Hello! Thanks for your interest in joining What.cd's private BitTorrent community. I am going to ask you questions regarding your willingness to join What.cd, your internet connection, your previous experience with BitTorrent, and your knowledge of audio encoding.

Please answer the questions in order with the matching number of the question. Otherwise I will not count your answer. IRC has a line length limit; keep your answers within 3-4 sentences, or use multiple lines with the ENTER or RETURN key. Do not copy any outside sources (e.g. Google) for your answer. Use *YOUR* words from what you know.

Section 1: This is a set of preliminary questions to check if you have enough general knowledge to continue with the test. If you fail any question in this section, then you need to retake the test. You have 3 chances to be interviewed for an invite.
1. What internet connection do you have? I will verify your answer to your Speedtest results you posted during !queue.
2. Which conversions are acceptable without being an overall poor lossy transcode? No more than one (1) lossless to lossy transcode is allowed to take place. Assume all conversions came from a high quality CDDA (CD) source. Answer Y (YES) for an acceptable conversion or N (NO) for an unacceptable conversion to the following:
a. Source -> 256 MP3
b. Source -> 192 MP3 -> 224 MP3
c. Source -> FLAC
d. Source -> 192 MP3 -> FLAC
e. Source -> APE -> FLAC
f. Source -> -q6 Vorbis (Ogg) -> 320 MP3
g. Source -> V0 MP3 -> APE -> ALAC (M4A)
h. Source -> FLAC -> CDDA (CD) -> APE
i. Source -> APE -> WAV -> V2 MP3
j. Source -> 320 MP3 -> 192 VBR AAC (.M4A) -> CDDA (CD)

Section 2: Congrats! You've passed the first part. I am going to ask you few questions about who you are and why you want to join What.cd.
1. Why are you interested in becoming a What member? Where did you hear of this site?
2. Where did you hear about this IRC channel? If online, please provide a link.
3. How often do you plan on using the site?
4. If you fail this test, are you willing to try again?
5. How big is your music collection? Which formats do you like to keep your music in? (Example: CD, vinyl, tape, MP3 files, etc.)

Section 3: Grrrrreat! I want to know about your prior computer and BitTorrent experience.
1. What operating system(s) do you use?
2. Which BitTorrent client(s) do you use?
3. Do you have experience creating and uploading torrents? Briefly explain to me how you make a torrent if you do.
4. Are you a member of any other private trackers? If you are, copy/paste the link to your profile. If I am not a member of those sites, please take a screenshot of your profile and post the link.
5. If you rip CDs, which program do you use? Do you normally select for any options such as "jitter correction," "secure mode," or "full, paranoia mode" when ripping?

Section 4: All right. This is the final and perhaps most difficult section of this interview. I will ask you technical questions about audio files. Almost there...
1. What is a lossy codec? Name some formats.
2. What is a lossless codec? Name some formats.
3. What is the main difference between a CBR and VBR MP3?
4. Why are there no 320 VBR MP3 files?
5. Give me the name of an MP3 encoder.
6. Which transcodes (conversions) are acceptable? Give an example.
7. Which transcodes (conversions) are unacceptable? Give an example.
8. Suppose you downloaded some songs that you thought were transcodes. How would you detect them? Be as detailed as possible.
9. Which of the following pictures is a lossy -> lossy transcode? a) http://i35.tinypic.com/r1ixrl.jpg or b) http://i36.tinypic.com/qx6x5w.png ? Why do you think it's the one you chose? (Hint: Compare the shape of the spectrograms.)


Welcome, My Name is Plinks, i will be conducting an interview to see if you are capable of receiving an invite to What.Cd
If you do not pass the first time, you can retake it in 48hours. After the third time, you will be permanantly banned.

Please Use as much detail for each question, and write each answer on a different line, thank you.

