Several years ago when file sharing networks were not so popular, most of the leaked content on the internet (and on streets) were released by groups in the warez scene. However, as BitTorrent and other P2P mediums attracted the masses, another set of release groups outside the scene were born – these are commonly referred to as P2P groups or Non Scene encoder groups. Unlike the scene who loathed P2P, these new groups embraced file sharing sites – some of them even started to release exclusively on torrent trackers and DDL forums. The service we are featuring today, P2P Elite, revolves around such non scene release groups. It’s a multi role site which will act as a pre database, group ranking system, NFO & screenshot repository, etc related to releases by non scene groups whose roots lie in P2P networks. It’s an ambitious new project that’s currently in testing phase – the idea is definitely interesting.

A very detailed description of P2P Elite was sent in to us by it’s developer, KoOlWaReZ. Since his description pretty much says everything about the service including the concept behind it and how it functions, we are directly quoting parts of his email below:

[BEGIN QUOTE]

I'm a web developer and I'm putting together a site. I've been coding it for a week now and trying to open the doors and get more users to come and check it out. Help me find bugs etc.

The idea behind it is: Giving the P2P a 'Pre' Database, like Scene w/steriods. Not only does it have a full feature database, which release groups can post the title, pictures, nfo, samples of the releases but soon it will feature a voting/ranking system which is being put in to rank release groups. Video, Audio, Compatibility. Voting continues until something better gets released, then the scores get tallied up; for a winner. Example, a CAM gets released by a group. That groups gets points for being first. Then every other group will release theirs... members of the site chooses which is best by ranking video, audio, compatibility. Then when a TS gets announced "pre" then the voting automatically stops and the winning CAM gets a green check and the release group gets points (respect points) comments can be left for releases also.

Now with the profile system, release groups get a profile like myspace. Members of the site also get profiles and it has added features like being able to use myspace layouts, post youtube videos on there profile and post them into the system for ranking and comments, PM other users or groups, release group list with ranking, you can have open debates with the community, chatroom built in and soon to be built into the release groups profile pages, built in instant messenger to chat in real time between each other, file sharing, picture sharing with private pictures option.. so much more and more coming.

What kind of benefit release groups can get from your my site?
They get a home. They get a profile, they get a central place to interact with the public. They get to have fun with a lil competition with the ranking and being first.. They get (soon) there own sub domain they can edit through there profile http://groupname.p2pelite.com, they get there own chatroom, just click a hotlink in there profile... its a win win.. when enough release groups signup and start pre'in there releases in teh database to thousands watching and waiting.. and by the way I have SMS messenging already coded in so users can get texts to there cell phones when something new hits in the database that they been waiting for.. then eventually your releases wont be knowned til you do take part in the new system. Also RSS and email notifications.

Current release groups who have helped and bug tested are (members):
Rx, 420Demons (*THC*), PrisM, iMAGiNE, KiNGDOM, FLAWL3SS, MAGNET, n0ir, [NoFS], Blackjesus...
and its only been a week. (going to be featured in nfo files as a contact point)

[END QUOTE]

First thing that comes to mind when talking about a service such as P2P Elite is security. A central location that tracks all P2P release details? Downloading movies online isn’t legal in most countries and uploading them is usually an even more serious offence. What steps have been taken by P2P Elite to ensure the security and secrecy of participating groups? We directed these questions at KoOlWaReZ, the site’s developer – his response is quoted below:

During the current testing phase, writing the script and bug testing its being hosted on a canada server with logs completely turned off on server side and on the profile script the site runs on. Most groups can use a public proxy like www.coverproxy.com if they feel there security is compromised until it gets moved on a NL or Russian server after testing and script completion. Most release groups use a VPN service to mask there IP anyway. I actually let a group borrow a VPN line during this testing phase as a appreciation for helping. Group members are joining my site for a home base, a contact point, anonymity? Not sure what you mean by that, but if it refers to security that is already the most important part in this developing community. Everything I code, all the decisions I make will be 100% about the security of my friends and fellow members of my site. I do know and talk to many of these release groups everyday, so obviously to have this many release groups at my site already they must some what trust me.

As we said earlier, P2P elite is an interesting project. If it kicks off, this could become a really cool service for both P2P release groups as well as their fans. The site and some of its services such as the pre database are currently live in beta testing phase. You can check them out using the links below:

P2P Elite Homepage URL: http://www.p2pelite.com 

Pre Database URL : http://pre.p2pelite.com (Beta – Login as guest)

Thanks to KoOlWaReZ for the heads up.

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Here’s the latest entry in our series of posts relating to latest R5 (DVD for region 5) and R1 (DVD for region 1) movie releases. Knowing the R5/R1 release date of a movie in advance can be pretty useful if you download movies online - it gives a hint as to when a leaked copy of the said movie will hit file sharing networks worldwide. We have listed tentative R1/R5 release dates for more than 50 movies below – list of R5 entries is filtered and does not include movies that are already leaked online (in DVDSCR, DVDRIP or BRRip quality). List of R1 however does include some movies that are already available on BitTorrent sites, DDL forums and FTP sites. Note that release dates change often – they get postponed and pushed around for reasons best known by movie publishers (hence the need for regular updates such as this).

