It would not be wrong to say that What.CD is currently the best music torrent tracker around. With close to half a million torrents and a huge user base, What.CD is every BitTorrent music fan’s dream. However, getting into What is not that easy. The site has been invite only ever since it’s inception and it’s unlikely to have open signups the near future (If you are thinking of obtaining a What.CD invitation from an invite selling/trading forum, well forget it. They will hunt you down and ban your ass forever.). So how can someone new get into this great tracker? If you dedicate some of your time to research on music, music related technologies, and BitTorrent, you will easily be able to get in via the IRC interview.

what.cd beginner's guide

For those who don’t know about What.CD, the following description should give a brief idea:

Founded in October of 2007, What.CD is a private BitTorrent tracker focusing largely on music. With its fast download speeds, well-seeded torrents, and wide selection of music files encoded in such lossless formats as FLAC, ALAC, APE, and WavPack, in addition to such lossy formats as MP3, Ogg Vorbis, AAC, and AC3, What.CD is a music-lover's paradise. For the true audiophile, What.CD offers FLAC 24-bit/96 kHz vinyl, SACD, DVD-Audio, and multi-channel DTS rips. Furthermore, What.CD offers eLearning videos, eBooks, comic books, software, and audio books.

Something that is not mentioned above is that What.CD runs on the Gazelle codebase. In fact, it was What’s crew who created this awesome BitTorrent tracker script. In addition to music torrents, What has a great comics section as well as an appz section which are both rich with fresh content.

How to get invited for free – the interview

Let me break the bad news first – the interview is somewhat difficult and you’ll have to do some reading beforehand in order to pass. Luckily, all instructions and the topics you need to research on are already clearly defined by What.CD. In fact, there is already a small ‘interview prep’ site online (http://whatinterviewprep.webs.com), which is a must read for every potential interviewee. Read it in the following order:

  1. How to join – Includes IRC channel details and how to connect
  2. Prepare for the interview – Areas and topics you need to read on
  3. After the interview – What you should do next, once you pass or fail the interview

Initially it may seem like a lot of work but hey, if you pass the interview you’ll have access to the best music tracker on the planet. How cool is that?


48 Comments

  1. Antz // 5/01/2009 12:34:00 PM  

    thank u what .cd mo***fuc***s
    (You were kicked from #what.cd-invites by WhatBot (Your entire country [India] is banned from the invites channel. This is because of the very high proportion of users from this area being bad for the site - either leechers, traders, sellers and/or cheaters. - Does not expire.)
    -----you guys are Banning 1/6th of humanity
    gud luck
    what.cd should be next up for legal action.

  2. Andrei Kolozsvari // 5/01/2009 12:39:00 PM  

    I'm from Romania,and it' being banned too because here are "many cheaters and scamers",f**k What.cd, +1 to STMusic

  3. wilmark // 5/01/2009 03:44:00 PM  

    What CD is another Over rated site - i found they are not music oriented as they are general, without anything really unique. THey might be well seeded but this means there is not enough leeching going on so this means it will be hard to attain the ratios they want. Just because a site is closed (and illusive) all the time doesnt mean its great.

    BTW audionews.ru a serious Audio site will be open:
    2 may 2009 till 4 may 2009

  4. Al Ammar // 5/01/2009 04:46:00 PM  

    Antz "thank u what .cd mo***fuc***s
    (You were kicked from #what.cd-invites by WhatBot (Your entire country [India] is banned from the invites channel. This is because of the very high proportion of users from this area being bad for the site - either leechers, traders, sellers and/or cheaters. - Does not expire.)
    -----you guys are Banning 1/6th of humanity
    gud luck
    what.cd should be next up for legal action."

    lol, u guys got what u deserved

  5. Silencer // 5/01/2009 05:17:00 PM  

    some private tracker sites are thiniking themselves as a company and like they are saving the world???

    what the hell?

    animetoonic site has got nothing in it
    they interviewed with me.
    now that whatCD...

    i think they should be in legal action...

    cause they think themselves as a matter of life for us...

    the truth is they are not...