TYPE MY NAME WHEN YOU ARE DONE WITH A QUESTION SET

1. What is a transcode? Can they be good, Bad?
2. Which of the following transcodes are acceptable?
a. Lossy to Lossy
b. Lossy to Lossless
c. Lossless to Lossless
d. Lossless to lossy


2. If no more than one lossy transcode is permitted, which of these conversions is acceptable?
- Please type either Yes, or No for each of the following:

a. CD > 128 CBR > v2
b. CD > FLAC > V0
c. CD > WAV(PCM) > FLAC
d. CD > 256 CBR > 256 CBR
e. CD > FLAC > WAV(PCM)
f. CD > 192 CBR > FLAC
g. CD > V0 > V2
h. CD > V2 > V0
i. CD > FLAC > 320CBR
j. CD > V2 > AAC > ALAC



a. CD - > ALAC -> FLAC
b. CD - > FLAC -> FLAC in an OGG container
c. CD - > V0 MP3 -> 192 CBR MP3
d. CD - > WAV(PCM) -> ALAC
e. CD - > WAV(PCM) -> 320 kbit mp3
f. CD - > AAC -> ALAC
g. CD - > FLAC - > WAV(PCM)
h. CD - > MP3 - > ALAC - > AAC
i. CD - > FLAC - > APE - > FLAC
j. CD - > FLAC - > OGG Vorbis - > MP3
k. CD - > WAV(PCM) - > V0 MP3
l. CD - > 320 CBR MP3 - > V0 - > V2
m. CD - > V2 - > WAV(PCM) - > CD
n. CD - > 320 - > WAV(PCM) - > FLAC
o. CD - > WAV(PCM) - > FLAC - > AAC
p. CD - > ALAC - > MP3 - > ALAC
q. CD - > FLAC - > APE - > WAV(PCM)
r. CD - > APE - > FLAC - > APE



3. Are the following conversions acceptable?

a. Ogg Vorbis -> MP3
b. mp3 320kbps -> mp3 256kpbs
c. CDA -> MP3 -> CD
d. MP3 -> WAV -> MP3
e. FLAC -> WAV -> Ogg Vorbis -> APE
f. MP3 -> CD -> FLAC -> MP3





Category #2: General
1. Where are you located?
2. Have you been interviewed here before? If so, Why did you fail? When? (Honesty is awesome!)
3. Why do you want to join What.Cd? Are you looking for any specific albums?
4. If invited, how often do you plan on using What.Cd? Will you be active in the forums? Contests?
5. Have you ever had an account here before?
6. How did you hear of #What.cd-invites (This is just for extra-info for research.)
7. If, after joining What.cd you were given invites, would you consider trading them?
8. If, after joining What.cd you were given invites, what would you consider selling invites?


Category #3: Music/Formats
1. What bitrate/format do you prefer to listen to?
2. How big is your music collection? (both physical and digital)
3. What type of music do you like?
4. What is the difference between lossy and lossless audio codec? Example of both please.
5. If i were to download a MP3-V2 and convert it to MP3-V0, would i get warned? Why, Why Not?

Category #4: Computers/Torrents/Internet
1. What Operating System are you currently using?
2. What Bittorrent client(s) are you using?
3. What Download/upload speed (in kB/s) do you usually get when uploading via BitTorrent?
4. What other private trackers are you a member off? (Link to profile, or Screenshot will suffice.)
5. Do you know How to become Connectable?



Here's my current interview:

Welcome to the What.cd Invites Channel!
My name is ih8law and I shall conduct a membership interview with you today. What.cd is normally an invite-only tracker. This channel was created so that certain people could obtain membership without a sponsor to invite them.
The purpose of the interview is to determine whether or not you know enough about bittorrent and music file encoding to survive here without running into problems that could get you banned for accidentally violating the rules.
I respectfully request that you answer the questions quickly and to the best of your ability, numbering them as you go. At the end of each group of questions, please type "ih8law I am done" when you are finished answering.
I hope you find this interview to be a rewarding experience, whatever the result. Here are some preliminary questions for you:
------------------------------------------------------------------\
1. Have you ever had an account at What.cd before?
2. Have you been interviewed here before? If so, by who and when?
3. Where did you hear about this IRC invite channel? (provide a link if you have it handy - this is for market research purposes only, and will have no impact on the outcome of your interview)
4. Please tell me if English is not your primary language so that I don't get impatient.
------------------------------------------------------------------/
-ONE LINE PER ANSWER. PLEASE LABEL YOUR ANSWERS.

