6 ms·

Travesty. Biggest trove of classical music lost forever. I found CD's on there of even local friends bands, EVERYTHING was there. My friends dads bands discogra

by rublev 10y ago

Travesty. Biggest trove of classical music lost forever. I found CD's on there of even local friends bands, EVERYTHING was there. My friends dads bands discography that they themselves lost over 40 years ago was on there! I made great friends from there and w.cd was a daily topic in my life amongst me and my friends. Sharing new music, keeping track of eachothers latest DL's etc. Top 10's, collages, related artists, bounties. I loved waking up and browsing a collage like "House music from the Congo in 1973" or something and going on a journey. All lost. It's going to take forever to get out of this depression, that was my last community, and I've been there for a decade. I have the WCD community to credit for who I am today as a musician and developer, as the community exposed me to all sorts of things when I was 15/16ish that I probably otherwise wouldn't have discovered. I'd probably be working sales right now or cash at some grocery store if it wasn't for WCD. The internet is now dead to me for anything other than work. Between this and all the surveillance and social media and fake news and other bullshit, it's just another tool to me now. All the magic is gone. What an absolute shit day.

pbuzbee 10y ago
Fully agree with your comments on how the magic of the Internet is leaving. It seems like piece by piece we lose the parts that made the Internet an exciting place.
- state 10y ago
  That kind of magic just happens in cycles. We learn what was broken about the last thing and build a better one.
  - gkop 10y ago
    Just like What was that much better Oink, I can't begin to imagine how awesome the next one will be.
    - seanp2k2 10y ago
      Next one? There are already tons of alternatives, but I do fear that Spotify, Tidal, Apple, and Amazon will eat much of the demand for this in the future.
  - amagumori 10y ago
    But that's not what has happened. The internet hasn't progressed as much as it has calcified into a couple of monolithic walled gardens. Remember when it was a wild west of creativity and everyone had their own website with painstakingly designed sprites and css? Yeah, scrolling through an instagram is so much more fulfilling. /s The internet is boring and shitty now.
    - leonroy 10y ago
      Folks felt much the same in the CompuServe, AOL and MSN days where the aforementioned big wigs had a complete monopoly on what most people saw online. In fact during the 90s it really felt like there was no technological future possible beyond what Microsoft saw fit. They would literally buy out, copy and crush every upstart who had even moderate success in the technology sector. Never know where the future will take us, or indeed where we (techies) will take it. For all we know the next what.cd might be something far beyond its current incarnation (a distributed Spotify + Slack/IRC on steroids - anyone's guess!)
- Asooka 10y ago
  Said magic was a blatant violation of copyright law and gleeful disregard of common decency. You should be happy that the Internet is finally growing up and becoming part of real life. This would never happen as long as we allow and champion unlawful websites, or allow toxic discussion.
  - nagvx 10y ago
    Your comment puzzles me - as others have repeated, what.cd was a fantastic archive of music that no current museum or library has come close to achieving. This community performed preservation and organization of art and culture (and many rare works) on a huge scale. How can you perform the mental gymnastics to call that a "gleeful disregard of common decency"? If anything, the destruction of that effort is what is so "indecent". It is obviously unfortunate that the collection was illegal, but this seems clearly to be a situation where copyright law has run counter to the interests of civilization as a whole. Preservation should always trump licensing - licenses will expire, music will be passed from generation to generation.
    - deavmi 10y ago
      I also see this point. The history and data of all we have created should be saved somewhere. To ipfs.io we go!!!
  - reciprocity 10y ago
    I do not understand the philosophy behind your comment. I think there's a lot of things unsaid in such a deceptively simple three sentence post and I'm not sure if I'd even like to ask you to elaborate to ascertain what lies behind your thinking. However in the spirit of open discussion: why?
  - deavmi 10y ago
    If there was pirated stuff on that site then yes, the shutting down of it would be the moral thing to do. I understand the love for music but hey. Ya' gotta pay.
- deavmi 10y ago
  Very true. I agree.
deleted 10y ago
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deleted 10y ago
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brotherjerky 10y ago
WCD would have been valuable w/o downloads, just the collages alone are an incredible source of curation.
- rileyt 10y ago
  what do you think gave the collages more value than a playlist on something like spotify? i definitely think they felt more valuable, but cant place exactly why.
  - joecool1029 10y ago
    Put simply: They were more complete. Spotify's library isn't even close to what WCD's was and is missing some copies of tracks/albums and/or just has the wrong versions flat out.
    - jimbo999 10y ago
      Can't agree with this more. And the efforts of hundreds of thousands of engaged music fans who deleted bad tags, promoted good ones, made the connections.
      - nibnib 10y ago
        It's frustrating sending fixes to Spotify when you come across something incorrect. It takes so long for any action to be taken that I've given up.
  - thirdsun 10y ago
    I think it's the audience, the people participating. What.cd had a lot of very enthusiastic, competent, knowledgeable users while Spotify features a rather mainstream, general user base that takes a more passive role when it comes to music and its discovery. Obviously results will differ. Furthermore, Spotify hardly provides any tools to promote and showcase a high quality, carefully compiled playlist. I can share a link, sure, but that's the most basic of paths to new potential listeners.
  - 10y ago
wallace_f 10y ago
>Travesty. Biggest trove of classical music lost forever. I found CD's on there of even local friends bands, EVERYTHING was there. My friends dads bands discography that they themselves lost over 40 years ago was on there! It would be great if this part of the community was somehow at least saved. I can't imagine anyone suing over sharing a CD of Bach online (is that even possible under copyright law?).
- pyromine 10y ago
  Oh yes, and actually classical recordings are highly litigated over. While the pieces themselves may be in public domain, differing arrangements are often under protection, and most importantly the recordings are the property of respective rights holders. So the sheet music, melody, etc. is not protected, the rights to each recording works just like other genres of music
  - wallace_f 10y ago
    I would pay to go to a classical concert where the entry fees were donated to charity and the recordings put in the public domain, they could be immediately uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons. I don't think stuffy execs at Sony getting rich is necessary for people to enjoy classical music. Those guys and girls should go find something useful to contribute to the humanity if their role in profiting off of dead artists has been obsoleted by technology.
    - ropans808 10y ago
      Don't forget about the musicians' pay!
      - wallace_f 10y ago
        Yea exactly. I was thinking if a charity or organization was able to put up the money to make it happen (not just musicians pay, but facilities fees, supporting staff, etc), any extra earned through entry fees would all be donated to charity. I don't see any reason why, especially young generations, should need monetary privilege to enjoy classical music.
anoonmoose 10y ago
I think at this point it's more than fair to declare this an absolute shit year.
smyltnes 10y ago
I seeded someone's homemade album I discovered at Salvation Army... that was made in the 80's.
thirdsun 10y ago
Very true. I'm a passionate music enthusiast, buying about 5-10 releases a week, often rare stuff. While I really disaprove of using it as exclusive source of music, what.cd has always been my last-resort-source for music that would otherwise be lost or only available on 3-digit-priced vinyl. There were still a lot of gaps in the catalogue but it's probably the most complete collection of lossless music, organized in a way that is rare for user provided content online. A sublime experience.
deavmi 10y ago
Very true.