  6. tejaslok // 5/01/2009 07:01:00 PM  

    ya F**k y*u what.cd wat do u think of urself. why ban INDIA so all ppl from ur country are "god" kya !!!! x-(

  7. tejaslok // 5/01/2009 07:02:00 PM  

    ya i love what.cd getting owned :P

  8. Anonymous // 5/01/2009 08:10:00 PM  

    Just because you can't get in doesn't mean the site suck. The reasons for why certain countries are banned are stated. If you are a good BT-user you could still get invited from someone with an invite. Seems like you don't, then you would probably not even pass the interview.

    Also, What.CD is THE place to be for music. No other site even comes close.

    STMusic: ~45K torrents
    Waffles: 250K torrents
    What.CD: 495K torrents

    Don't forget that STMusic is down more then it is up, too.

    You guys saying they should be up for legal action are just retarded. Access to the site is a privilege, not a right. Go figure.
    If access to the site isn't a big deal for you, why do you come here and whine about it?

  9. Anonymous // 5/01/2009 08:20:00 PM  

    just as scilla said, no reason to panic if your country is banned from an IRC channel - knowing What, they will always accept a good user.

  10. Jeremy is here // 5/01/2009 08:25:00 PM  

    I gave up for a invite to What.CD ages ago becuase I couldn't really care less about the questions they ask, (what is lossless file is one of them) (and to put what bitrates in order)

    I came across STmusic in the end and very happy. With them being down at times it's annoying but oh well, seems like they are back now and I haven't had a problem signing onto STmusic for the past 3 days.

    I didn't have answer any qestions in their IRC channel and got a invite just by giving them my email address

    I dont see the point in the questions what.cd ask becuase aslong as you share back its fine. I'm on many PT and have all ratio's about 5.0. That's what matters at the end of the day is your are seeding not knowing about files!

  11. Anonymous // 5/01/2009 09:58:00 PM  

    If you don't know about filetypes and such, YOU DON'T NEED WHAT.CD AND WHAT.CD DOESN'T NEED YOU. Go get your V2 scene releases in that case.

    And QQ you from India, there's What.cd invite topic on every proper trackers PU+ forum where you can get in even if you are from there or other IRC banned country.

    Just chill. What.cd doesn't want to be average FILEnetworks site where tons of people zerg in without really caring and then give up when they realize it isn't Piratebay where you can just log in once a week to hit&run stuff.

    Fuck.

  12. Antz // 5/01/2009 10:09:00 PM  
    This comment has been removed by the author.
  13. Antz // 5/01/2009 10:11:00 PM  

    @scillia
    "Access to the site is a privilege, not a right"
    1) Privilege of access goes against the meaning of bittorrent.
    Isn't TPB fighting for bittorrent and filesharing as a right.
    and then some sites create their own barriers...and blanket banning regions is completely the work of lazy mods who cant keep pace with technology..
    2) How would you feel if u couldn't get in to a site if your whole your country is banned.
    3) Internet penetration in India is roughly 7% that is around 80million that is larger than the population of UK(61million) and u mean to say they can enjoy the privilege but we cant...get a life

    and yes
    since you judge the quality of a site by the no of music torrents it has...
    go figure how many music torrents are there on TPB..

    @AL Ammar --you must be a paki
    nowonder....the topic here is different go bark some other tree...

  14. pspgamer // 5/01/2009 10:30:00 PM  

    kk never knew u cld get into the tracker frm a banned country from an invite,anywayz now ill apply for an invite!!
    thnx a lot max!!!
    and not a bad post antz :) though with some errors!