R5 Release Dates (July – October 2010)

July

• Knight And Day - July 29
• Icarus – July
• Exit Through the Gift Shop - July

August

• Furry Vengeance August 12
• Predators - August 19
• Salt - August 26
• Centurion - August 26

September

• Grown Ups - September 2
• The Expendables - September 9
• Robin Hood - September 14
• The Karate Kid - September 16
• Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming - September 16
• Please Give - September 23
• Machete - September 23
• Cemetery Junction - September 30
• Four Lions - September 30
• Space Chimps 2: Zartog Strikes Back
• Prince Of Persia – September
• An Invisible Sign of My Own – September

October

• Rust - October 7
• Resident Evil: Afterlife - October 7
• The killer inside me - October 7
• 30 Days of Night: Dark Days - October 14
• Takers - October 22
• The Other Guys - October 28
• Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - October 28
• Jonah Hex – October
• Nightmare on Elm Street – October
• Get Him to the Greek – October
• Toy Story 3 – October
• You Again – October
• Iron Man 2 – October

R1 Release Dates (August – October 2010)

August

• After Life - August 3
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid - August 3
• Kick Ass - August 3
• To Save A Life - August 3
• Open House - August 3
• The Ghost Writer - August 3
• Date Night - August 10
• Death At A Funeral - August 10
• Letters to God - August 10
• Multiple Sarcasms - August 10
• Triage - August 10
• The Good Heart - August 10
• My Name is Khan - August 10
• The Joneses - August 10
• Furry Vengence - August 17
• The Last Song - August 17
• Cash - August 17
• Burning Bright - August 17
• Cemetery Junction - August 17
• Skellig: The Owl Man - August 17
• Survival of the Dead - August 24
• Group Sex - August 24
• The Back-Up Plan - August 24
• Abandoned - August 24
• 2:22 - August 24
• The Square - August 24
• Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too? - August 31
• Harry Brown - August 31
• Babies - August 31

September

• MacGruber - September 7
• Holy Rollers - September 7
• Solitary Man - September 7
• Prince Of Persia - September 14
• Letters To Juliet - September 14
• Ondine - September 14
• Just Wright - September 14
• Paper Man - September 14
• Boogie Woogie - September 14
• Robin Hood - September 21
• Sex In The City 2 - September 21
• Stomp The Yard 2: Homecoming - September 21
• Iron Man 2 - September 28
• Frozen - September 28
• The Killer Inside Me - September 28
• Superman/Batman: Apocalypse - September 28

October

• Get Him To The Greek - October 5
• The Karate Kid - October 5
• Secret Of Kells - October 5
• 30 Days of Night: Dark Days - October 5
• How To Train Your Dragon - October 12
• Oceans - October 19
• Mirrors 2 - October 19
• You Don't Know Jack - October 26

If you are wondering where we get R5/R1 release date details from, no we don’t gather this information ourselves. Instead, we use several well known online sources that have proved to be reliable in the past to get the updated info. For example, the source for this article was the release date threads on PeerAccess (which seemed to be the most up to date at time of this post). PeerAccess is a DDL forum and you can see a detailed review of the site along with screenshots here.

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File sharing has grown so popular that it’s no longer all about BitTorrent trackers and invite forums. Some of you might remember BTSkins.Net, a forum we recently featured on this blog. BTSkins was not another invite forum – it was rather a central location of information sharing for BitTorrent tracker developers. Today’s post is about a similar site; BTDev.net. BTDev is a forum that teaches you how to build BitTorrent trackers. It’s target audience are torrent tracker SysOps, coders, programmers, designers and pretty much anyone else who is interested in building a BitTorrent site. From source codes of popular tracker scripts to basic coding tutorials, this forum has a lot of resources for those who are interested in the inner workings of a BitTorrent tracker.

Launched sometime in May 2010, BTDev currently has ~250 active members. Considering that most of them are somehow involved in a torrent tracker project (design, development, etc) it’s a pretty good number for a niche forum such as this. Of course, you don’t have to be tracker staff to join BTDev – registrations are open and anyone can join, even mere enthusiasts or folks who are just getting started with tracker codebases.

As mentioned earlier, BTDev has a lot of resources for torrent site designers and developers. Mods, tutorials, themes, sample projects and lots of other stuff relating to almost all tracker codebases including TBDev, Gazelle, Xbtt, Xbtit, TorrentStrike, PHPMyBitTorrent & TorrentTrader can be downloaded from this forum.

Apart from codebases, a separate section of the forum is dedicated towards various other services (IRC, mail servers, etc attached to a BitTorrent tracker. Then there is another sub forum for coding basics - this can be useful for novice programmers. Resources in this section are not only related to tracker development but also for programming in general.

Registrations for BTDev are currently open. If you are interested in building torrent trackers, how they work or if you are already involved in a tracker project, you might find this forum pretty useful.

Site Name: BTdev (http://btdev.net)

Signup URL: http://btdev.net/index.php?action=register

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When it comes to public torrent indexers, there are only a handful sites that can rival KickAssTorrents. KAT, which rose to popularity after the shut down of Mininova, has constantly been improving their operations not only by adding hundreds of new torrents daily but also by introducing tons of usability features quote frequently. It hasn’t been two months since we talked about KAT’s latest improvements and add-ons in a blog post and they’ve gone on and launched the public beta of KickAssTorrents 2.0. Needless to say this is a major milestone for the BitTorrent indexer and KAT 2.0 has so many new features that it took site staff three blogs posts to cover the whole list :p It was interesting to note that some of new additions and changes were ‘social features’ – hell, now there’s even a Facebook like ‘wall’ on KickAssTorrents user pages.

A summarized list of all KickAssTorrents 2.0 features is provided below:

1. Friends – One of the social features in v2.0. You can now add other KAT members as your friends.
2. The Wall – Users now have a Facebook like wall where they can leave updates. Others can comment or reply to these.
3. New design – KAT now sports an even more polished look with a new site redesign.
4. EZTV and Limetorrents integration – Both these groups have teamed up with KAT so you can now download their latest releases directly from KickAssTorrents itself. EZTV is a leading TV show indexer.
5. Comments subscription – You can now subscribes to a particular comments thread. This is very useful if you want to stay up to date on discussions.
6. Google account support – Aside from Facebook connect, KAT now supports login to the site using a Google account.
7. Revamped ‘Search Trends’ and ‘People’ page.
8. Search enhancements - Tabbed search, movies and TV auto recognition and more
9. Multi language support – KAT now supports 11 languages other than English. More will be added soon, with the help of existing members.
10. Messages – Messages are no longer limited to the forums. They can now be sent to any user who’s on KAT.
11. Improved FAQ
12. Idea box – now you can communicate your feedback on using the site to the administrators directly.
13. New forums (http://www.kickasstorrents.com/community/) and social groups (http://www.kickasstorrents.com/community/socialgroups/)
14. Numerous bugfixes including fixes for cross browser issues
15. Other minor usability features

You can read full details of all features (along with some screenshots) in KickAssTorrents blog posts located here, here and here. For a list of new features added prior to KAT v2.0, please refer to this post.

