Piracy

After a decade of being a law abiding citizen and paying customer of every streaming service between here and the moon, I’ve given it all up and come back to the high seas.
It’s all being split up between more and more services with ever growing prices.
If they make it hard to be a customer, I’d rather not be one.

So I grabbed myself a NAS, set up all relevant .ARRs and am torrenting again.
What trackers do you guys with experience recommend?
Are the free ones still good enough or do I need to cry my way into a private one?
The NAS is running 24/7 so I will be a good seeder, so if anybody has an invite to a good private tracker I’d be very happy to contribute to it.

Thank you in advance Gentlepeople!

Does anyone know of a site that I can use to stream live shows that are on streaming services like peacock? For example, the Dan Patrick show is live every day on there but a lot of the tv streaming sites I’ve found don’t have peacock or any other streaming service, just traditional tv channels

As Funimation drama unravels, here's a reminder for you that yt-dlp is able to download Funimation videos. Use that opportunity to preserve your collections before they're gone! (and keep them forever and ever)

Credits to humble jbk@discuss.tchncs.de who brought that up!

So I've heard that this is the best website for watching movies, as it doesn't have any ads and doesnt redirect you anywhere or anything like that. However, the site plays videos from other sites, which do contain malware, and I've heard that you can get a virus from simply playing a video online. So while movie-web itself won't give you a virus, will playing a movie on it give you one (assuming you don't have an adblocker)? Thanks.

So a bunch of people in this subreddit told me that uTorrent was trash and to switch to QBitTorrent.

I didn't think much of it. How could one be so much better than the other? They're both just torrent downloaders.

Holy shit was I wrong. I don't even really understand what is happening, but downloading torrents on QBitTorrent is so, so, so much faster and I don't even understand how.

A movie downloads in basically seconds compared to 10 or 20 minutes on uTorrent.

Why is this? What is this magic? What makes QBitTorrent so much faster?

Also would like to find a good site for audio books.

Credit: u/No-Refrigerator9154

Opening Notes (important stuff, please read)

This configuration of the Stremio app will allow you to stream movies/TV from most devices, with the exception being IOS devices such as the iPhone and iPad. If you want to stream from those devices, this guide is not for you.

You can use this Stremio configuration to stream movies/TV on most other platforms, including Windows, Mac, Android, FireOS (includes Fire Stick and Fire TV), Linux, AndroidTV, and even the Steam Deck.

However, the Stremio setup guide will require that you use a Windows, Mac, Linux, or Android device. Please don't attempt the setup steps on another device.

Additional information for FireOS (includes Fire Stick and Fire TV) and Linux devices is located below the Stremio setup guide, but you need to go through the Stremio setup guide beforehand with a required device (Refer to previous bullet point).

Stremio Setup Guide

Part 1: Stremio

For Windows/Mac users - Go to https://www.stremio.com/ and download the relevant client for your platform

For Android users - Install Stremio through the Google Play Store: Stremio - Apps on Google Play

Open Stremio and sign up with email or Facebook

Part 2: Real Debrid

Go to https://real-debrid.com/

Sign up

Go to Premium Offers

Choose a package and subscribe. I found that using Amazon Pay as the payment method is the most convenient (if you have an Amazon account)

Part 3: Torrentio

Go to Torrentio Lite - Stremio Addon

Towards the bottom of the page, select the "Debrid Provider" option and select "Real Debrid" from the drop-down menu. This will cause a new text box to appear underneath.

Copy the API key from this link https://real-debrid.com/apitoken and paste it into the "RealDebrid API Key**"** box

In the Debrid Options menu: Check the box "Don't show download to debrid links" and leave the other boxes unchecked.

Click "Install" at the bottom. It should open the Stremio app and prompt you with an "Install Addon" window. Click the green install button at the bottom.

Optional but highly Recommended - In Stremio, click the puzzle piece in the top right to view your addons. Click "My Addons" and uninstall the "WatchHub" addon. It's an eyesore and it clutters your streams list.

