I'm not sure if this is the root of the problem, but you're attempting to "add" a string numerically. That just isn't going to work. The offending code in the second example is:

$line += split /[ \t]*/;
# Notice '+=' operator
[download]

Which should be:

$line .= split /[ \t]*/;
# Notice '.=' operator
[download]

As I said, this may or may not fix your stated problem.

----
I wanted to explore how Perl's closures can be manipulated, and ended up creating an object system by accident.
-- Schemer

Note: All code is untested, unless otherwise stated