While most in the BitTorrent community would welcome KAT’s improvements with open arms, this wouldn’t be such good news for anti piracy companies. A torrent site which they helped grow (by shutting down Mininova) is taking things to the next level – let’s hope they don’t try and take KAT down.

[Click Here] to visit KickassTorrents homepage

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Here on FILEnetworks, we talk about torrent trackers and file sharing forums pretty much every single day. Almost all of the sites and forums we have featured up until now cater towards end users of BitTorrent & DDL, in other words the regular pirates who download stuff from the net. However, the forum we are featuring today, BitTorrent Skins (aka BTSkins), is somewhat different. It’s a gathering place and a central location of information sharing for BitTorrent tracker developers – you can discuss and download templates, hacks & mods for all major tracker codebases including Gazelle, TBDEV, TorrentStrike, TorrentTrader & more. That’s not all, BTSkins is currently developing their own tracker source named TfK (TBDEV featuring Kidvision). If you are a tracker developer or if you are interested in the underlying works of a BitTorrent site, you might want to check this forum out.

BTSkins is not really a new forum. According ApocalypseMan, one of the site’s moderators, this site was formerly known as Kidvision.me. This is essentially a resurrection of Kidvision which shut down due to server issues. The site currently has 125 members (at the time of writing) and more are expected to join as word spreads in the BitTorrent community.

As mentioned in the first paragraph, BTSkins indexes templates, mods and hacks for all major tracker codebases out there. This allows developers to share there work and re-use components developed by others without having to reinvent the wheel. A screenshot of the ‘Development’ section in the main forum is shown below – this is where you can share/download/request add-ons for trackers scripts.

There are already quite a few mods & templates indexed in BTSkins, most of which seem to be TBDEV related. In addition to these, BTSkins has separate forum threads for Graphics and Artwork sharing as well as a Guidelines & Tutorials section for BitTorrent trackers. The source code for BTSkin’s own tracker script, TfK, can also be downloaded from this site.

BTSkins is currently open for registrations and is accepting new members. Again, keep in mind that this is a development related forum – you won’t find any tracker invite giveaways here.

Site Name: BitTorrent Skins (http://btskins.net)

Registration URL: http://btskins.net/index.php?app=core&module=global&section=register

Special thanks to ApocalypseMan for sending us this news.

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My Anonamouse has got to be one of the most underrated BitTorrent trackers ever. You don’t often see invite requests for it on BitTorrent forums, you don’t see it on those ‘tracker levels’ tables and you don't see My Anonamouse invites being sold on Ebay. Perhaps MyAN does not generate that much of a buzz in the BitTorrent scene due to the nature of content it tracks – the site does not index blockbuster movies, latest TV shows or video games. However, those looking for a niche tracker to download eBooks or audio books would prefer this site over 20 General/0Day trackers any day. My Anonamouse has a huge torrent index comprising of over 40000 torrents and it’s simply one of the most resourceful sites on the net for E-books (including novels), audiobooks, comics, magazines, music tutorials and other similar material. If you still haven’t managed to get into this awesome tracker, registrations will be open for one week starting today.

Even though My Anonamouse receives a relatively low hype in the BitTorrent scene, it’s not short of members. The site currently has an active user base of over 33000 registered members; quite an unusual feat for a niche private community. The torrent count is equally high – as of 13/6/2010 there were 38000 active torrents indexed by MyAN’s BitTorrent tracker (and increase of 6000 from the 32000 torrents that were available in April 2010).

Most of the folks who do know about My Anonamouse know it as a audiobooks only tracker. While MyAN tracks a lot of audio books, that’s not the only type of content you can find there. For instance, there are over 8000 eBook torrents (the actual number of books is much higher because some of these torrents are packs) available on this site – that’s more torrents than you can find on several specialized eBook trackers put together. Alongside audiobooks and electronic books, MyAN tracks graphic novels, comics, magazines, newspapers, educational material as well as music related stuff such as guitar/bass tabs, sheet music, lick libraries and even concert videos.

Image: A screenshot of My Anoanamouse’s torrent index – this shows some of the comics and ebooks uploaded to the tracker. For screens of audiobooks and other material, read our previous review located here.

Now, with the increased popularity of portable devices such as Amazon Kindle and Apple iPad which make it easier to read E-books and listen to Audiobooks outside your computer, I can only see My Anonamouse becoming more popular in the future. If you are a book lover, musician or a fan of magazines, newspapers or graphic novels, this site is highly recommended.

Getting into MyAN has never really been hard. Although the site has had closed signups for the most part of its lifetime, interested members could always get in via invite applications (as we mentioned here). If you didn’t like to fill out the application form and submit it on the IRC channel, you now have a chance to join the site directly during My Anoanamouse special open signup period.

Site Name: My Anonamouse (http://www.myanonamouse.net)

Signup URL: http://www.myanonamouse.net/signup_special.php (open signups will last until 06-20-2010 23:59:59 GMT.)

Special thanks to ‘Lazy Mouse’ for the head’s up.

