Only need one music site. Which one?

[megabyteme]

Here is my dilemma. I am not much of a music fan. For the most part, it's something to listen to when driving, or zoning out. As it is, I have never bothered to get a dedicated music account.

My wife does like music. We recently got an Asus Media Player which is in the living room. It is simple enough that she can download songs/albums to a thumb drive and play them through that.

I have a chance through one of my current sites to get a Waffles account. The reviews for Waffles and What on FST are from '07. That doesn't tell me much.

How are the two different? Is one more accessible than the other? If my wife were to log-in, would she find one easier to navigate than the other? I would like to read info on musicians/bands, if possible. Which one has the best info? Do either have a good Classical selection?

The bottom line here is that I only want to have one music tracker, but I want to have the best access and best info available. Which one would you recommend?

Thanks!

[kurdt]

what arguably has a little more content than waffles, but waffles should easily supply all your needs. seeding on music sites can be tricky tho, so if you're looking for ease of use, maybe take a look at some of the ratio free sites.

[anon]

Only need one music site. Which one?

What.cd. No tracker can beat its amount of content. And it's Gazelle-based, meaning it loads fast and has a straightforward interface, as well as detailed info on every artist's pages, two of the things you're looking for.

[LubTheStaringCat]

There's plenty of threads or posts on the good and the bad on both Waffles.fm & What.cd.
Read through some of them and form your own opinion.

But when looking for music I tend to look to Waffles.fm first before I look any where else.

[Tv Controls you]

megabyteme it's killing me to say this but I think what.cd will suite you better in terms of your wife using it. Its layout is great and extremely user friendly

Although I would recommend waffles.fm for you. Waffles is more of friendly site, and more of a community.
Out of all my experiences with trackers its one of the purest, as they are more interested in helping others instead of greed.

For example I found it really neat that they had a contest for members who donated to their local community to children in need.
Most other private trackers just gave discounts on upload credit or donor status. Waffles is a great example of a tracker who realizes what the true meaning of file sharing is, and truly glorifies it.

Waffles.fm for life :)

[megabyteme]

Thanks, TVCY. That (Waffles, as you described it) is the kind of site I am looking for. I think I could be pretty happy there. I'll contact that site rep.

This thread can be closed now. Thanks, everyone!

[sez]

Excellent choice you've made mbm :yes:

[n00bz0r]

MBM, I'd suggest you join what.cd.
It has way more torrents that waffles and has a better community and staff who go out of their way to help people.
Its layout, rules (after the proposed revision of ratio rules)and presence of unique content.. will certainly make it the most user friendly music site on the interwebz.
lmk if ya want more info and would like to check it out.

[awaited]

I would suggest you join waffles. As you don't seem to be a huge music fan or interested in unique albums/music, then content shouldn't be an issue for you. the reason I suggest waffles is because of its forums/community.I'd put my money on it,you will certainly enjoy it.

[Cabalo]

another what.cd fanboy here.
though waffles is indeed a great site, I found myself using only what.cd. The site mechanics is like no other else out there, and the contents unparalleled.

[Rart]

I would suggest What.CD as well. Especially if you aren't too concerned about dedicating yourself to music, keeping a ratio on two sites will be a pain.

What.CD, not only by torrent count, but also with the smooth Gazelle code, is definitely a winner.

[Tv Controls you]

Alot of the torrents are extra stuffers such as apps and ebook etc...

If you did a music comparison they are probably both very similar.

Waffles is also known for having faster release times on new albums. There website has a heavily modified script that truly makes it a one of a kind tracker.

Also the feeling at what.cd is much more tense as it seems like they always want to ban you. I personally think you would mesh with more of a family type of community.
What.cd has did me wrong, and I don't want to see the same happen to you.

[halfie]

What.CD FTW :D

[DouglasQuaid]

just bypass torrents and search for rapidshare/megaupload links
they will most likely be scene releases and not v0 but you'll save a lot of hassle w/ ratio

[Tv Controls you]

just bypass torrents and search for rapidshare/megaupload links
they will most likely be scene releases and not v0 but you'll save a lot of hassle w/ ratio

Those aren't waffle iron approved though :P

[n00bz0r]

Alot of the torrents are extra stuffers such as apps and ebook etc...

