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The thing about these 'pirate libraries' that makes them seem so vital to me is they're made up of people far more motivated to preserve and keep available the

The thing about these 'pirate libraries' that makes them seem so vital to me is they're made up of people far more motivated to preserve and keep available the documents than the actual copyright holders ever will be. I draw comparisons to the vast value that was lost when Oink and What.cd were shut down.

cormacrelf 9y ago
Those two should really be mentioned in an article about Pirate Libraries. They are exactly what the author describes, minus the 'rise' part.
chx 9y ago
I am already wondering whether a fundraiser to download KG would make sense. If that would disappear... there is absolutely no collection like that, anywhere. 100 000 non mainstream movies! If you all you want is a cold copy and not keep it online, the costs are not enormous perhaps 5K EUR or so.
peatmoss 9y ago
Sadly, I never even knew about What.cd when it was alive, not that I'd have had the time and wherewithal to join. But this is the article that made me lament its passing: https://qz.com/840661/what-cd-is-gone-a-eulogy-for-the-greatest-music-collection-in-the-world/ https://qz.com/840661/what-cd-is-gone-a-eulogy-for-the-great...
- jackvalentine 9y ago
  Thanks for the link - the comparison to the burned Library of Alexandria was one I hadn't thought of before.
- tomduncalf 9y ago
  Wow, likewise never knew of it until now! Sounds incredible although I also would never have had the time to take part. That is one thing that makes me a bit sad about Spotify (and there's not much, I think it's a great product and I'd happily pay more for it if I could be sure a reasonable amount went to the artists I listen to) - I worry that people will get so used to streaming from large, but limited catalogs, that obscure recordings (e.g. 90s dance tracks only released on vinyl and the label is now gone) will be forgotten. Hopefully there's enough hardcore fans to prevent that happening - but in an ideal world Spotify would somehow have access to all this kind of stuff you currently only find on YouTube!
agumonkey 9y ago
It's true, beside entertainment data (movies, tv shows), other libraries were made by deeply passionate people, that had exhaustive collection of everything. Also, pirate networks have different and maybe better uptime than official ones [1]. Often I see PhD thanking scihub because some bug took down springer or nature. [1] surely the resources and money goes in different directions in official operations so not comparing 100%
userbinator 9y ago
Indeed, I was briefly involved with the "bookz" scene as it was known at the time, over a decade ago, and the amount of --- completely voluntary --- effort that its members expended, especially considering the risks, was nothing short of amazing. People would go to their local libraries and borrow dozens of books to scan and upload, while also discussing on the forums ways to make the process go more quickly, and in general collaborating very efficiently. When a few of them turned out to be from the same region, they would even organise "scanparties" where the goal would be to digitise whole sections of a particular library within a short time. I'm sure they raised some suspicion among librarians, and others would've noticed when entire shelves suddenly became empty, but to my knowledge no one was actually caught... and there were plenty of excuses to go around. A memorable result from one of those is that there is now an extensive collection of car service manuals floating around on the Internet in various torrents and also as individual PDFs.
- jackvalentine 9y ago
  I have an irrational love for Gen1 Series 2 Subaru Liberty RS Turbos. An Australian variant of the Japanese Legacy with a number of mechanical differences. Through some unknown hero (to me) going out and scanning the service manual held at a technical school in a country town 4 hours from here I have a copy as a PDF. You never know when what you're 'pirating' is providing a real and wonderful value to another person.

cormacrelf 9y ago

Those two should really be mentioned in an article about Pirate Libraries. They are exactly what the author describes, minus the 'rise' part.

chx 9y ago

I am already wondering whether a fundraiser to download KG would make sense. If that would disappear... there is absolutely no collection like that, anywhere. 100 000 non mainstream movies! If you all you want is a cold copy and not keep it online, the costs are not enormous perhaps 5K EUR or so.

peatmoss 9y ago

Sadly, I never even knew about What.cd when it was alive, not that I'd have had the time and wherewithal to join. But this is the article that made me lament its passing: https://qz.com/840661/what-cd-is-gone-a-eulogy-for-the-greatest-music-collection-in-the-world/ https://qz.com/840661/what-cd-is-gone-a-eulogy-for-the-great...

jackvalentine 9y ago
Thanks for the link - the comparison to the burned Library of Alexandria was one I hadn't thought of before.
tomduncalf 9y ago
Wow, likewise never knew of it until now! Sounds incredible although I also would never have had the time to take part. That is one thing that makes me a bit sad about Spotify (and there's not much, I think it's a great product and I'd happily pay more for it if I could be sure a reasonable amount went to the artists I listen to) - I worry that people will get so used to streaming from large, but limited catalogs, that obscure recordings (e.g. 90s dance tracks only released on vinyl and the label is now gone) will be forgotten. Hopefully there's enough hardcore fans to prevent that happening - but in an ideal world Spotify would somehow have access to all this kind of stuff you currently only find on YouTube!

agumonkey 9y ago

It's true, beside entertainment data (movies, tv shows), other libraries were made by deeply passionate people, that had exhaustive collection of everything. Also, pirate networks have different and maybe better uptime than official ones [1]. Often I see PhD thanking scihub because some bug took down springer or nature. [1] surely the resources and money goes in different directions in official operations so not comparing 100%

userbinator 9y ago

Indeed, I was briefly involved with the "bookz" scene as it was known at the time, over a decade ago, and the amount of --- completely voluntary --- effort that its members expended, especially considering the risks, was nothing short of amazing. People would go to their local libraries and borrow dozens of books to scan and upload, while also discussing on the forums ways to make the process go more quickly, and in general collaborating very efficiently. When a few of them turned out to be from the same region, they would even organise "scanparties" where the goal would be to digitise whole sections of a particular library within a short time. I'm sure they raised some suspicion among librarians, and others would've noticed when entire shelves suddenly became empty, but to my knowledge no one was actually caught... and there were plenty of excuses to go around. A memorable result from one of those is that there is now an extensive collection of car service manuals floating around on the Internet in various torrents and also as individual PDFs.

jackvalentine 9y ago
I have an irrational love for Gen1 Series 2 Subaru Liberty RS Turbos. An Australian variant of the Japanese Legacy with a number of mechanical differences. Through some unknown hero (to me) going out and scanning the service manual held at a technical school in a country town 4 hours from here I have a copy as a PDF. You never know when what you're 'pirating' is providing a real and wonderful value to another person.