  15. Unknown // 5/01/2009 10:49:00 PM  

    So, what.cd is the best music tracker... right, right. Best music tracker, but not for the type of music I am looking for--it looks like their world music section is somewhat overlooked and yet out of date. I would surely like to contribute with some of the releases i have made, though this is somewhat absurd that they are so arrogant. If you wish to try out something new that is more humane than this tracker then get a go a gigle.ws

  16. Silencer // 5/01/2009 11:07:00 PM  
    This comment has been removed by the author.
  17. Silencer // 5/01/2009 11:11:00 PM  

    @scilla

    i think it is non of your business to telling me not to talk about any goddammed situation...

    they think themselves that kinda big sort of thing and i am angry about it and it is my comment...

    interviews?
    what interviews
    am i going to hire for something big or am i getting any money for that?

    think about it.

    understood?

  18. Anonymous // 5/02/2009 01:05:00 AM  

    @Jeremy is here
    If you don't know much about bitrates, then What isn't the place for you. Quality is very important over there, STMusic has kind of the same rules but are way more relaxed in enforcing them. They usally don't ban people for bad uploads either.

    Ratio isn't that much of a big deal, the ratio-requirements at What are very easy to keep, if you make an effort. You won't get away with anything though.

    @ Antz
    Downloading music illegally has never been a right. Making barriers is just to keep bad users out, those who don't care about the community and wealth of the site.

    What.CD isn't TPB, the quality on TPB is often very bad, content is so-so, speeds are crap, there is no request-section, 'pre-times' suck (What isn't among the fastest, but their internal rippers are very, very quick. We leaked both Day & Age and Chinese Democracy.), layout is bad, reseed requests are virtually nonexistant.

    However, if you think that is fine with you, stick to it. I'm not saying TPB is doing a bad thing, they just can't keep up with a music specialized tracker.

    If I couldn't get in on a site due to country-restrictions, then I would get very dissappointed on my fellow countrymen, who apparently know nothing about bittorrent-etiquette. The reason why certain countries are banned are because a lot of people from that country either cheats, trades, sells or leeches or all of the above. I would do the same as the What.CD crew, since like you said, there are a lot of Indian people with internet connections. Going through the trouble of sorting out the very few good users from thousands of bad ones just isn't worth it. However, there is nothing that is stopping you from getting an invite elsewhere. If you are a good bittorent-user, this shouldn't be a problem at all.

    I just used the ammount of torrents because that is what most people look for in a tracker. TBP might have a lot (don't think it's 500K though, can't find any stats of it anywhere), but the quality is often utter shit. But then again, the friendly community, the quality, the speeds, the helpfull staff (I could go on like this forever) is on a completley different level at What.

    @UltraLeetJ
    What has around 7K torrents tagged as "world.music". I don't any other site which has more albums in that category. And being a general music site makes it hard to keep in all genres. That is why there are other, more specialized torrent-sites for those needs. How are they arrogant? Keeping bad users out isn't wrong, it's for the greater good.

    @Silencer
    What.CD does not advertise itself as "the best" in any way. A lof of members (like myself) do that, though. Ever given any thought to why we do? We ain't being paid to do it, that's for sure. We do it because we think the site is an awesome place, and we like to inform other people about the site's existance. But maybe we're all wrong, TPB might be the best place for music?

    They can have any requirements they wan't for joining the site. If they charged people for joining, then I thought very, very few people would actually join. They use interviews to keep bad users out, it's as simple as that.

    Stop with the ignorant bashing just because you can't get in right now. Try to be nice and seed good at other trackers and eventually someone will invite you.

  19. Azzam // 5/02/2009 01:08:00 AM  

    You have been kicked from the chat room by WhatBot with the reason "Your entire country [Saudi Arabia] is banned from the invites channel. This is because of the very high proportion of users from this area being bad for the site - either leechers, traders, sellers and/or cheaters. - Does not expire." and cannot send further messages without rejoining.
    :( :( :(

  20. Unknown // 5/02/2009 02:01:00 AM  

    Most of the world is banned from the channel.
    India
    Africa
    a whole bunch of Middle East countries
    most of South America
    1/5 of all European countries.