If you did a music comparison they are probably both very similar.
NO.. here's why:

What.cd:
# Torrents: 681,343
# Albums: 331,757
# Artists: 266,326
# Requests: 73,135 (64.37% filled)
# Snatches: 26,004,537
# Peers: 3,316,051
# Seeders: 3,232,041
# Leechers: 84,010
# Seeder/Leecher Ratio: 38.47

Waffles:
# Torrents:273,006/298,469
# Seeders:956,663
# Leechers:24,563

The number of torrents on What.cd is almost 3 times the number on waffles. Besides torrent organization (Grouping, similar artists.. pressings of same albums..etc) on what.cd owns waffles.


Waffles is also known for having faster release times on new albums. There website has a heavily modified script that truly makes it a one of a kind tracker.
Are you sure?
There is clearly NO leader when it comes down to albums being released on torrent sites. Besides.. a few secs here and there hardly matter (Both for what and waffles). Everything thats mainstream is eventually available on both sites.



Also the feeling at what.cd is much more tense as it seems like they always want to ban you. I personally think you would mesh with more of a family type of community.
What.cd has did me wrong, and I don't want to see the same happen to you.

last time i checked, No site wants to go down like OiNK did.
Besides, You don't need to worry about anything as long as you haven't done anything wrong. So if you aren't a trader or invite seller.. you need not fear anything.

[Tv Controls you]

Besides, You don't need to worry about anything as long as you haven't done anything wrong. So if you aren't a trader or invite seller.. you need not fear anything.

What about if you try to invite a blacklisted member and they frame you for having a bad ratio? lol and then your lying when you try to tell the truth.

And about the torrent count, I must say every artist I have ever wanted has been available in every format I wanted, and most of them were waffle ironed approved.

Also the waffle iron is something waffles has over what.cd . It is an additional check for 99%+ correctness of an uploaded album. What.cd has strict upload rules, but the waffle iron truly takes it to the next level.

[Rigel9]

I prefer what.cd, imho better community, interface and content.
Waffles is just my backup tracker.

[Funkin']

just bypass torrents and search for rapidshare/megaupload links


I suggest the same. MGM, What and Waffles are too much of a hassle because of the difficulty of raising your ratio. Especially starting out from 0.

I would first start with the warez forums(Avaxhome, Funkysouls, and Warez-BB are three of the best for music). You of course need a premium RS account. But they're cheap. And best of all, no seeding back. Then for trackers, you can just use torrents.ru and Demonoid. And...you can even use Soulseek. A very underrated and very under appreciated way of getting music.

If for some reason these methods don't suit you after using them for a while, then try What/Waffles. Unless you're uploading your own music or comics on these two trackers, it's kind of pain to maintain a good ratio.

[Tv Controls you]

just bypass torrents and search for rapidshare/megaupload links


I suggest the same. MGM, What and Waffles are too much of a hassle because of the difficulty of raising your ratio. Especially starting out from 0.

I would first start with the warez forums(Avaxhome, Funkysouls, and Warez-BB are three of the best for music). You of course need a premium RS account. But they're cheap. And best of all, no seeding back. Then for trackers, you can just use torrents.ru and Demonoid. And...you can even use Soulseek. A very underrated and very under appreciated way of getting music.

If for some reason these methods don't suit you after using them for a while, then try What/Waffles. Unless you're uploading your own music or comics on these two trackers, it's kind of pain to maintain a good ratio.

What.cd has changed their ratio rules (I'm not sure as I was a member before the switch) but from what I hear as long as you leave your torrents seeding you can dl w.e you want.

Also waffles.fm has some freeleech that helps alot, I've seeded over 100 gigs on my home connection. Although I must say it was pretty difficult

[megabyteme]

MBM, I'd suggest you join what.cd.
It has way more torrents that waffles and has a better community and staff who go out of their way to help people.
Its layout, rules (after the proposed revision of ratio rules)and presence of unique content.. will certainly make it the most user friendly music site on the interwebz.
lmk if ya want more info and would like to check it out.


