The Departure of OiNk

The torrent download giant site of them all, Oink, was recently closed by interpol. Oink for those who do not know was a semi-invite only torrent download site that indexed thousands of cds. It had a user base of about 100,000 dedicated users. The only way to gain access to this site was by an invite from an existing members or signing up during an open period (which were rather rare). User were required to keep a steady upload/download ratio, so cds never went dead and always plenty of people to download from. Interpol targeted this site not because of the user base (as plenty of public sites have much larger bases) , but because of the dedicated users that the government feared. The death of this giant has already opened the way for numerous sites to step up and try to take its spot. Some of the competing sites are waffles.fm and whatcd. Both are invite only sites but are having trouble getting their files up. It is doubtful that either will be able to get to where Oink was at its height. The site was truly magical. Any cd you wanted, from whenever, even the rarest you could think of was alive and well. However it is no more and we will all remember 10/23, the day the internet cried.