    That's really stupid and utterly ridiculous. There is no reason to do that. If they cheat or leech, they will be banned anyway. From what I've heard, What.CD has one of the best anti-cheat scripts out there.

    Knowing the different types of music formats isn't going to help you become a better member either. If you are going to upload, then it will help, but most average users aren't going to upload their own torrents.

    I am from America, I gave up on the interview because of how stupid the whole thing was.

  21. Unknown // 5/02/2009 04:45:00 AM  

    The funny thing is that What.CD is a P2P site, without users is nothing, and they're ignoring a TON of users around 75% of the world. this douchebags think that they're doing us a favor when in reality WE the potential users could be doing them a favor, we could be uploading and be actively involved in their site, and there's people who can even donate money. and also it's funny how in the rules section they write about 'offensive' stuff, when they engage in discriminatory acts(like banning people because of their nationality) and that's one of the most offensive things you can do... discriminating people!

    I just hope this site gets raided like this one: http://torrentfreak.com/bad-bittorrent-and-warez-sites-raided-by-police-090428/ and the assholes in charge of it and the rest of the crew(mods, etc...) get sent to one of those 'rape me in the ass' type of prisons, seriously.

  22. Unknown // 5/02/2009 05:01:00 AM  

    Also, it's hilarious how retarded and ridiculous the questions are, they ask you about lossless and lossy codecs...etc. when i signed up for BCG they didn't ask me if i knew what 3D modeling program was used for creating the models in Metal Gear Solid 2(btw it was Maya) the only important thing in the P2P world is to have a fast upload speed and share what you have leeched. that's why almost all sites that give invites ask you for a speed test or a ratio proof in another site.

    Will the next torrent site that pops-up tomorrow ask me about my penis size?.

    Anyone who does this or defends it is a dolt. we all know at least one torrent site with prepotent Sysops/admins/mods but this dolts at What.CD take the fucking cake.

  23. Unknown // 5/02/2009 06:13:00 AM  

    All you posters are stupid. I'm glad you can't get into What.CD. You may think the knowledge of audio information such as transcodes, formats and bitrates is stupid but in fact you are just a fool. WhatCD exists for the archiving and sharing of QUALITY music. The interviews may be rigorous and the rules strict but that is to make sure only GOOD, KNOWLEDGEABLE PEOPLE WHO GIVE A DAMN ABOUT QUALITY RIPS will join the site. Eventually there'll be a point in time when you will upload your own music. Like I said before WhatCD stands for quality music and in lossless formats and quality rips. We don't not want shit you got from Demonoid or TPB that has bad filenames, damaged tracks, skipping and incomplete albums. I repeat, QUALITY music. If you don't give a damn about that then, Move Along.

  24. thesun // 5/02/2009 07:09:00 AM  

    rofl
    readings these comments have been a blast
    i have to say though, both sides have some valid points

  25. Unknown // 5/02/2009 07:33:00 AM  

    Ouch, IP range blocks suck, but a lot of private sites employ this, not just What, not without good reasons. I don't think it's fair, but no need to get that pissed, holy shit lawl.

    People who can't even be bothered with the interview probably won't contribute anything to the site anyway, don't want you, don't need you, bye.

    Excuse me while I go back to enjoying one of the best places in the world for people who love music.

  26. Al Ammar // 5/02/2009 09:58:00 AM  

    @ Antz
    i am from Germany,
    no wonder u kicked out cuz u are always high on things, and why are u saying i must be a paki, u are such a little head but no wonder i can understand cuz u are from india.

  27. Nikki // 5/02/2009 11:06:00 AM  

    From Mister:
    "We don't not want shit you got from Demonoid or TPB that has bad filenames, damaged tracks, skipping and incomplete albums. I repeat, QUALITY music."