Thanks for your help, NOObzOr! I found those stats (from your second ponst very interesting). I received another what.cd offer from another friend, so I will be checking that one out soon.

Since I made the waffles request through the rep, I will be able to take a peek at that site, as well.

It seems there is no perfect answer. Luckily I have a lot of generous, good, and helpful friends around me. :happy:

Thanks and Happy New Years, guys!

[redMonster]

What.cd has changed their ratio rules (I'm not sure as I was a member before the switch) but from what I hear as long as you leave your torrents seeding you can dl w.e you want.The new ratio rules are just plans right now. They haven't been implemented yet.

@OP, Though it depends on the type of music you are looking for, but as Funkin mentioned earlier, music sites like what.cd and waffles.fm are quite tough to maintain ratio at. You need to devote time to be able to download from there without worrying about ratios and such. Demonoid used to be quite good at classical music from what I have read many times, though I am not sure what the position is, after they came back from downtime.

[Benjamin]

MBM, I'd suggest you join what.cd.
It has way more torrents that waffles and has a better community and staff who go out of their way to help people.
Its layout, rules (after the proposed revision of ratio rules)and presence of unique content.. will certainly make it the most user friendly music site on the interwebz.
lmk if ya want more info and would like to check it out.

The what.cd tracker is definitely superior to waffles, but you are delusional if you think what.cd has a better staff.

[IdolEyes787]

just bypass torrents and search for rapidshare/megaupload links


I suggest the same. MGM, What and Waffles are too much of a hassle because of the difficulty of raising your ratio. Especially starting out from 0.

I would first start with the warez forums(Avaxhome, Funkysouls, and Warez-BB are three of the best for music). You of course need a premium RS account. But they're cheap. And best of all, no seeding back. Then for trackers, you can just use torrents.ru and Demonoid. And...you can even use Soulseek. A very underrated and very under appreciated way of getting music.

If for some reason these methods don't suit you after using them for a while, then try What/Waffles. Unless you're uploading your own music or comics on these two trackers, it's kind of pain to maintain a good ratio.



MBM, I'd suggest you join what.cd.
It has way more torrents that waffles and has a better community and staff who go out of their way to help people.
Its layout, rules (after the proposed revision of ratio rules)and presence of unique content.. will certainly make it the most user friendly music site on the interwebz.
lmk if ya want more info and would like to check it out.


Thanks for your help, NOObzOr! I found those stats (from your second ponst very interesting). I received another what.cd offer from another friend, so I will be checking that one out soon.

Since I made the waffles request through the rep, I will be able to take a peek at that site, as well.

It seems there is no perfect answer. Luckily I have a lot of generous, good, and helpful friends around me. :happy:

Thanks and Happy New Years, guys!

For someone who's not even sure about being on a music site you seem to be putting a lot on your plate.:blink:

Unless you plan to upload or make torrenting more of a job than it already is , then either do what was wisely suggested by people far more experienced than yourself when it comes to music trackers or stick with one and don't fall into the trap of stretching yourself any thinner than you already have .

Btw Waffles may not have everything listed that What does but I'm fairly certain if you don't see something and make a request ........

[The_Martinator]

IdolEyes has a point. However, What.cd has staff picks atm and if you DL a couple of those (like I suggested here already Sam Cooke FTW) and seed them for whole days, you're likely tobuild a nice buffer (especially if you have a good connection).

Also, I don't know what kind of music the wife likes. If it's all new stuff, then a music tracker is not necessary, IMO.

[megabyteme]

I have not signed up to either yet. Is really that hard to seed back. Don't the normal "tricks" work for building a ratio?

Actually, I will start with What and not register for Waffles until I have gotten the hang of it...

A case in point why I should have at least one dedicated music tracker- my wife asked for a 6 month old cuntry CD last night and I went through all of my trackers to find it. The only place that still had it alive was RevTT. I would like my wife to have greater access to music. I know she enjoys it, but does not listen to it at home- probably because some of it annoys me. :)

[brightsid]

It's not that hard at least What where I invited a rl friend 2 weeks ago. He hust uses his home line and had no problem at all although he is new in torrents. A lot of staff picks and other FL torrents he managed to have a 15GB buffer in 2 weeks. The problem is that now I have to teach him how to rip his own cd and upload torrents but that's offtopic

So I don't think that you'll have any kind of problem MBM. Stay away from Rosseta Stone pack at least at the beginning. If you need anything just let me know

[The_Martinator]

Lol. 6 year old music prolly won't be on most 0day trackers. You could also try to request it on FSC, though.