Thank you for your answers. You must correctly answer the eight questions below in order to start the interview. If you get them all correct, you get to start the interview with me, and you'll be one step closer to getting an invitation to What.cd!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------\
Label Each of the Following as Lossy or Lossless codec:
1. FLAC
2. V2
3. 320kb/s MP3
4. ALAC
5. V0
6. Which has a higher average bitrate: FLAC or V0 MP3?
7. Which has a higher average bitrate: V2 MP3 or V0 MP3?
8. Which has a higher average bitrate: 320kb/s CBR MP3 or V0 MP3?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------/
-ONE LINE PER ANSWER. PLEASE LABEL YOUR ANSWERS.
Feel free to ask if you have a question. You have 2 minutes to answer all eight questions.

Well done! Let's begin the real interview.
To be a good member at What.cd, you must possess a clear understanding of:
|-----------------------------|
| THE WHAT.CD TRANSCODE RULE |
|-----------------------------|
"No transcodes or re-encodes of lossy releases are acceptable here. There are no exceptions to this rule, no matter how rare you claim the release is. The only acceptable transcodes are releases that were transcoded from a lossless source (such as a CD or lossless file)."
In other words, lossy-to-lossy and lossy-to-lossless transcodes are forbidden. Lossless-to-anything is OK.
*Consider yourself so instructed and warned as to this rule*
Do you have any questions about the Transcode Rule? Now is the time to ask!
(Yes or No)

Kindly proceed with me to the next set of questions, designed to test your ability to apply The What.cd Transcode Rule to real world conditions.
SECOND QUESTION SET:
You must satisfactorily answer the following questions to proceed. In the event that you do not pass this section, I shall have no choice but to terminate the interview.
According to What.cd's Transcode Rule (as described above), which of these conversions are acceptable to upload? (Yes or No for each)
a. CD -> 192kbps MP3 -> 320kbps MP3
b. CD -> 128kbss MP3 -> 192kbps MP3
c. CD -> FLAC -> V0 MP3
d. CD -> FLAC -> 192kbps MP3
e. CD -> V0 MP3 -> FLAC
f. CD -> ALAC -> V2
g. CD -> V0 MP3 -> V2 MP3 -> 192kbps MP3
h. FLAC -> V0 MP3 -> 320kbps MP3
i. 320kbps MP3 -> FLAC
j. FLAC -> ALAC
k. V0 MP3 -> 256kbps MP3
l. CD -> ALAC -> FLAC -> 320kbps MP3
m. CD -> 320kbps MP3 -> 256kbps MP3
n. CD -> 256kbps MP3 -> 192kbps MP3
-One answer per line, please. YOU MUST LABEL YOUR ANSWERS OR YOU WILL FAIL!

Answer Key:
a. No
b. No
c. Yes
d. Yes
e. No
f. Yes
g. No
h. No
i. No
j. Yes
k. No
l. Yes
m. no
n. no

Nicely Done! Let's proceed.
/me reveals the THIRD set of questions:
1. What is the concept of maintaining a ratio? If you have downloaded 50 gigabytes and uploaded 25 gigabytes what is your ratio? Is this a "good" ratio, in your opinion?
2. What is port-forwarding? Why is it important?
3. What is your OS? What CD-ripping program do you use? Do you know if that program is able to rip an EXACT copy of the CD?
4. What is a .log file? What CD-ripping program generates a .log file when ripping an exact copy of the CD?
5. If after joining What.cd you were given invites, for how much money (in US dollars) would you sell them to others?
6. If after joining What.cd you were given invites, for what other trackers' invites would you be willing to trade them?
7. How often will you use the site?

I recommend you use EAC (Exact Audio Copy) to rip CDs when using Windows. It is our preferred ripper here.
http://xs.vc/eac/
Read that later...proceed

I recommend you use XLD to rip CDs when using Mac OSX. It is our preferred ripper here.
http://tmkk.hp.infoseek.co.jp/xld/index_e.html
Read that later...proceed


You are doing great so far!
Kindly proceed with me to the FOURTH set of questions.
/me reveals the FOURTH set of questions:
You must satisfactorily answer the following questions. These questions will test the rules and concepts you should have already read while waiting in the queue, or learned from previous tracker experience.
***TRUE or FALSE***
1. You are allowed to post your What.cd .torrent files on other sites.
2. DHT is good for private trackers and you should enable it for What.cd.
3. The minimum bitrate for any music file uploaded to the site is 192kb/s.
4. Everyone gets to download their first 5GB before ratio watch kicks in. If you've been a member for less than 2 weeks, ratio watch doesn't kick in until the 10GB barrier.
5. It usually takes considerably longer to seed your downloads to a 1:1 ratio on a music tracker than on general trackers because of the low ratio of leechers to seeders.
6. When seeding audio files, editing the ID3 tags of the file (for example, by playing the file in iTunes) will not interfere with seeding.
------------------------------------------------/
***TRUE or FALSE*** One line per answer, please.
------------------------------------------------\