    ---

    But they don't give a crap about members who contradict themselves because proofreading is too difficult, huh? "Don't not want" means you do want, so you might not want to call people on being "stupid."

    On top of that, people who upload tend to care more about quality than those who download. I probably have nothing to offer, since it's already there. If I do, someone would probably get cranky because I keep most of my mp3s around 190kpbs (and every audiophile I know says they can tell the difference, when in fact it's incredibly difficult to do so; very few people have the ability to differentiate true pitch).

    That, however, doesn't mean I would be a terrible member. I'm not a bad member at passthepopcorn, either. I don't upload anything (and I probably won't), but I try to maintain a decent ratio (which is hard to even do when I don't download popular movies; I stick to foreign films, which are harder to seed). Then again, I don't overly-download either. I take what I want when I want it, and I try to seed it. If I happen to still have the file, I seed it if I see a request to do so.

    Also, "bad tags" are incredibly subjective. I get a bunch of terribly tagged files that people say are "properly tagged." Unless it's garbled, then they're tolerable.

  28. Antz // 5/02/2009 02:16:00 PM  
    This comment has been removed by the author.
  29. awesome // 5/02/2009 02:21:00 PM  

    This is by far the best music torrent site ever. I routinely get 1mb/s+, all the music is ripped perfectly and it has a truly huge selection.

  30. Unknown // 5/02/2009 05:25:00 PM  

    These comments are funny.

    Back on track,
    What CD is the best english music tracker, but be prepared to leave on your torrents for a LONG time, because music files are so small, and so many people are seeding, you won't be reaching 1:1 ratio on an album for weeks, even if u have high speeds.

    The reason they have a questionnaire is because everyone is allowed to upload music, not just selected uploaders, and they want to limit the number of bad rips they have to remove from the site. Also because they want everyone to be vigilante about the content on the site, and part of the questions involve figuring out if a song file is bad, so you can report it, thus increasing the overall quality of the site.

  31. Unknown // 5/02/2009 08:01:00 PM  

    ------------------
    But they don't give a crap about members who contradict themselves because proofreading is too difficult, huh? "Don't not want" means you do want, so you might not want to call people on being "stupid."

    On top of that, people who upload tend to care more about quality than those who download. I probably have nothing to offer, since it's already there. If I do, someone would probably get cranky because I keep most of my mp3s around 190kpbs (and every audiophile I know says they can tell the difference, when in fact it's incredibly difficult to do so; very few people have the ability to differentiate true pitch).
    -----------
    @ "n"
    Making a human error is inevitable, while maintaining your stupidity is a decision.

    Yes, you are right about people who upload caring more about quality. Even if you just download music, you may find it hard to get a good ratio, so you will most likely upload something to fix it(This is also inevitable, whether you need uploads to help your ratio or to rank up). When you do upload that torrent, it should meet What.CD's standards.

  32. Anonymous // 5/02/2009 08:05:00 PM  

    n:
    If you want to what I'd suggest you upload 1 release at passthepopcorn. There's thread with unlimited invites to What.CD in power user+ forums there.

  33. Dan // 5/04/2009 03:03:00 AM  

    Thanks for the info!

  34. Leodime // 5/06/2009 04:47:00 PM  

    As Mister said, this site is for QUALITY music. You're not going to find a good 24-bit 96,000Khz Vinyl rip anywhere else, so suck it up. If you don't like their rules, get over it and go back to TPB.

    And in response to Wilmark, I've been on the site for barely a month and my ratio is almost at 1. It's not that difficult for those who try.

  35. Project Liar Game // 5/08/2009 02:00:00 AM  

    I got an invite a month or 2 ago.
    There is a wide range of music and most of it is well-seeded.
    But it really is a complete pain in the ass for anyone who doesn't have any music to upload.
    I'm definitely connectable, and my connection isn't complete shit, but I just can't seem to seed anything back.
    My ratio is a pitiful 0.05. I don't know what I'm gonna do when I hit the 5GB DL barrier and have to get my ratio to 0.15.