Seeding might prove to be a task. I'll just say this: I had a 25 gigs buffer at What (seedbox built). Since then I DLed 6-7 gigs and now it's down to 20 gigs. I still seed everything I have ever DLed from there. Also as you know I'm on quite a few trackers so my downloading spreads out.

Again, IDK how much music you'll be downloading. If it's an album per month or two, you should still be OK, imo. Really depends on the popularity of the albums, though...

[megabyteme]

Thanks, brightsid. That's reassuring. I've got the technical know-how already, if that is one of the requirements. Change that to, I thought I had the technical know-how. Music seems to be pretty serious stuff. :P And, a 15GB buffer is A LOT of music for me.

I'm looking forward to trying What (and perhaps Waffles later) since I have heard about them so many times, but never considered joining. New stuff is ALWAYS cool...:happy:

Edit- Thanks, martin. We posted at the same time. :)

Edit2- took my first look at What... Quite impressive! Wow, in fact...

[Benjamin]

It's not hard to seed at all man, what.cd lets you download 5gb of music without worrying about your ratio, after that you'll have to keep up a .15 ratio up to 10gb ... it's really not that bad. Find a site that tells you when new albums are going to release, I use hitsdailydouble.com, jump on those new releases and you'll gain some upload even on a slow connection.

[megabyteme]

Thanks, Benjamin. None of my accounts (anywhere) have less than 1:1. If I need to figure out some "tricks' then I will. My wife will certainly love What! She keeps CD lists in her head and approaches me with them when I seem amicable to grabbing stuff for her...:D

I notice they start us out with 500MB also.

[The_Martinator]

It's not hard to seed at all man, what.cd lets you download 5gb of music without worrying about your ratio, after that you'll have to keep up a .15 ratio up to 10gb ... it's really not that bad. Find a site that tells you when new albums are going to release, I use hitsdailydouble.com, jump on those new releases and you'll gain some upload even on a slow connection.


Forgot about that. :frusty:

[Hoosierdaddy]

Well, I can't comment on What.CD as I was perma banned from there even though I did absolutely NOTHING...literally. I downloaded a couple of things, tried my best to maintain a good ratio (it was MUCH more difficult then) and got kicked. Go figure. Never been on Waffles as I've never been invited.

However, there is one site I can heartily recommend.

torrents.ru

Tons of music. All genres. MP3 and Lossless. Ratio easy to maintain.

The downside?

1. It's a Russian site, so the language barrier means little to no community interaction.

2. You'll have a hard time restraining yourself from serial downloading cuz there's so much great music to choose from. :-)

[anon]

The downside?

1. It's a Russian site, so the language barrier means little to no community interaction.

2. You'll have a hard time restraining yourself from serial downloading cuz there's so much great music to choose from. :-)

3. You can only register from 8 to 10am Moscow time. :happy:

[megabyteme]

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread. I now have access to more music than I EVER thought would be available. I joined both What and Waffles. I even donated to both of them this morning. If I remember correctly, I won't get pruned (on at least one of them) for doing so. Anyway, they impressed me with their sheer enormity. Not unlike some blind dates I had...*rimshot* :P

I seed all the time and know how to control myself with torrents. Seeding seems a bit easier than on bitme(tv) and I still managed to build a comfortable buffer on those.

Thanks again! I may have to become a music fan now. :D

[Swift]

use beatport and limewire

[1000possibleclaws]

Just use Soulseek. What and waffles are unnecessary and gonna be more work than they are worth, unless you are an audiophile. Torrents are not the answer for everything..

If you want to seed tons of small files for months than it is your answer.

[OlegL]

I now have access to more music than I EVER thought would be available. I joined both What and Waffles.

People say that both what and waffles are still inferior to oink.cd - R.I.P. I was never a member of oink myself. But I am sure those were golden times.