by rublev 10y ago

pbuzbee 10y ago

Fully agree with your comments on how the magic of the Internet is leaving. It seems like piece by piece we lose the parts that made the Internet an exciting place.

state 10y ago
That kind of magic just happens in cycles. We learn what was broken about the last thing and build a better one.
- gkop 10y ago
  Just like What was that much better Oink, I can't begin to imagine how awesome the next one will be.
  - seanp2k2 10y ago
    Next one? There are already tons of alternatives, but I do fear that Spotify, Tidal, Apple, and Amazon will eat much of the demand for this in the future.
- amagumori 10y ago
  But that's not what has happened. The internet hasn't progressed as much as it has calcified into a couple of monolithic walled gardens. Remember when it was a wild west of creativity and everyone had their own website with painstakingly designed sprites and css? Yeah, scrolling through an instagram is so much more fulfilling. /s The internet is boring and shitty now.
  - leonroy 10y ago
    Folks felt much the same in the CompuServe, AOL and MSN days where the aforementioned big wigs had a complete monopoly on what most people saw online. In fact during the 90s it really felt like there was no technological future possible beyond what Microsoft saw fit. They would literally buy out, copy and crush every upstart who had even moderate success in the technology sector. Never know where the future will take us, or indeed where we (techies) will take it. For all we know the next what.cd might be something far beyond its current incarnation (a distributed Spotify + Slack/IRC on steroids - anyone's guess!)
Asooka 10y ago
Said magic was a blatant violation of copyright law and gleeful disregard of common decency. You should be happy that the Internet is finally growing up and becoming part of real life. This would never happen as long as we allow and champion unlawful websites, or allow toxic discussion.
- nagvx 10y ago
  Your comment puzzles me - as others have repeated, what.cd was a fantastic archive of music that no current museum or library has come close to achieving. This community performed preservation and organization of art and culture (and many rare works) on a huge scale. How can you perform the mental gymnastics to call that a "gleeful disregard of common decency"? If anything, the destruction of that effort is what is so "indecent". It is obviously unfortunate that the collection was illegal, but this seems clearly to be a situation where copyright law has run counter to the interests of civilization as a whole. Preservation should always trump licensing - licenses will expire, music will be passed from generation to generation.
  - deavmi 10y ago
    I also see this point. The history and data of all we have created should be saved somewhere. To ipfs.io we go!!!
- reciprocity 10y ago
  I do not understand the philosophy behind your comment. I think there's a lot of things unsaid in such a deceptively simple three sentence post and I'm not sure if I'd even like to ask you to elaborate to ascertain what lies behind your thinking. However in the spirit of open discussion: why?
- deavmi 10y ago
  If there was pirated stuff on that site then yes, the shutting down of it would be the moral thing to do. I understand the love for music but hey. Ya' gotta pay.
deavmi 10y ago
Very true. I agree.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