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Launched in 2008, The Pirate Society (TPS) has become one of the most successful file sharing discussion forums currently online. TPS features BitTorrent news, discussions, invitation giveaways, requests, private tracker reviews as well as seedbox discussions, support and reviews. This forum is also known for its many tracker recruitment threads and insane number of direct connections to private trackers through the ‘Community reps’ model. While being an excellent file sharing forum and a gateway to the world of torrent trackers, TPS has mostly been a closed community. Public registrations on this site have almost always been closed and potential new members needed to pass an IRC interview conducted by TPS staff members. If you didn’t like the idea of going through an interview or didn’t have enough experience in the BT scene to make it inside, you now have another chance through The Pirate Academy.

The Pirate Academy is TPS’s latest project that opens up the site even to absolute newbies to the BitTorrent scene. With the launch of this project, TPS has essentially become an open registration BitTorrent forum and new members are now allowed to bypass the IRC interview. However, those who choose to do so will not immediately gain access to all TPS forum sections – instead, they will be directed to the Pirate Academy – a limited access forum that has ‘lessons’ and tests for new users. In short, new members who go through all the lessons and pass the test for each lesson, will gain entry into the fully featured TPS main forum. In case you didn’t get the idea, here’s a complete overview of how The Pirate Academy works. This description was quoted from a thread posted by Soopy on TPS :

[BEGIN QUOTE]
We have two main forums available to anyone who has access to The Pirate Academy. These forums are called "Classrooms" and "Lounge". The Classrooms forum consists of 3 sub-forums called Lesson 1, Lesson 2 and Lesson 3. Each Lessons sub-forum will bring you to a thread that has the lesson material. Here's how it is mapped out:

• Lesson 1 - Introduction to the Pirate Society. This lesson will teach the user how to use a forum and its features and what The Pirate Society is.
• Lesson 2 - IRC Basics. This will teach the user how to user the basics of IRC. Some of it focuses on the popular IRC client mIRC while also keeping it general so the user can use the material with other clients.
• Lesson 3 - Getting to know the BT Community. The last lesson teaches users about private bittorrent trackers by explaining what private trackers are, how they operate, and what you should do/shouldn't do.

The Lounge forum is a general forum created for new users who need help, have a question to ask, or just want to test out the forums features by creating general threads. We also have a dedicated IRC channel setup named #academy for users who need help and want answers quickly (and possibly give more incentive to learn IRC :)
The Pirate Academy will consist of 3 quizzes. One quiz for each lesson. The user will find the link at the end of each lesson at the last post which will bring them to the appropriate quiz. Once the user is done filling out the quiz and clicks Submit, it will be sent to our Graders Area where TPS staff will look over the submission and give it a grade. In order to graduate from the academy you must pass all 3 quizzes. If the user is already a New Recruit or higher, they will get the TPA Graduate icon. If the user is in the Initiate usergroup they will receive the TPS Graduate icon and be promoted to New Recruit.
[END QUOTE]

Initially, it might look like a lot of work to pass all the quizzes. However, in reality it’s not that hard even of you are a noob – the lessons are cleverly devised and well detailed along with rich instructions accompanied by screenshots – these let you in on all the information you need in order to pass the tests. Sure, it might take some time but passing will allow you full access to one of the better BitTorrent forums out there ( which has 9600+ users, ~100 community reps and 75+ tracker recruitment threads ).

Image: A screenshot depicting part of TPS main forum. To unlock some of the sections seen here, members are required to progress up the user class system.

As we mentioned earlier, TPS is currently in an open signup mode. However, this is a little different from a regular open registrations period you’d often see from a BitTorrent forum. Again, the text below is quoted from the forum post by Soopy (one of TPS SysOPs):

How does The Pirate Academy fit in with open signups? Every new user who registers will start out as an Initiate. So, initially, they will have very limited access to the forums. This will allow us to keep new users in a controlled environment. The open signups are, of course, not definite and will be temporary. Our first open signups will close once we reach a certain amount of users so we can test out this system on a much larger scale. Depending on the results, we might open up again and increase the load.
Because the users do not require a screening process, we will be very strict with the Initiates. Every user coming in will be scanned against our failed interviewee's database and banned/disabled users. We will not hesitate to disable a users account if something comes up.

Open signups will be available only for a limited period of time so get in while you can. All users who apply through the register link below will gain access to The Pirate Academy

Site Name: The Pirate Society (http://www.thepiratesociety.org)
Signup URL: http://www.thepiratesociety.org/register.php

In the meantime, IRC interviews will still be open – those who pass the interviews will immediately gain access to full TPS forums and will not have to go through The Pirate Academy.

Invites Channel: irc://irc.thepiratesociety.org/invites

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Recruiting new members into private torrent trackers via IRC interviews and invite applications has become quite popular in the past couple of years. In fact there are sites out there which never had an open signup but relied on these methods to build their entire user bases. This article lists 25 private torrent trackers that give away invites on their IRC channels or currently have open online invite applications. The list includes all sorts of sites including those which focus on music, television shows, audiobooks, science fiction and fantasy content, business eBooks, DVD and Blu Ray movies, PC/Console games, software, anime, etc. Around 10 of the torrent sites featured in the post are powered by Gazelle codebase, the new generation torrent tracker script pioneered by What.cd. Either way open signups are no longer the only way into a private tracker – if you want to become a member of any of these sites, you can now either apply online or visit their IRC channel to get invited for free.

As always, it’s highly recommended that you read the Full Review (linked-to beneath the description of each entry) of a torrent site before you attempt to pursue invites. The review should tell you exactly what sort of content is available on a particular tracker and you’ll be able to deduce whether you really need that site or not. Additionally, the full review usually contains screenshots and tracker specific instructions on invite request process. When requesting an invite IRC channels, always follow the instructions given in channel topic. Keep in mind that you might have to idle on channels for some time if staff are not available to start the interview. Time zone differences, the number of invite requests, etc can affect staff availability and when they aren’t around it’s important that you wait patiently without spamming the channels.