If you are unsure, the answer may be here: http://whatintro.webs.com/index.html


Key:
1. False. Do not post our .torrent files on other sites.
Every .torrent file has your personal passkey embedded in it. The tracker will automatically disable your account if you share your torrent files with others. You will not get your account back.
This doesn't prohibit you sharing the content on other sites, just the .torrent file.
2. False. It is important to disable DHT! If you have enabled DHT you could be uploading to people who don't even have access to the site so you won't be receiving the proper credit for your uploads & downloads.
You will be sharing data out of the tracker and those ghost peers will be using your bandwidth to download from you. Even worse, you could be tagged for cheating! Disable DHT!
3. True. Music quality ranges from the lowest MP3, Ogg Vorbis, AAC, AC3 at 192 Kbps bitrates to high quality lossless FLAC, APE, ALAC, and Wavpack. There are 24-bit / 96 kHz FLAC vinyl, SACD, DVD, and multi-channel DTS rips as well. 192kbps is the minimum.
4. True. You can download up to 5GB before ratio rules kick in. This does not apply if you've been a member for less than two weeks.
5. True. It can take a very long time to seed to a 1:1 ratio on unpopular torrents here because there is a very low leecher-to-seeder ratio. In other words, it may take a long time for an interested person to come along and download an unpopular torrent from you.
Remember: Just because you are seeding does not mean you are actually uploading!
6. False. If you alter the file in any way the client will notify you that the hash check has failed, and it will try to download the missing/altered parts again. You won't be able to seed properly.
Be sure to make a copy of the file before you edit the tags (edit the tags on the copy!).


Well done! You're almost finished!
/me reveals the FIFTH and FINAL set of questions:
Answer the questions as best as you can.
1. How old are you? Where are you located?
2. What kind of music do you like?
3. How big is your music collection? (both physical and digital)
4. What are your preferred bitrates, quality settings and formats?
5. Why do you want to be invited to What.cd? In other words, what do you expect to find here?
6. Why should you be invited to What.cd? In other words, what do you expect to offer our community?
7. What bittorrent client do you use?
8. What upload speed (in kB/s) do you usually get when uploading via BitTorrent?
9. How much experience do you have with actually creating and uploading your own torrents?
10. Are you a member of any other private trackers? If so, post your stats here - profile links would also be helpful IN ADDITION to the stats. MUSIC TRACKERS ARE PREFERRED.


Puppies
Bunnies
Kittens
Babies
Rainbows
Teddy Bears
Lesbians
Candy Factories

Are you thinking happy thoughts?

You Passed. I knew you could do it!
What's your email address? Must not be hotmail.

/me has sent you an invitation to What.cd
Congratulations!
Before using the site, read these forum posts (which will help you with your ratio):
----------------------------------------------------------\
forums.php?action=viewthread&threadid=11333
forums.php?action=viewthread&threadid=3027
forums.php?action=viewthread&threadid=15841
----------------------------------------------------------/
PLEASE COPY THESE LINKS AND SAVE THEM FOR LATER!!!
Do you have any questions?
----------------------------------------------------------\
If you need help, feel free to PM me on the site or IRC, or check out the forums where you'll find loads of helpful and knowledgeable users, along with tutorials. You can also visit #what.cd-help here on IRC and on the site there is a wiki with a wealth of information.
You may idle here in the channel until you get your invite email.
Thank you for taking the time to interview with me today.
----------------------------------------------------------/




You'll notice I have two sets of example transcodes, that's because I mix them up. I also change one example each time I interview to keep them evolving. Also take note that I use some obscure formats towards the end of the example questions - these are just for my interest, I don't fail anyone based on them. If someone's got that far anyway they're not going to be failing on transcodes. I rarely proceed past question 7.

The line separations indicate which I give as groups.

