What.CD has shut down

[Zeus 7997]

http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/17/13669832/what-cd-music-torrent-website-shut-down

 

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What.cd, an invite-only music torrent website first launched in 2007, has been shut down after a raid by French authorities. The private tracker offered free (and often illegal) access to a massive, deeply thorough collection of music and was popular among audiophiles for its strict rules around quality and file formats.

 

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What.cd staked its name on staggering choice, a passionate community of users, and helpful tools for discovering new music. You could download the latest hot releases in MP3, or pull up an obscure, rare album from a lesser-known artist and probably find it available in lossless FLAC. The artists and albums absent from this or that streaming service were always present on What (again, so long as you didn’t mind stealing music).

 

Here's the message left on their website

 

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"Due to some recent events, What.CD is shutting down. We are not likely to return any time soon in our current form. All site and user data has been destroyed. So long, and thanks for all the fish."

 

[CAT5 9075]

This is SUCH a massive blow - for myself, and for pirates everywhere. The wealth of music available there was simply mind-blowing. And even though they weren't necessarily a great source for Japanese music, some rarez and gems would appear there every once and a while. Nothing lasts forever, though. They had one hell of a run, and I'm extremely thankful. I'm pretty sure there will be a proper replacement in time, but man...I guess if there's a silver-lining to this for me, then it would be the forceful limiting of my compulsive downloading habits. what.cd seriously made things TOO convenient, ahaha.

[Mamo 1172]

Damn, this is really sad.

[sakuran 1216]

Wow this is really sad news.

[Spectralion 394]

I've been leeching and hoarding music since like a decade ago...

 

Why am I not even knew a damn thing about What.CD?!|

My life is full of lies :/

[Tokage 5930]

wtf 2016 does finally suck now

 

(I mean i never used what.cd cuz im too lazy 4 the interview and i dont care too much about flac files to begin with, but the place was legendary. i imagine lots of rarez will be lost to the void for fucking ever)

 

Guess we'll see how long it takes until slsk bites the dust, then we can all move back to kazaa

 

edit: hey wait a fucking second...

Edited November 18, 2016 by Tokage

[Biopanda 2675]

Is it finally time for MH to rise up and take its rightful throne?

[nekkichi 6043]

mart*n skrheli is a good reminder that rill rich people can be bored thirsty assholes looking for retweets on any given day having drastically more options to have, like, actual fun

[nick 10212]

From what I read, it was hosted at OVH (a French VPS/dedicated server provider) just like many other normal websites.

If I were to run an illegal site that big, I'd prefer using an encrypted offshore server with bitcoin payment accepted and probably fronting the server with a CDN to hide the real IP to keep my ass safe.

[Tokage 5930]

From the talk I heard, it was only ONE server that was taken down, or rather just threatened to be taken down? im not sure, so the admins nuked the site instead. The actual site itself still (supposedly) exists somewhere in backup form, so it's always possible it'll come back some day..

[d4rkie 5]

I guess the music sharing will go underground again. I kinda miss the days of IRC and BBS.