KillaWaves (KWS)
 
Site Name: KillaWaves (http://killawaves.org/)
Invite Channel URL: irc://irc.killawaves.org/Invites
Stats: 3700+ torrents
Description: KillaWaves (better known as KWS) is a Gazelle based private BitTorrent tracker that specializes in Drum and Bass (DnB), Oldskool, Jungle, Ambient, Techno, Garage and Dubstep music.
Full Review: [Click Here]

ScienceHD (SciHD)
 
Site Name: ScienceHD (http://sciencehd.info)
Invite Application URL: http://sciencehd.info/applications.php
Stats: 2200+ users and 4600+ torrents
Description: ScienceHD is an excellent gazelle based private tracker for Science Fiction TV & documentary torrents. “Mad scientists await your arrival” :p
Full Review: [Click Here]

Merlin (ML)
 
Site Name: Merlin or ML
Invite Channel URL: irc://irc.pron.org.uk/merlins-invites
Stats: 900+ Torrents
Description: Merlin (or ML) is a relatively new private torrent site that indexes movies, TV shows and music that belong to Science Fiction / Fantasy genres. ML is a project by the veteran crew behind ACiD.
Full Review: [Click Here]

The Vault
 
Site Name: The Vault (http://thevault.bz)
Invite Channel URL: irc://irc.thevault.bz:6667/thevault-invites
Invite Application URL: http://thevault.bz/app.php 
Stats: 18000+ torrents
Description: The Vault is a private tracker that focuses primarily on money making (both online and offline) and business. Niche private tracker with some very rare content.
Full Review: [Click Here]

ShareTheRemote (STR)
 
Site Name: Share The Remote (http://sharetheremote.org/)
Invite Channel URL: irc://irc.sharetheremote.org/invite
Stats: 4800+ torrents and 7300 users
Description: ShareTheRemote is a new Gazelle based TV torrent tracker indexing episodes from over 1000 different television shows.
Full Review: [Click Here]

BTN
 
Site Name: BTN
Invite Channel URL: irc://irc.omgwtfhax.net/BTN-Invites
Stats: ~5000 users and 12750+ torrents
Description: BTN is without a doubt one of the best new private trackers to be launched in 2009/2010 period. This feature rich TV tracker has everything; good content, fast pre times and excellent download speeds. Read the full review for more information.
Full Review: [Click Here]

torrentsRmine (tRm)
 
Site Name: torrentsRmine (http://www.torrentsrmine.org)
Invite Channel URL: irc://irc.torrentsrmine.org/torrentsrmine?
Stats: 580 members and 1150+ torrents
Description: torrentsRmine is a private tracker for TV talk shows, crime/drama/lifestyle series and documentaries. tRm is a niche TV tracker and indexes content sometimes not even found on leading sites such as BitMeTV or TVT.com. All torrents on free leech until 31 December 2010.
Full review + More Information: [Click Here]

Save The Coratee (STC)
 
Site Name: Save The Coratee (http://savethecoratee.org)
Invite Channel URL: irc://irc.savethecoratee.org/invites
Stats: 3600+ users and ~4900 torrents
Description: Save The Coratee (STC) is a must have tracker for all Apple Mac, iPhone or iPod users. This ratio free private tracker indexes software, games, tutorial videos and even books and magazines for both Mac OS and iPhone. Based on Gazelle codebase.
Full Review: [Click Here]

The Occult
 
Site Name: The Occult (http://theoccult.bz)
Invite Channel URL: irc://irc.thevault.bz:6667/theoccult-support
Invite Application URL: http://theoccult.bz/app.php
Stats: 1250+ torrents
Description: The Occult has some of the most unusual & uncommon torrent categories ever seen on a private tracker (Mythology, Scientology, Drugs, Shamanism, Astrology to name a few). It specializes in torrents related to various cults, ways of living, religions, healing and so on.
Full Review: [Click Here]

ACiD (AL)  
  
Site Name: ACiD
Invite Channel URL: irc://irc.pron.org.uk/acid-invites
Stats: 19000 users and 8000+ torrents
Description: ACiD is a closed private tracker for General/0day releases. This community based site has been online for more than 4 years. Indexes scene + non scene content and releases unique to this tracker. 
Full review + More Information: [Click Here]

Sparvar
 
Site Name: Sparvar (http://www.sparvar.org)
Invite Application URL: http://www.sparvar.org/invitationform.php
Translated Version of Invite Application: http://bit.ly/JKJ93
Description:  Sparvar is an excellent untouched DVDR and Blu Ray torrent tracker that saw phenomenal growth in 2009. While the site is pretty good, getting in could be difficult specially for users who are new to private trackers.
Full review + More Information: [Click Here]

BrokenStones 
 
Site Name: BrokenStones (http://brokenstones.me/)
Invites Site: http://bswillyouinvite.me/
Description: Brokenstones is probably the most popular specialized Mac tracker. Definitely a must have site if you own an Apple product.
Stats: 5000+ users
Tracker Specific Instructions: Yes. Refer to this article.

AnimeBytes (AB) 
 
Site Name: AnimeBytes (http://animebyt.es)
Invite Applicaiton URL:  http://animebyt.es/application.php
Stats: 3500+ users and ~8800 torrents
Description: AnimeBytes is a specialized anime torrent tracker. Runs of a customized version of Gazelle codebase and has some really nice site features in addition to the decently sized torrent index.
Full review + More Information: [Click Here]

TorrentTech
 
Site Name: TorrentTech (http://www.torrentech.org/)
Type: TorrentTech is a huge electronic music tracker with lots of torrents and active members. If you are an EDM fan, check this out.
Stats: 3500+ members
IRC Channel: http://irc.torrentech.org/ (requires java)
Tracker Specific Instructions: No. But reading the TT rules is strongly recommended. It may take a long time to actually get invited.