Please answer all questions in order and on a separate, numbered line so it is clear which you're answering.
If you don't know the answer to a question, say so - it does not necessarily equal a disqualification. If you've got a question, feel free to ask. If you need clarification on a question ASK BEFORE ANSWERING IT.
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS:
All questions in this section must be answered correctly for you to pass. PLEASE NUMBER YOUR ANSWERS. I've asked twice because it's important.
1. Have you ever had an account here before?
2. Have you been interviewed before? If so, when? By who? Lying about this will get you a permanent ban.
3. What country are you from?
4. Do you have difficulty speaking or understanding English?
-- AFTER ANSWERING A SET OF QUESTIONS, SAY MY NAME IN THIS CHANNEL --

INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT:
At what.cd no transcodes or re-encodes of lossy releases are acceptable. There are no exceptions to this rule. The only acceptable transcodes are releases that were transcoded from a lossless source. With this in mind, please answer the following question:
5. Which (if any) of the following transcodes are acceptable? Answer YES or NO for each example.
a) ALAC->AAC->CD
b) WAV(PCM)->FLAC->320
c) V0->WAV(PCM)->FLAC
d) WAV(PCM)->V0->256
e) AAC->CD->192
f) V0->WMA->AAC
In this section if you don't get too many wrong you'll get one chance to correct them. If you can't do so, the interview will end.

INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT:
At what.cd no transcodes or re-encodes of lossy releases are acceptable. There are no exceptions to this rule. The only acceptable transcodes are releases that were transcoded from a lossless source. With this in mind, please answer the following question:
5. Which (if any) of the following transcodes are acceptable? Answer YES or NO for each example.
a) V0->FLAC->APE
b) OGG Vorbis->CD->320
c) V0->WAV(PCM)->FLAC
d) WAV(PCM)->320->256
e) APE->CD->192
f) ALAC->320->CD
In this section if you don't get too many wrong you'll get one chance to correct them. If you can't do so, the interview will end.

---------------

g) CD->AAC->WAV(PCM)
h) FLAC->ALAC->256
i) AAC->CD->ALAC
j) CD->WAV(PCM)->FLAC
k) CD->ALAC->V2
l) WAV(PCM)->320->FLAC

g) ALAC->AAC->WAV(PCM)
h) FLAC->OGG Vorbis->192
i) V0->320->AAC
j) CD->WAV(PCM)->FLAC
k) CD->FLAC->V2
l) WAV(PCM)->V1->FLAC

----------------

m) FLAC->WAV(PCM)->CD
n) FLAC->V2->ALAC
o) CD->320->192
p) APE->ALAC->CD
q) SHN->V2->CD
r) FLAC->WAV(PCM)->APE

m) APE->AAC->CD
n) FLAC->APE->ALAC
o) CD->320->192
p) APE->ALAC->CD
q) SHN->ALAC->CD
r) MPEG-4 ALS->WAV(PCM)->APE

GENERAL QUESTIONS:
1. How old are you?
2. Where did you hear about this channel?
3. Are you a member of any other private trackers? If so, post your stats and profile links here. Images are not acceptable.

4. Have you ever participated in invite trading before? Admit to it now and your actions will be excused. Deny it and get found out later (staff monitor many places where invites are traded) and you will be banned.
5. How much experience do you have with creating and uploading torrents?
6. How big is your music collection? (both physical and digital)
7. What are your preferred bitrates/presets/formats and what program do you use to rip?



TECHNICAL QUESTIONS:
1. What is port-forwarding?
2. What is DHT? Is it good or bad for private trackers? Why?
3. When seeding audio files, editing the ID3 tags of the file will not interfere with seeding (TRUE or FALSE)

4. Explain the difference between lossless and lossy codecs. Give three examples of each.
5. What are CBR and VBR? What does each mean? How are they different?
6. What is V0?
7. What is the highest possible MP3 bitrate?

8. Give examples of the methods that could be used to prove an audio file is actually the format/bitrate advertised
9. How would you check if something is transcoded in an unacceptable way?