Now that you have completed the setup, you may install Stremio on any device of your choice (excluding IOS) and log in to your account to start streaming Movies/TV. Refer to the section below for Stremio installation on FireOS devices (Fire Stick, FireTV).

FireOS devices (Fire Stick, FireTV)

After you have gone through the setup on another device, watch this video on how to install Stremio on your FireOS device https://youtu.be/U1o-scADuIg and then log into your account in the Stremio app. At this point you're good to stream. It will download everything that you just set up and sync your shows across all devices. However, some FireOS devices may not be capable of 4k streaming.

Edit 10/16/2023 - if you are on firestick, make sure to download the Android TV apk from the Stremio downloads section. The youtube video linked above was created before Stremio had an Android TV version. The UI is much improved over the base android UI for use on a smart tv.

Linux

At the time of making this guide, I had issues in the setup process on Linux but I'm pretty sure that was my fault for having weird defaults on my Arch install. You should be able to complete the setup process on Linux without issues and streaming is guaranteed to work. In the case that you run into issues, Just complete the setup steps on a recommended device first, then install and log into the Stremio app on your Linux device.

Additional information

YOU DO NOT NEED A VPN.

Account sharing: You should only share your Stremio account with people who are connected to the same WiFi network as you. If you do not follow this rule, your Real Debrid account may be suspended.

Bugs/Glitches:

Sometimes, an episode of a show or a movie will display "No streams found" even though it should be available. This has only happened to me a handful of times, but the problem will resolve itself eventually.

If the picture is black but the audio is still playing, you should go back and select a stream with a different resolution.

Issue: No streams are appearing at all, or none of them work. Here are the possible explanations:

Your Real Debrid Subscription has expired. Go to Real-Debrid and check your account status.

Real Debrid servers are down/undergoing maintenance. Wait an hour or so, and then try again.

You made a mistake while following the guide. My DMs are open if you can't figure it out. I'll probably try to help.

Credit to u/OnlyTheCruxes for most of this stuff because I kinda just copied their guide and added more detail based on my own personal experience with the setup process (Original guide: Installing Stremino + Torrentio + Real Debird )

I haven't had anything to do with windows in like 5+ years. I need to set up a laptop with it for someone tomorrow, I'm guessing W11 is nowadays recommended? what's currently the best option for a hassle free experience (no ads, no random game installs, no migrations to onedrive, etc)?

last time I did it, I used the W10 ISO from Microsoft, applied the hwidsomething and ran some debloater from github. back then there were some ~~ESR~~ LTSC ISOs available on torrent sites, is that still a thing?

the install is going to use firefox, chrome, skype, libreoffice, etc., they all autoupdate themselves, so it's going to be reasonably secure. what's my best bet for a set & forget situation? thanks.

rather than this stupid fucking snip snap game where, instead of, as a user being able to buy into a company that's building a massive, marvelous, library-of-alexandria-core archive of every good show ever made, you're paying into some shitty ephemeral bullshit made by stupid greedy dickheads who have no fucking sense

I am on board the high seas again and would love to use it instead of netflix/disney/prime and what not. I would love to just download “100 true crime documentaries” or something similar. I have set up jellyfin, now I just need and easy way to dump content. Any suggestions?

I'm looking for a good, reliable way to download embedded YouTube videos. These videos are not always accessible on YouTube.com, so the method can't be specific to that site. Thanks for any recommendations!

So, I have a pretty big games collection on steam and the majority of these games are offline single player games.

And sometimes I fear just losing access to all of them !

I had quit piracy entirely in the 2010s during the golden age of streaming, but now I'm increasingly alienated from it all.

I could hunt down the crack for each and every single game I own but I would like to know, is there a better way ?

Could I just crack my offline steam library and play my games offline forever ?