What.CD  
 
Site Name: What.CD (http://what.cd)
Type: Do we really need to say anything more? Pretty much everyone knows what this is. What.CD is the largest private music torrent tracker out there.
Invites IRC Channel: irc://irc.what.cd:6667/what.cd-invites
Tracker Specific Instructions: Yes and if you try to get an invite without reading these first, there is a high likelihood of failure.

CoExist (CE) 
 
Site Name: CoExist (http://coexist.biz)
Invite Channel URL: irc://irc.coexist.biz/ce.invites
Stats: 8200+ torrents and 2000+ users 
Description: CoExist is a ratio free music torrent with English music albums. Runs on a heavily customized TBDEV codebase with lots of add-ons.
Full review + More Information: [Click Here]

My Anonamouse  
 
Site Name: My Anonamouse (http://www.myanonamouse.net)
Invite Application URL: http://www.myanonamouse.net/inviteapp.php
Stats: 33000+ users and ~37000 torrents
Description: My Anonamouse is simply one of the best online resources to download audio books. Apart from the tons of AudioBooks, there are quite a few E-books indexed as well. Friendly staff and nice community in addition to great content makes this an excellent private tracker.  
Full review + More Information: [Click Here]

Jambands.Fm 
 
Site Name: Jambands (http://jambands.fm)
Invite request Email: invites[at]jambands[dot]fm (Read this for more information)
Description: Jambands is a new torrent site that focuses on media related to live music and concerts. Runs on Gazelle codebase.
Full review + More Information: [Click Here]

PackMe.In (PiN)
 
Site Name: Packme.in (https://packme.in)
Invite Application URL: https://packme.in/inviteapp.php
Stats: 1175+ packs
Description: Packme.In is a ratio free packs only torrent tracker. You won’t find any individual releases here but if packs is what you are looking for, this is the place to go. 
Full Review: [Click Here]

Wild-Bytes (WB)
 
Site Name: WIld Bytes (http://www.wild-bytes.net)
Invite Application URL: http://www.wild-bytes.net/userapp.php
Description: Wild Bytes is another veteran General/0Day torrent tracker that’s been around for many years.
Full Review: [Click Here] – this review is very old (2008)

FreeTheScene (FTS)
 
Site Name: Free The Scene (http://freethescene.net)
Invite Channel URL: irc://irc.freethescene.net/fts-invite
Stats: 3300+ torrents and 3600+ members
Description: FreeTheScene is a General/0Day torrent tracker based on Gazelle codebase. This site recently went ratio free.
Full Review: [Click Here]

ChronicTracker (CT)
 
Site Name: ChronicTracker (http://www.chronictracker.com)
Invite Channel URL: irc://irc.chronictracker.com/CT.Support
Description: ChronicTracker is a long standing private tracker for general content.
Full Review: [Click Here]

PTFiles
 
Site Name: PTFiles (http://ptfiles.net)
Invite Channel URL: http://ptfiles.net/inviteapp/
Description: PTFiles, which is a reincarnation of now defunct Phoenix-Torrent,is a General/0day torrent tracker indexing scene and non scene content.
Full Review: [Click Here]

bitGAMER (BG)
 
Site Name: bitGamer (http://www.bitgamer.com)
Invite Channel URL: irc://irc.underground-gamer.com/bginvites
Description: bitGAMER is a dedicated games torrent tracker that tracks games for multiple platforms. Currently running on TBDEV codebase but will soon migrate to gazelle.
Full Review: [Click Here]

Underground Gamer (UG)
 
Site Name: Underground Gamer (http://www.underground-gamer.com)
Invite Channel URL: irc://irc.underground-gamer.com/invites
Description: bitGAMER’s sister site. Unlike BG, underground Gamer focuses more on retro games – there’s a good collection of them on this tracker. Includes ROMs & emulation related stuff as well. .

We have in the past posted several similar lists of trackers that give away invites via IRC. However this is an updated post which only includes sites that are currently live and have open invites. Several new trackers have been added, older, inactive ones removed and statistics, invite channel URLs and IRC info have also been updated over the previous articles. Torrent sites that did not wish to be publicly named were not included in the article. If you know any other sites that engage in IRC/invite applications recruitment, feel free to share the info in comments.

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If you were a member of the popular Electronic music torrent tracker Elektronik.ro, here’s some bad news – in fact, its the worst kind of news that could be associated with a BitTorrent tracker. ELEK is shutting down and it’s unlikely that the site will ever return. A news post on the homepage cites ‘obvious reasons’ as the cause for shutdown – however, we’re not quite sure what those obvious reasons might be. The site did not seem to have any donation issues and it’s unlikely that they ran into legal trouble. However a bad hosting provider could be a fine guess as ELEK suffered from frequent downtimes in the past couple of months. Either way this tracker will be missed by it’s loyal members – this definitely was one of the best places on the net to find and download EDM (Electronic Dance Music).

Quoted below is the full announcement posted on site homepage:

a few days ago we decided to close elektronik, so here we are.
as you can see, all the torrents and torrents related content are unavailable.
forum and shoutbox are still opened and will stay like this for a while, so if you need to contact other users, now's the time to do it.
chances for elektronik to come back are very slim to none for reasons that were obvious in the last period.
that's about it.
thanks a lot for this great community.
thanks to all those people that helped us.
/elektronik staff (marrat, Sebi, derek, Eddie, frigideru, Lebe)

Although the site is currently online, most of the functionality has already been axed as mentioned in the new post.

Elektronik is one of the oldest private music trackers and has been online since mid 2005. If memory serves correct, the site tracked around 15000 active torrents before the shut down. It’s too bad the site won’t be around for it’s fifth birthday which would have been in just a couple more months. R.I.P. ELEK, thanks for the music.