10. Is this file an acceptable transcode? http://www.blowfish.be/trans006.PNG -- feel free to use this link if you need to: http://xs.vc/eac/Spectral/spectral.html
11. Do the following bitrates/encoder settings exist for standard (non-freeformat) MP3? (Assume LAME is used)
a) V12 MP3
b) V0 MP3
c) V5 MP3
d) 512 CBR Kbps MP3
e) 320 VBR Kbps MP3
f) 320 CBR Kbps MP3


FAIL:

I regret to inform you that you have failed this interview. You can try again in 48 hours. Next time you attempt the interview, bear this in mind:
At what.cd no transcodes or re-encodes of lossy releases are acceptable. There are no exceptions to this rule. The only acceptable transcodes are releases that were transcoded from a lossless source. This is incredibly important. You must also know what V0 and V2 MP3s are.
If you fail on your third attempt you will not be able to get an invite through this channel.
IF YOU TRY AND EVADE YOUR BAN IT WILL BE EXTENDED OR MADE PERMANENT.
Please leave this channel when you have copied down all that you need to.

PASS:

Invite sent.
Before using the site, take the time to learn some rules:
One badly transcoded track in a release means the whole album is unacceptable.
All files in the torrent must be of the same format and bitrate (and for VBR that means same target bitrate).
No files can be lower than 192kbps CBR.
Read the rules before doing anything!
When you're about to upload something - READ THE RULES AGAIN!
We recommend using EAC for ripping on Windows: http://xs.vc/eac/
When you get into the site, be sure to check out logchecker.php - it examines EAC log files to make sure your settings are proper.
Please leave this channel when you are ready - welcome to what.cd




SECTION 1:

1. How old are you? / Where are you located?
2. Have you been interviewed before? If so, by who?
3a. Why do you want to join what.cd?
3b. Are you a member of any private trackers? If so, which ones? (Provide links)
Intro Tech Questions:
Please rank the following formats in order of quality, running from highest to lowest:
a. 128 kbp/s MP3
b. V2 MP3
c. FLAC
d. 192 kbp/s MP3
e. V0 MP3
Do the following bit rates/encoder settings exist for standard MP3? (Assume LAME is used)
a. V10 MP3
b. V0 MP3
c. V5 MP3
d. 520 CBR kbp/s MP3
e. 320 CBR kbp/s MP3
f. 269 CBR kbp/s MP3
Which of the following formats are lossless/lossy?
a. 320kbp/s MP3
b. V0 MP3
c. ACC
d. V2 MP3
e. FLAC
f. 192kbp/s MP3
g. ALAC
h. WAV (PCM)

SECTION 2:

4a. Have you had an account on what.cd before?
4b. What is the minimum ratio that needs to be maintained when you download between 20-30gb? and more than 60gb?
4c. What is what.cd policy on selling invites?
4d. What is what.cd policy on the modification of clients to bypass client requirements?
4e. How should staff decisions be taken?
4f. What is ratio-watch?
4g. How often will you use the site?
4h. Where/how did you hear of what.cd?
5. How long do you seed normally?
6. What is the concept of maintaining a ratio?
7. What kind of internet connection do you have? (i.e. Cable, T1, DSL)
8. How much experience do you have with creating and uploading torrents?
9. How big is your music collection? (both physical and digital)

SECTION 3:

