Technology is regularly taken for granted in our daily lives. Can you imagine life without computers, television or radio? Do you remember what the Internet was like 10 years ago? Napster hadn’t been created yet. Peer-to-peer file sharing had not become common practice, but since Napster’s inception we have seen P2P programs come and go like the wind, like Kazaa, LimeWire, Soulseek, and even a reinvented version of Napster.
But then in 2001, Bram Cohen – a programmer from San Francisco – designed a new form of P2P programming called BitTorrent. And since BitTorrent’s rise to the top of the P2P world, the Internet has reached a new high. Sites like IsoHunt, SuprNova and MiniNova became the standard by which to download. And as technology and interest in BitTorrent progressed over the years, niche markets developed, as they do in every market. Soon there were sites specifically available for every form of media, from video games to music, and even movies before they had been released in theaters. Most quality sites were privatized through invitation-only systems, gloating and bursting with high quality torrents. From these high quality, albeit somewhat arrogant, torrent sites, one emerged as the true king of exclusivity, and reigned above the Internet for three illegal years.
Oink.me.uk had become a powerhouse in not only the Internet P2P world, but it also shook the foundations of the music industry itself. With about 180,000 worldwide users – myself included – Oink became the music Mecca for those in search of the unattainable. Albums available months before their release dates were being uploaded by the minute, not to mention the rare, obscure and vast library within the Oink servers. Imagine any album you have ever wanted, whether you think it exists or not. Think of a type of music that you want to hear but you’ve never heard anyone play. Think about that scene in “Beauty and the Beast” where the Beast surprises Belle with that humongous library in his castle. This is what being within the Oink community was like.
Sadly, the gloriousness that was Oink ended abruptly on October 23, 2007. Music fans around the globe were shaken to the core. What would we do? How would we feed our addiction for finding the newest music on the planet? Do not panic, people. Remember when the most overrated metal band on the planet shut down Napster? File sharers were devastated, and demonstrations and rallies across the country waged war on whether music should be free. And during all the commotion, Kazaa emerged quickly and quietly, and sharers got their illegal music back. But then Kazaa ran into trouble, and users experienced massive quantities of spy and ad-ware, RIAA-planted songs, and lawsuits against individual users. Now, LimeWire and Soulseek are the only two really holding on to the old P2P systems. But their survival while others fell is a precursor to what we can expect for the future.
While Oink’s closure is a pretty big travesty – and Demonoid was shut down Nov. 9 – rest assured that another P2P giant is probably on its way, if it hasn’t already arrived. Sooner rather than later, you’ll be pirating music all over again months ahead of release dates. Soon, you will forget about Oink and Demonoid and other fantastic torrent sites because there will always be another one. And this fact – yes, fact – is something that the RIAA and CRIA evidently cannot seem to grasp.
Pirating, sharing, trading and any other form of music downloading without payment has always been illegal. But the fact is, no matter what the government and music industry do to try and prevent illegal downloading, there will always be a disgruntled, intelligent programmer somewhere who will find a way to bypass them. And whom do you think will win that battle? The side that music fans choose.
[email protected]