Thread: What.cd (What) Review

What.cd is absolutely awesome if you are interested in music that is not mainstream. Waffles is a very good tracker, but for obscure releases in for instance the neofolk or apocalyptic folk genre, I haven't had much success with Waffles. What.cd has a lot more to offer in that regard. I am also very fond of there being much more options with regards to classifications when you upload an album to What compared to Waffles - the effect seems to be that people tend to be more careful with cataloguing their uploads. Moreover, in What, for instance, log files for your rips are automatically checked and you will know whether your rip is perfectly in accordance with the regulations or not.



As for seeding, it's true that it takes some determination and thought to build ratio on What. I was a bit perplexed at first when I saw myself constantly being outseeded on a seedbox, despite quickly jumping on new, soon-to-be popular torrents. So I had to get myself a few strategies. Apart from the obvious, which is upload, I auto-download but put a lot of effort into making good filters (in accordance with my own tastes). It has worked really well so far; and combined with seeding everything I have downloaded, I now manage to upload about 1GB every 24 hours. Waffles in comparison, I never had to find a particular strategy, it's IMO much easier to have and maintain a good ratio (although I am a pretty new member of Waffles and was lucky to experience the freeleech - so maybe my views are a bit skewed).

I also want to point out that What.cd's tutorial section of the forum has a wealth of information as well, from ripping to "pimping" your seedbox.

Originally Posted by JMC08

When were the last few times What has had Free Leech?

I've only been a member for a few months, but I don't think they have a site-wide freeleechs very often. They had a "staff picks" freeleech about a month ago and I think they do neutral leeches from time to time.

Why is it so much harder to seed on What than on Waffles?

Originally Posted by lastop41

Why is it so much harder to seed on What than on Waffles?

I am not a member of What, just Waffles. In my opinion, the main reason it is so much harder to seed on What then it is Waffles, is that What is so much larger then Waffles, with regard to the number of torrents it has. Therefore, it makes it that much harder to find a CD that you own, that is not on What that you can rip and upload. On Waffles, becoming a PU is based on stats (regardless of whether you got them by actually ripping and upload content yourself), on What I believe, you have to literally upload 5 rips to become a PU, so that in itself is going to put some slight pressure on the userbase to add unique content. Also, Waffles seems to be a little more generous with with freeleech. So forcing the userbase to actually upload something to be PU and very rare Freeleeches undoubtedly results in a huge number of torrents added to the site and makes What the giant it is.

When I was deciding which W to join back in february, the only reason I chose Waffles over What was because I knew What was so much larger then Waffles and therefore, it would be easier to find albums that I had that wasn't on Waffles and also, around that time What had a donation fiasco, which was a turn off.

I just got my first Seedbox last week and I have been thinking about joining What because I am always asking my friends to look up albums on What for me because they are not on Waffles and most of the time they will be on What. I just don't feel like trying to play the "ratio" game at yet another tracker and What is "legendary" for being so difficult to seed.

A dirty little secret is a lot of times, people that are members of both Ws will look for an album on both sites and if they find it on Waffles, they will download it there because it is so much easier to seed on Waffles lol.

Your dirty little secret is right. Also you're right that is very hard to find something to upload on What that not already exists. Scene music torrents are very fast uploaded too.

Comparing What with Waffles, What as a really huge collection of music, in all formats and they are very organized (I love gazelle); But Waffles is much more accessible and I prefer Waffles over What because of that and because on Waffles @320 torrents are much more downloaded than V0 torrents, which is opposite on What.

Anyway, in my opinion, both are must have trackers.