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As most of you know, we conducted our first Blackcats games referral giveaway about 10 days ago. Just like we promised, we have now sent out 500 free referrals to the first 500 qualifying requests that were sent to us. Since the number of requests we received easily surpassed 1500, many were left stranded without an invite. Here’s the good news – we’ll be giving away 500 more BCG referrals and the second giveaway would start sometime tomorrow (and you will be notified via a separate article when it does). But before we move on to the next giveaway, we’d like to address some common issues that were reported with the first. We would also like to hear your suggestions on how to improve the whole process – there will be many more invite giveaways on FILEnetworks in the future (other than BCG) and we’d like to make them as convenient as possible for our readers.

One of the most common issues that was reported to us (with BCG) was the expiration of referral codes. BCG referral codes expire after 6 hours since generation - this unfortunately is a matter beyond our control. The code expiry mechanism is a core function of BCG’s referral system (which I'm sure was never designed with public giveaways through a blog in mind) and it would be unfair to ask them to change the system as it would then affect all of the site’s 30000 users and not just the set of referrals given to us. However, we did take some steps to improve your chance with code expiry:

Referrals were given in batches of 125. Real time Notices were given via our Facebook and Twitter feeds about one hour before we started sending out the E-mails. Notifications were again sent after each batch of referrals was done sending. Those who subscribed to our FB and Twitter feeds got an ~8 hour window instead of the usual 6 hour period. We will be improving this process and for the second giveaway and our FB and Twitter followers will have the option to get notified via an SMS sent directly to your mobile (read this post for more information).

• Follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/filenetworks
• Folow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/filenetworks

We know that this still does not solve all of the issues (such as those associated with time zone differences which again are beyond our control) but if you have any suggestions on how this process can be further improved, please feel free to comment. We cannot guarantee all of your suggestions will be implemented as we have limitations of our own but we’ll definitely do our best.

Note that none of the requests you sent for the first giveaway will be valid for the second. If you want to re-apply for a referral you’ll have to send a fresh request based on the guidelines given in the second giveaway article (which is yet to go live). Further instructions on how and what to send in the request will also be given in the post tomorrow. Until then, use this thread to post your suggestions. Please do not litter this with invitation requests as this clearly is not the time or place to do that.

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Since we were talking about R5 movie release dates earlier, here’s a forum that you can use to check for updated R5 dates yourself. PeerAccess (formerly known as TorrentGeek) is a discussion forum which focuses on multiple topics including BitTorrent, direct downloads and several other themes related to online file sharing in general. Among the site’s many forum categories is a section dedicated to movie release dates. This section seems to be frequently updated and well maintained. PeerAcces however is not merely a discussion forum. It offers direct download links for a limited number of movies too. In fact, this site is home to P2P relase group T0XiC, a team of encoders who have released several CAM, TS and DVDRip movies.

PeerAccess is not one of those huge forums where there are thousands of members - It’s a small community which’s existence is largely in the unknown. However, the administration seems to be a determined bunch who want to recruit more members and increase site activity.

As for the threads you’ll find on PeerAccess, the site deals with multiple topics. Most of the discussions are focused on private torrent trackers, open signups, tracker reviews, bonus points giveaways and so on. However, one of the main attractions of PA is it’s release dates section. This is where you can find updated R5, R1, R2 DVD release dates for popular movies.

These threads seem to be updated and cleaned up at least once a week. In addition, PA is home to TOXiC – a p2p release group who are responsible for leaking several movies online. PA indexes direct download links to most (if not all) T0XiC releases (and there is a thread where you can apply and become an encoder of the group). DDL Links for several non-TOXIC releases are indexed in the ‘Browser Torrents’ section of the site.

Registrations for PeerAccess are currently open. It may not be the most active forum out there as it’s still in the growing phase. You can check the site out for yourself by creating an account.

Site Name: PeerAccess (http://peeraccess.info)

Signup URL: http://peeraccess.info/register

Special thanks to jacko for the head’s up.

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We’ve been posting regular updates about R5 movie DVD release dates in the past couple of months. However, it’s not very easy to predict the exact launch date of a movie as these releases often get pushed around, postponed, etc due to last minute decisions by publishers. Here’s an updated, more accurate list of R5 release dates for the months of June, July and August 2010 – this list includes more movies & corrected dates compared to our last update located here. In addition to R5, release dates for several Blu Ray movies are also listed. Some of you might ask why knowing when the R5 would be out is important. Over the past couple of years R5 has become one of the ‘early video sources’ for scene and P2P groups who leak movies online  – the release of an R5 DVD means that a watchable pirated copy of the same movie is just around the corner.

R5 Release Dates

June 2010

• Preacher’s Kid – 1^st June 2010
• Everybody’s Fine – 1^st June 2010 (Second Date)
• Alice in Wonderland – 1^st June 2010
• Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps – 3^rd June 2010
• Love at First Hiccup – 9^th June 2010
• My Name Is Khan – 10^th June 2010
• Date Night – 10^th June 2010 (Second Date)
• When in Rome – 15^th June 2010
• Valentines Day – 15^th June 2010 (Second Date)
• Flicka 2 – June 17^th 2010
• The Wolfman – 22^nd June 2010
• The Book of Eli – 24^th June 2010
• Cop Out – June 2010
• The Lovely Bones – June 2010
• Invictus – June 2010

July 2010

• Marmaduke – 1^st July 2010
• The A-Team – 8^th July 2010
• Love and Other Impossible Pursuits – July 29^th 2010
• Please Give – July 29^th 2010
• Clash of the Titans – July 2010
• Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang – July 2010
• Green Zone – July 2010
• She’s Out of My League – July 2010
• An Invisible Sign of My Own – July 2010
• All’s Faire in Love – July 2010

