What's a similarly-functioning alternative to mininova.org for finding torrents?

July 4, 2009 2:18 PM

What's a similarly-functioning alternative to mininova.org for finding torrents?

I have loved using mininova in the past because it has a nice, simple layout and easy-to-find comments for each torrent which always help determine reliability. However, the people behind that site have adopted some new policies lately and a lot of the torrents I'm interested in don't stay listed on the site for long anymore.

I don't really enjoy using The Pirate Bay, and it seems they are on a similar path now/soon anyhow. Isohunt is familiar to me, but that site is leaps and bounds behind mininova in terms of simple usability, and hardly anyone comments on torrents there.

I use the private site TVTorrents to find TV shows (and yes, I have a few invites available, please feel free to ask me.) and I'd be very interested in finding similar sites that have a specific focus like movies or music.

To boil it down: what's your favourite torrent indexer/tracker and do they make it easy to navigate and evaluate torrents?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions and/or advice!

posted by chudmonkey to computers & internet (22 comments total)

I use Demonoid almost exclusively. I have invites, so feel free to message me if you're interested.
posted by alligatorman at 2:30 PM on July 4 [2 favorites has favorites]

I use EZTV for all my TVshow needs. They're a release group and don't run their own tracker, but their website is nicely organized and they link to all their releases on the trackers they upload to. The website is currently down while they switch to a new server, but they're still making all their releases available.

And I'd love any invites to Demonoid people have :)
posted by Arbac at 2:34 PM on July 4

Of course, the whole point of private trackers is that they're private. :-) Rules 1 and 2 and all that.

But I will say that hanging around other pirates on IRC is a good way to find invites. And reading a site like torrentfreak.com is good for keeping up on which trackers to avoid at least (i.e. any big ones that make the news = lawsuits, shutdowns, IP logs handed over).
posted by wastelands at 2:38 PM on July 4

Coda.fm is great for music (whole albums). The selection is pretty solid, but I've found that eMule is pretty essential for anything the least bit obscure that can't sustain a torrent. Coda's layout is nice and clean and you can just page backwards in time by genre to sweep up lots of torrents.
posted by cowbellemoo at 3:01 PM on July 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

I think often it's easier to find trackers that have specific kinds of content (motorsports, porn, tv shows). Speaking of which, can I piggyback on this and ask if anyone has a RU invite?
posted by danny the boy at 3:04 PM on July 4

Type "search term here" filetype:torrent into Google.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 3:10 PM on July 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

I use demonoid and eztv pretty exclusively. When that fails, I google "name of thing" torrent. When google fails, a somewhat acceptable program to search a number of sites is Torrent Harvester.
posted by jeather at 3:20 PM on July 4

I'd like to thank everyone for their input so far, and also report that I am out of TVTorrents invites for now.
posted by chudmonkey at 3:24 PM on July 4

Tokyo Toshokan for anime.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 3:26 PM on July 4

danny the boy do you have a pointer to a good motorsports tracker?
posted by Mitheral at 3:43 PM on July 4

Also BakaBT for anime. You have to join, but it doesn't require an invite and doesn't cost anything. All they really require is that you upload about as much as you download when using their torrents.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 4:03 PM on July 4

If you're into British TV there is TheBox, which is excellent and richly stocked with British content. They ask for a decent ratio but also make it very easy to keep one. I have invites, PM me if you're interested!
posted by Billegible at 6:32 PM on July 4

For WRC there is WRCtorrents.com

But, the main place you want to get into is Racing Underground. They're by far the largest and most complete tracker for motorsports. Unfortunately they are invite-only. My account expired before they locked the gates, so I don't have access anymore. I need to inquire with a friend to see if she has an invite for me; otherwise if you're part of any racing forums that might be a good place to look (although don't join just to ask, you'll get booted).
posted by danny the boy at 7:06 PM on July 4

If you want comments & ratings, you can't do better than BT Junkie. They don't really specialize in TV shows though, so depending on what files you're looking for they may not be the best fit on that score. If you run across any more TVTorrents invites, keep me in mind.
posted by scalefree at 8:05 PM on July 4

ScrapeTorrent is a decent meta search engine.

Demonoid's semi-public/semi-private structure means they keep old stuff longer than some of the other public only torrent sites.

+1 The Box for British TV.

BakaBT looks good for anime - I believe they're the old BoxTorrents.com that no longer exists. (my old login still worked).

ElbitZ is great for educational materials of all kinds.

D-Addicts is great for all kinds of east asian (chinese, japanese, korean) shows - frequently with subtitles.

The Poker Bay for gambling materials.

(I can trade invites for any of the above & a few more for TVTorrents or other invites.)
posted by MesoFilter at 8:38 AM on July 5

Or, skip the torrents directly and get an EasyNews account.
posted by purephase at 9:11 AM on July 5

Yes, BakaBT is BoxTorrents. There was a palace coup, but as far as users are concerned it's one and the same.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:16 PM on July 5

I want to thank everyone again for the links and invite offers. I'm happy that it seems as though several people were able to take away from this thread; in that spirit I'll report that several MeFites have asked me for TVTorrents invites I can't provide. If you're a TVT member who has an invite to spare, mefimail me and I'll put you in touch with a needy recipient. =)
posted by chudmonkey at 5:24 PM on July 5

I've found Seedpeer has categories that suit my searching needs, and a nice tag cloud on the front page. Movies and music are all categorized, with a large list of genres. Not many comments though. Currently allowing new members.
_{PS: Would it be a no-no to add a 'Me Too' for the Demonoid invites?}
posted by Hardcore Poser at 8:01 PM on July 5 [1 favorite has favorites]

Oops - ignore that 'Currently allowing new members' remark in my previous comment; I was thinking of another specialized site that I was just on called UKnova.

BTW, if you're looking for any British TV or radio, that's the place.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 8:07 PM on July 5

http://torrentz.com
or
http://vertor.com

Both of these torrent search engines list verified torrents from well-established groups. Vertor even shows you screenshots and/or sample MP3s.
posted by icheyne at 2:28 AM on July 8

I always thought Isohunt was pretty good, but sometimes slow to load.
posted by P.o.B. at 2:25 AM on July 10