[Rart]

One thing I had tried that seemed to work decently, that wasn't too slow -

Look at the top 10 torrents by activity leaderboard on what.

Choose a couple at random, than partially seed one mp3 in the album.

Do this once every couple of days (so the daily leader boards have a chance to change), until you have built up a decent amount of torrents, and pretty much just wait and seed.

I think the most important thing on music sites like this is, rather than trying to get a couple popular torrents to buffer with, the files you're seeding really need to be spread out. To get any decent amount of upload, you really need to have dozens of torrents, at the least, seeding at once for when someone decides to randomly snatch an album. And then you play the waiting game...

In a week or two I managed to get around a ~9GB buffer on my account, more than plenty considering I DL music once in a blue moon. Hope this helps.

Then again, as many others said, if you really aren't willing to jump through so many hoops just to maintain a ratio (and I most certainly have second thoughts as to whether this effort was really worth it), you may just be better off with RS, SlSk, torrents.ru, Demonoid, etc.

[cinephilia]

Just use Soulseek.
best advice so far in this thread. slsk has tons of music and rare stuff and you don't have to seed back or maintain any ratio.

@megabyteme: let's be honest, i really don't get your approach... you're not that much into music and your wife has only "standard" music tastes and needs, so why on earth would you register on both waffles and what.cd? :huh:

[Rigel9]

People say that both what and waffles are still inferior to oink.cd

Then those people have no fucking clue...

[Funkin']

^ I was wondering the same thing. Especially if he only plans on grabbing an album or two here and there, there are easier methods/places to get them from. But it's kind of hard not to like What/Waffles, so who knows, he may really get into the sites. Maybe even start ripping and uploading.

[megabyteme]

At first I wanted just one. But the opportunity presented itself and I could not resist.

I have already found some stuff that I enjoyed playing. So there is hope for me yet (in becoming a music fan).

I have said before, in other threads, that everyone should bring something to a site they are a member of. I certainly don't have a huge collection to upload, I have decent BW but still no great collection that anyone would want, so I decided to donate to both sites. That way, I have eased my conscious about the whole matter. At least to myself. :)

I have enjoyed spending time on both sites. It is TRULY impressive how much music is available! As for seeding, I have upped about 25% of what I have downloaded without going out of my way to do so. At this rate, I should have enough uploaded to cover everything that catches my interest during a month.

Edit- and also there is the possibility that a non-technical friend is looking for something. I would rather go to one or two sites than have to hunt around for it. There is a convenience factor here, too.

[Karel]

im on both waffles and what, but i like waffles better

[baloney27]

Would it not be more efficient to use something like Soulseek rather then What/Waffles if it is just the occasional album that you download? From my understanding, it's sometimes difficult to keep a decent ratio at What or Waffles if you don't have anything to upload or if you don't jump on the most popular torrents at the right time.

[Tokeman]

I was on what and waffles. Only really needed one, ended up with what as my main music tracker. It is not hard to seed there at all. I downloaded some old ass stuff, and had it all back to 1/1 within a few days. If I can get to 1/1 on some non popular old stuff, no one should have any trouble seeding when grabbing a few albums at a time. Seeding is easy when you leech in moderation (this applys to every site I belong to)

[megabyteme]

Thought I would give this an update...

My wife is quite happy to get her albums and I have found some stuff of interest as well. That has given me enough to seed. I have had NO trouble with a ratio on either site. Waffles seems easier, but I stumbled into their halwtf leech on one of my first days. I found a couple of e-learning that had been abandoned, so I seeded them. That paid off! I'm already ~+4.5 GB. As for What!, I have grabbed fewer files, but the collages, top 10, and Staff Picks make it pretty easy to find active torrents.

From some of the descriptions given, it sounded like they were both going to be similar to seeding on bitme(tv). Nope.

I am actually quite happy to have access to both. From a utility standpoint, What! can't be beat. Waffles seems a bit more "user friendly" for someone who just wants to search and grab quality recordings.

Anyway, thanks for the comments and help on this! :happy:

Really, the only down-side to this is my wife playing country music in the living room. :yucky: