What.CD
Private BitTorrent tracker (2007–2016)
Why this is trending
Interest in “What.CD” spiked on Wikipedia on 2026-02-25.
Categorised under Entertainment, this article fits a familiar pattern. Entertainment topics frequently surge on Wikipedia following major media events, premieres, or unexpected celebrity developments.
At GlyphSignal we surface these trending signals every day—transforming Wikipedia’s vast pageview data into actionable insights about global curiosity.
Key Takeaways
- CD was a private, invitation-only music BitTorrent tracker and community launched in 2007.
- CD was founded on the day of Oink's Pink Palace's closure in October 2007.
- In 2008, the Canadian Recording Industry Association asked now-defunct Moxie Colo, then What.
- The company refused, saying, "We will not be following the request and will be fighting for the rights of our clients as—to date—laws in Canada protect them.
- Earlier that year, the site released Volume One.
What.CD was a private, invitation-only music BitTorrent tracker and community launched in 2007. The site was shut down on 17 November 2016, after French authorities seized the site's servers.
History
What.CD was founded on the day of Oink's Pink Palace's closure in October 2007. In November 2007, many site users received a hoax email purporting to be from the Recording Industry Association of America threatening to press charges for illegal downloads.
In 2008, the Canadian Recording Industry Association asked now-defunct Moxie Colo, then What.CD's host, to take down several tracker sites, including What.CD. The company refused, saying, "We will not be following the request and will be fighting for the rights of our clients as—to date—laws in Canada protect them." In October, the site released "The What CD Volume 2", a compilation album of artists that contributed to the site. Earlier that year, the site released Volume One.
In December 2008, What.CD and Open Your Eyes Records formed a partnership in which the record label would exclusively distribute new releases on the tracker.
In 2010, CNET.com reported that a teenage boy had gained access to playMPE.com (MPE meaning Music Protection by Encryption), an industry website used by music labels to share music with radio stations, by posing as an Australian music critic. He subsequently uploaded a number of unreleased albums to What.CD.
In September 2010, What.CD debuted a new lightweight tracker called "Ocelot". The lightweight tracker used only 3GB of RAM to power over five million peers.
In December 2010, What.CD's collection reached one million torrents, a record for a private BitTorrent tracker.
Throughout early 2014, the site was subject to a severe and prolonged DDoS attack, causing intermittent tracker downtime and limiting many of the site's services.
Content sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0