    Overall, I would say that What is very good, but still a little over rated. If you don't care about FLACs and absolute perfection in tags, then really you don't need What at all. I mean, I don't. I'll probably get banned for having a shit ratio anyway. Ah well.

  36. Unknown // 9/14/2009 03:29:00 AM  
    This comment has been removed by the author.
  37. Unknown // 10/07/2009 03:38:00 PM  

    liten you suckers, i don't have to contribute to YOUR what.cd community but the opposite: that bunch with their commy banning HAS to contribute to the bigger community ie THE WEBS.

    i'm proud to say i'm doing quite well, since many years, without any of your help. also i am proud to be a honest (and at times generous) romanian.
    earn my respect before you ban my entire nation and question me upon some cheap reading.
    bunch of a-class a-holes

  38. Vazeen // 10/31/2009 12:06:00 PM  

    LO;L..SCREW india.. pakistan rocks..we aint CHEATERS! like ur sorry a$$ are

  39. Unknown // 11/22/2009 09:24:00 PM  

    What.cd is now banned pakistan.....what bunch of losers

  40. Dan // 12/02/2009 08:03:00 AM  

    LOL @ all you guys. Complain to your countrymen.

  41. Unknown // 12/05/2009 08:16:00 AM  

    hey guys!

    Does What.cd have "Deep Mission Labels" torrents? Especially the following vinyl: dj mirko milano - astral shock! Im searching it for everywhere! I love dj mirko milano and arne l ii.!!!!

    Where can i find these?

    If what.cd have these, i take the interview for sure! (if my country not banned, LOL)

    Thanks guys!

    PS: If someone have invite, also welcome, but im not begging for it! (have underground-gamer and bitgamer invites BOTH in exchange, plus you can have access to bangbros, realitykings, brazzers.... xxx sites more months, if you're interested...plus i can offer tons of rapidshare music links, both odays and oldies [i collected up to 2-300.000 rapidshare links in excel files], thats a NICE offer (for 1 invite) ALL in exchange (+ full of knowledge support, where to find what, i have more than 11000 opera bookmarks), and of cource, i totally change my username and email address, im not stupid)

    bakibandi26@gmail.com

  42. timrj88 // 2/11/2010 02:07:00 AM  

    can someone please give me a what.cd invite? have libble.com invite in exchange!

    please help me!

    timrj88@gmail.com

  43. Anonymous // 5/11/2010 12:15:00 AM  

    please someone send me an invition please!!
    galitm_19@hotmail.com

  44. Jeff // 5/26/2010 04:37:00 AM  

    no what.cd user in their right mind would ever give out an invite on a blog. Asking is pointless.

  45. Unknown // 6/03/2010 08:16:00 PM  

    You were kicked from #what.cd-invites by ZeroBot (Your entire country [Pakistan] is banned from the invites channel. This is because of the very high proportion of users from this area being bad for the site - either leechers, traders, sellers and/or cheaters.)


    SHIT.............. :D

    May be i will get a chance some other time... i am one of the best seeders in my are (Always ratio 14.5 - 20.5)

  46. Laeotaekhun // 9/17/2011 10:16:00 PM  

    I'm confused.

    I downloaded the mIRC software, connected and then posted the link ( irc://irc.what.cd:6667/what.cd-invites) and said "Hi" but there was NO response.

    What am I doing wrong?

    As an aside, I'm NOT looking for an invite, only a contact link for the site Admin.

    An anybody please help?

  47. SummitTechnology // 7/20/2012 03:24:00 PM  

    Such dvd blogs are very difficult to locate and I appreciate this blog for having bulk of useful cd information on the topic.
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  48. Ashu // 9/06/2012 01:48:00 AM  

    i think interview is meant for scrutiy of responsible users there but whats the point in bannig a whole country