I've used these sites in the past to get around article paywalls, but for weeks now I haven't been able to get past the captcha. I fill it out correctly and it just reloads. Anyone else having this issue? Know a good alternative?

I am currently studying Mathematics and Physics and there are a lot of questions which aren't available on Chegg, so I was wondering if there was an way to get these answers without actually paying up for the subscription.

https://homeworkify.eu/ helps! but it's rather lengthy. I mean, I have to give it my email and prove that I am a human, open email and then click on the link to get a solution. Is there an easier way?

I am going sailing....

I can't believe how people can commit such heinous sin by suggesting garbage websites like [movie-web.app]. Someone did this to me this morning and I was absolutely ~~thankful~~ enraged.

edit: Libation apps needs you to give it your amazon password and ID, it's foss and I trust it. (editing because seemed important)

Amazon allows you to download the book from Audible, but you need a code/password or something like that to read it. Libation can basically convert these encrypted files into decrypted mp3 files by getting this code from the website, I am pretty sure you can get it too. So, my question is, why aren't there more pirates pirating audiobooks? Why isn't every audiobook on audible available online for free?

I mean, many are, but why is it not more prevalent?

I want to give something back to the community and I was wondering if there was any way to share a file (to pirates) so that it won't be traced back to me? What precautions should I take? Is there metadata attached to the file? How does your computer remember a modification date and date create, is it embedded into it?

I am talking about audiobooks btw, I have downloaded a ton of audiobooks and I want to send it somewhere where others can download it for free after an internet search. So yeah, I do want to make it untraceable. But for this scenario, you are free to assume that I have the nuclear codes or a new virus genome (I wonder which one is deadlier)

I was just browsing some torrents lately and anything that isn't on a torrent is on a website like rapidgator. Rapidgator is ok if you downloading audiobooks, but why aren't more people using OnionShare to send and receive files? I haven't used it and I don't know it's limitations, but if I ever wanted a file which was shared over it, I would spring into action and install it.

So yeah, why?

I am talking about downloading to my disk not to Spotify App. Now, is there a way to download songs you like in their highest quality? Zorify and Spot-Dl requires spotify premium and YT-music premium respectively if I am not wrong. What are my options now?

I am downloading rather long podcasts (1-2 hours) so It would be worth it if there is a website or a package which lists popular podcasts.

I realize there is our lord and savior https://sci-hub.se/ but I could not find some academic articles and books over there. I am assuming it's mostly academic papers about STEM subjects? I am looking towards pirating literature papers from academia.edu

Any clue how I can do this? I am feeling not so great about torrents anymore. I mean, I love em still, but for topics with low numbers of seeders like literature and books, it's hard to procure them through piratebay.

So yeah! I want academic articles, books, pdf everything that is published and is hidden behind a paywall, how can I get this?

Also, I am using Tor to ask these questions, how well does it hide my identity? I haven't given lemmy.ml my email either. So, my existence here is truly virtual tbh!

I realize libgen also has audiobooks, but they are not that many over there. (Trust me bro! I searched)

So I was wondering if there were websites like those to download pirated audiobooks (and perhaps request audiobooks). Do we have any such communities here? I remember audiobay community on reddit had a feature to request books.

I'm a pretty heavy torrent user, running a media server complete with sonarr/radarr for automatic downloads. I download a lot, and have multiple TBs of upload on various private trackers. I've been torrenting forever, but I've always wondered about usenet. Over and over on this, and other, forums I see people saying that usenet is way better - but why?

I understand what it is overall, but what makes it better than traditional torrenting? In my mind, it's always just seemed like a different means to the same end. I pay for a VPN and torrent for "free", or I pay for usenet access and download directly from there. As someone who's "snobby" around the quality of the stuff I torrent, does usenet provide an advantage there?

Usenet fans, I'd love to hear what makes you love it! I'm always open to trying new things, and if It really is better I'd love to know why! (Plus, maybe what providers/tools etc you recommend).