acquisition with a Bayesian-network based spam filter that learns over time. iTunes-style extended information arrows in the file list also debut in this release. There are also improvements in general efficacy for users behind firewalls or Airport base stations.