August 2010

• Knight and Day – 5^th August 2010
• Predators – 12^th August 2010
• Unthinkable – 19^th August 2010
• A Nightmare on Elm Street – August 2010
• Clash of the Titans – August 2010
• Animals United – August 2010
• She’s Out of My League – August 2010
• Cop Out – August 2010
• Love and Other Impossible Pursuits – August 2010 (Second Date)

Blu-Ray Release Dates

June 2010

• My Name Is Khan – 17^th June 2010
• Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief – 17^th June 2010
• The Lovely Bones – June 2010
• The Wolfman – June 2010

July 2010

• Clash of the Titans – July 2010
• Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang – July 2010
• Green Zone – July 2010
• Get Him to the Greek – July 2010

August 2010

• Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps – 26^th August 2010
• A Nightmare on Elm Street – August 2010

Note : Information above was quoted from Sam’s Blog, which is an excellent resource that often features regularly updated lists of movie release dates.

Again, please note that dates mentioned here are subject to change. Movie studios change release schedules for various reasons and sometimes releases get pushed back by several months. Also, some of the R5’s scheduled to be released in June 2010 have already been leaked in various other forms such as DVDSCR, BRRip, R1 DVDRip etc).

Related Articles

• R5 Movie Release Dates For Year 2010
• R5 Movie Release Dates For May, June, July & August 2010

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I’m not really sure if there are folks around here who still aren’t members of the popular semi private BitTorrent tracker Demonoid. Since our old Demonoid invitation code giveaway threads still get requests, I’m assuming there are and hence this post. Demonoid is currently open for registrations and you can now get in without the need for an invite code. This usually happens once a month and it’s a window of opportunity for those who can’t find someone who’ll invite them into the site. Anyways this hugely popular BitTorrent tracker is a must have for any torrent fan, regardless of the fact if you are into private trackers or not. Demonoid has all sorts of content including stuff not usually found on the average general BT site and this includes comic books, audiobooks, old movies, game rips and lots of other files.

As of 6/3/2010, Demonoid currently indexes 275000+ torrents making it one of the largest indexers on the planet. However, it’s not merely a torrent indexer – Demonoid has it’s own BitTorrent tracker (inferno.demonoid.com) which tracks almost all of the indexed torrents. Being a semi private BitTorrent site, don’t expect the download speeds to be as fast as private trackers but most of the torrents are healthy and have enough leechers/seeders to keep them going thanks to the site’s huge user base (Alexa rank : 524). Anyways registrations are open and get in if you don’t have an account.

Site Name: Demonoid (http://www.demonoid.com)

Registration URL: http://www.demonoid.com/register.php

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One of the plus sides of a major BitTorrent tracker or a torrent indexer going down is that this often leads to the birth of innovative new sites which serve a similar purpose. Kickasstorrents, now one of the most popular torrent indexers on the web, rose to fame during much darker times for several large BitTorrent sites (closure of Mininova, The Pirate Bay and IsoHunt’s legal issues and so on). Good thing about KickassTorrents is that it hasn’t stopped improving the user experience even after gaining so much traffic. The site’s developers have constantly been adding new features to KT and now it’s without a doubt one of the most user friendly & feature rich public torrent indexers in existence today. In case you haven't been following the news, here’s a summary of new features and enhancements introduced to KT over the last couple of weeks:

User achievements – KT now has an achievements system in place which rewards active members. All site activity including visiting the site, searching, downloading ,etc is counted by the new system. A full list of available achievements (currently 62) may be found on this page. A list of badges a particular user has achieved is listed on his/her profile page.

Add to favorites – Adding a torrent to favorites is now easier than ever. All you need to do is to open the torrent description page and click on the ‘Heart’ symbol next to its name. Favorited torrents are accessible from the Bookmarks section of the site.

Audio/video quality – How many times have you seen folks rating movie torrents with comments such as “Audio 8/Video 10”? KT has automated this process by adding two new buttons to the comment form for movie torrents. The values you put in these drop downs will be automatically integrated to the comment you make.

Kickass Media Browser – This feature is currently available for TV show & movie torrents. It’s basically a sidebar widget that displays extended information and related links for files tracked by the torrent. The media browser also allows you to subscribe to any movie or TV Show and get updates when a new rip or series is uploaded.

The Download Sign – This is a small icon of an arrow that appears next to a username in torrent comments. The presence of this arrow near a commenter's name means that person  actually downloaded the torrent. It’s a good way to identify folks who trash torrents without downloading them first.

Follow Uploader Feature – A great feature where you can follow your favorite uploaders and get notified about their new uploads instantly. You can follow and uploader from their profile page.

Kickass Fake Finder – You can now check a torrent’s integrity by comparing its hash values. This beta feature available through the KT API may be accessed from this page.

User reputation – A ‘rep’ system is now in place where you can add or remove rep points for a user’s activity on site. You can add/remove points using the +/- present next to a user’s comment, etc. The total number of reputation points for a particular user is displayed on their profile page.

Search trends  - A special page where you can see the most popular searches on KickassTorrents. Includes weekly rankings for search keywords, calendar & more. The Search Trends page is located here.

Kickass People – This page is dedicated to the Kickass crew. Lists profiles for Admins, Mods, Super Mods and Uploaders all in one page. Kickass People page is located here.

Kickass Torrents Lite – A lite version of KT that’s optimized for speed. Features just a search bar and and loads in a snap. KT Lite may be accessed from this location.

One click login through Facebook – Despite having a rocky relationship with Facebook, KT now supports one click login to the site with Facebook connect.

[Click Here] to visit KickassTorrents homepage

Related Articles

• 17 BitTorrent Trackers and Indexers That May Replace Mininova
• Pirate Bay alternatives – 12 BitTorrent trackers that could replace TPB

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