OiNK Is Dead. Long Live…?

One thing people should’ve learned by now is that when you try to shut down something on the internet, it just comes back…with a vengeance.

How many times have they killed file sharing now? I remember when MP3s were still downloaded through Scour or Audiogalaxy before Napster brought it to a new level of popularity. Of course several other methods have seen rises and falls in popularity since the landmark shutdown of Napster, including WinMX, Kazaa, eMule, Direct Connect, etc but each time, bigger, better and more difficult to trace and prosecute has come along.

Personally, I think downloading music is merely a trial basis and I always purchase albums I like (mostly because I like having material copies…not really because of any sort of moral obligation) so I’m not trying to promote file sharing. I’m just stating the facts here. This is something that just won’t be going away anytime soon.

Authorities probably thought they gained some ground on the war against file sharing with the raid on OiNK. I mean, OiNK was huge and responsible for many industry leaks and a hub for a massive online community. However, they probably didn’t expect that the shutdown of one site would lead to the rise of a good half-dozen sites moving in to fill the gap left by OiNK. In fact, I’d wager that many people that didn’t know about OiNK previously learned about private torrent sites and went in search of invites.

Currently, the two biggest sites to emerge from the ruins of OiNK are Waffles.fm and What.cd, both of which are invite only and, due to the influx of new members in the wake of 10/23/07, aren’t currently accepting any new members. It’s too early for me to tell which one is better so far but it’s clear that nothing replaces the void left of the Pink Palace. OiNK wasn’t just about downloads, really. It was a great forum to discuss music and culture.

If you’re looking for somewhere that’s more…open, stmusic.org is quite easy to join and use with (currently) no membership restrictions.

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