brotherjerky 10y ago

WCD would have been valuable w/o downloads, just the collages alone are an incredible source of curation.

rileyt 10y ago
what do you think gave the collages more value than a playlist on something like spotify? i definitely think they felt more valuable, but cant place exactly why.
- joecool1029 10y ago
  Put simply: They were more complete. Spotify's library isn't even close to what WCD's was and is missing some copies of tracks/albums and/or just has the wrong versions flat out.
  - jimbo999 10y ago
    Can't agree with this more. And the efforts of hundreds of thousands of engaged music fans who deleted bad tags, promoted good ones, made the connections.
    - nibnib 10y ago
      It's frustrating sending fixes to Spotify when you come across something incorrect. It takes so long for any action to be taken that I've given up.
- thirdsun 10y ago
  I think it's the audience, the people participating. What.cd had a lot of very enthusiastic, competent, knowledgeable users while Spotify features a rather mainstream, general user base that takes a more passive role when it comes to music and its discovery. Obviously results will differ. Furthermore, Spotify hardly provides any tools to promote and showcase a high quality, carefully compiled playlist. I can share a link, sure, but that's the most basic of paths to new potential listeners.
- 10y ago

wallace_f 10y ago

>Travesty. Biggest trove of classical music lost forever. I found CD's on there of even local friends bands, EVERYTHING was there. My friends dads bands discography that they themselves lost over 40 years ago was on there! It would be great if this part of the community was somehow at least saved. I can't imagine anyone suing over sharing a CD of Bach online (is that even possible under copyright law?).

pyromine 10y ago
Oh yes, and actually classical recordings are highly litigated over. While the pieces themselves may be in public domain, differing arrangements are often under protection, and most importantly the recordings are the property of respective rights holders. So the sheet music, melody, etc. is not protected, the rights to each recording works just like other genres of music
- wallace_f 10y ago
  I would pay to go to a classical concert where the entry fees were donated to charity and the recordings put in the public domain, they could be immediately uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons. I don't think stuffy execs at Sony getting rich is necessary for people to enjoy classical music. Those guys and girls should go find something useful to contribute to the humanity if their role in profiting off of dead artists has been obsoleted by technology.
  - ropans808 10y ago
    Don't forget about the musicians' pay!
    - wallace_f 10y ago
      Yea exactly. I was thinking if a charity or organization was able to put up the money to make it happen (not just musicians pay, but facilities fees, supporting staff, etc), any extra earned through entry fees would all be donated to charity. I don't see any reason why, especially young generations, should need monetary privilege to enjoy classical music.

anoonmoose 10y ago

I think at this point it's more than fair to declare this an absolute shit year.

smyltnes 10y ago

I seeded someone's homemade album I discovered at Salvation Army... that was made in the 80's.

thirdsun 10y ago

Very true. I'm a passionate music enthusiast, buying about 5-10 releases a week, often rare stuff. While I really disaprove of using it as exclusive source of music, what.cd has always been my last-resort-source for music that would otherwise be lost or only available on 3-digit-priced vinyl. There were still a lot of gaps in the catalogue but it's probably the most complete collection of lossless music, organized in a way that is rare for user provided content online. A sublime experience.

deavmi 10y ago

Very true.