[Infowarrior] - 5 Alternatives to The Pirate Bay

[Richard Forno]

5 Alternatives to The Pirate Bay

http://www.zeropaid.com/news/86532/5-alternative-the-pirate-bay-bittorrent-sites/

The admins of The Pirate Bay have stressed that in order for the Bay  
to stay alive, they need to adapt the site to a legitimate one,  
selling the site for $7.8 Million in the process. While some users  
showed their support for the infamous website, others are already  
jumping ship, demanding that their accounts be removed in the process.  
We were curious to know what alternatives there are out there these  
days and have come up with 5 alternative websites.
It seemed almost unfathomable right up to the announcement of the  
website being sold, but it has indeed happened. While sites like the  
once mighty SuprNova fell in it’s wake, The Pirate Bay stood proud  
long after other sites succumbed to pressure from copyright entities.  
The length the site lasted seemed like the site became very symbol of  
defiance toward the copyright industry as a whole. Really how many  
sites can be named that lasted as long as The Pirate Bay? To drive the  
point home, the admins even created a page of legal threats they  
received and included responses which became a sensation all in its  
own primarily for the audacity of the responses, but also for the  
humour in it all. The Pirate Bay was the biggest ’stick it to the man’  
kind of sites. As a result, many other sites may have been emboldened  
by the efforts of The Pirate Bay – perhaps because the site lead the  
way in resilience, or maybe because the site took most of the flack  
from the copyright industry to name two possibilities.

For these and many other reasons, the loss of such a site in the eyes  
of many would lead to a huge hole left behind. While the fact that it  
was such a large site where users went to was, in and of itself, is a  
large reason for the hole left behind, many would agree that the  
spirit behind the site being removed can be felt by many file-sharers  
– how many users out there who never used the site or rarely used the  
site felt at least one bit emotional about the sale?

While the admins reassured their users that the site isn’t dying, just  
changing hands, many users have already expressed their doubts and are  
opting for the attitude that the site died the moment the announcement  
came that the site was sold – even though nothing has even changed yet.

We here at ZeroPaid were curious. If one were to jump ship, where  
would the users go? Under the idea that the site has to be somewhat  
public at the very least, we found 5 alternative websites through our  
own resources that may be of interest to public BitTorrent users:

1. Mininova

MiniNova is perhaps the most well known in the BitTorrent community.  
It was formed after the demise of SuprNova by ex-SuprNova staff  
members. It’s not hard to argue that this was the best site that  
replaced SuprNova. It indexes .torrent files from other sites, so some  
of the .torrents are from private sites that only allow members of  
those sites to download the given files. Still, the site is moderated  
and well-used by members and, with the release of their distribution  
network, content creators alike.

2. Demonoid

There’s been some debate in the past on whether or not this is a  
public or private site, though many would agree that this would be  
classified as semi-private given how often sign-ups are open. Whether  
or not you agree with this kind of torrent site, Demonoid has a huge  
following backing them and a number of it’s users would no doubt  
defend it’s viability as an alternative to The Pirate Bay.

3. ISOHunt

ISOHunt, like MinoNova, has had it’s share of legal trouble in the  
past and agreed to filtering content. Still, a number of users still  
use that site for finding what they want and it has stayed being one  
of the most populated sites online to this day.

4. 1337x

1337x.org is a lesser known BitTorrent site. Still, that hasn’t  
stopped their front page from saying “we don’t plan on selling anytime  
soon.”

MustangX continues, “We welcome all the users of TPB to use our  
trackers and site. It’s a free leech community with NO ratios to  
maintain, we have a web based chat , A 24/7 radio station with 8  
different DJ’s.”

5. BTJunkie

BTJunkie is another site that is well-populated with users, but not as  
well known as sites like MiniNova and ISOHunt. Still, many users still  
find this place to be a torrent home or even a second torrent home  
when another of their preferred sites goes down or inaccessible on  
their end.

Afterthought

It should be noted that for many, no site will fully replace The  
Pirate Bay. That site is easily considered a home site for many and a  
site that is difficult to impossible to replace in the long run.  
Still, The Pirate Bay isn’t the only site around these days. It might  
be questionable if there would be many, if any, sites that could match  
the longevity and reach of The Pirate Bay, but that doesn’t make the  
only BitTorrent site around with, at least, a semi-open nature about it.

Have a tip? Want to contact the author? You can do so by sending a PM  
via the forums or via e-mail at drew at zeropaid.com