1. Can you explain what a lossless audio codec is? Also, give three examples.
2. Can you explain what a lossy audio codec is? Also, give three examples.
3. What is a transcode? Are there good and bad transcodes?
4. How do you determine whether a file is a bad transcode? What program can you use?
5. What is CBR & VBR? How are they different? Explain.
6. What is V0? What is V2?
7. What is the highest possible mp3 bitrate?
8. Have you seen a spectral frequency image of music before?
9. Which of the following are acceptable transcodes: (more than one answer is possible)
a. lossy to lossy
b. lossless to lossless
c. lossless to lossy
d. lossy to lossless
Set 1
10. Which of the following conversions are acceptable? (Format: a. yes/no)
a. CD -> FLAC -> ALAC
b. CD -> V0 MP3 -> 192kbps MP3
c. CD -> V2 MP3 -> 320kbps MP3
d. CD -> FLAC -> V0 MP3
e. CD -> V0 MP3 -> FLAC
f. CD -> WAV (PCM) -> FLAC
g. CD -> WAV (PCM) -> 192kbps MP3
h. CD -> V2 MP3 -> V0 MP3 -> ALAC
i. CD -> V0 MP3 -> WAV (PCM) -> V2 MP3
j. CD -> ALAC -> 320kbps MP3 -> V2 MP3
k. CD -> ALAC -> FLAC -> 192kbps MP3
l. CD -> 192kbps MP3-> WAV (PCM) -> 192kbps MP3
m. CD -> WAV (PCM) -> V2 MP3 -> 192kbps MP3
n. CD -> V0 MP3 -> ALAC -> FLAC
o. CD -> FLAC -> V2 MP3 -> V0 MP3
Set 2
10. Which of the following conversions are acceptable? (Format: a. yes/no)
a. CD -> V0 MP3 -> FLAC
b. CD -> FLAC -> 192kbps MP3
c. CD -> 320kbps MP3 -> 192kbps MP3
d. CD -> FLAC -> ALAC
e. CD -> V2 MP3 -> FLAC
f. CD -> WAV (PCM) -> FLAC
g. CD -> 192kbps MP3 -> ALAC
h. CD -> V2 MP3 -> V0 MP3 -> ALAC
i. CD -> V0 MP3 -> WAV (PCM) -> FLAC
j. CD -> ALAC -> FLAC -> 192kbps MP3
k. CD -> WAV (PCM) -> FLAC -> 192kbps MP3
l. CD -> V0 MP3 -> 192kbps MP3 -> V2 MP3
m. CD -> ALAC -> V0 MP3 -> FLAC
n. CD -> ALAC -> FLAC -> 192kbps MP3
o. CD -> 192kbps MP3 -> WAV (PCM) -> 192kbps MP3
Set 3
10. Which of the following conversions are acceptable? (Format: a. yes/no)
a. CD -> V0 MP3 -> FLAC
b. CD -> V2 MP3 -> FLAC
c. CD -> 320kbps MP3 -> 192kbps MP3
d. CD -> FLAC -> ALAC
e. CD -> 192kbp/s MP3 -> FLAC
f. CD -> WAV (PCM) -> FLAC
g. CD -> 192kbps MP3 -> ALAC
h. CD -> V2 MP3 -> V0 MP3 -> ALAC
i. CD -> V0 MP3 -> V2 MP3 -> FLAC
j. CD -> WAV (PCM) -> FLAC -> V0 MP3
k. CD -> V0 MP3 -> FLAC -> V2 MP3
l. CD -> V0 MP3 -> 192kbps MP3 -> V2 MP3
m. CD -> ALAC -> V0 MP3 -> FLAC
n. CD -> ALAC -> 192kbps MP3 -> FLAC
o. CD -> 192kbps MP3 -> V2 MP3 -> 192kbps MP3

SECTION 4:

1. What application do you use to rip music?
2. What is the purpose of .log file?
3. What is the purpose of .cue file?
4. What torrent client do you use?
5. What is port-forwarding?
6. What do you feel that you can bring to the what.cd community?



Welcome to the What.cd Invites Channel!
My name is ih8law and I shall conduct a membership interview with you today.
Let's test to see if you are connectable (you must be connectable to start the interview).
What port do you use for your torrent client?


Click on this link and tell me what it says (copy and paste the message here, but don't include your IP address):
http://www.utorrent.com/testport.php?port=54321

You do not appear to be connectable. Please part the channel and come back when you have figured out how to forward your ports. Please go to http://www.portforward.com
You may return to do an interview as soon as you can show proof of being connectable.


Great! You are connectable! Let's proceed:
What.cd is normally an invite-only tracker. This channel was created so that certain people could obtain membership without a sponsor to invite them.
The purpose of the interview is to determine whether or not you know enough about bittorrent and music file encoding to survive here without running into problems that could get you banned for accidentally violating the rules.
I respectfully request that you answer the questions quickly and to the best of your ability, numbering them as you go. At the end of each group of questions, please type "ih8law I am done" when you are finished answering.
I hope you find this interview to be a rewarding experience, whatever the result. Here are some preliminary questions for you:
------------------------------------------------------------------\
1. Have you ever had an account at What.cd before?
2. Have you been interviewed here before? If so, by whom and when?
3. Where did you hear about this IRC invite channel? (provide a link if you have it handy - this is for market research purposes only, and will have no impact on the outcome of your interview)
4. Please tell me if English is not your primary language so that I don't get impatient.
------------------------------------------------------------------/
-ONE LINE PER ANSWER. PLEASE LABEL YOUR ANSWERS.


Thank you! Let's begin the real interview.
To be a good member at What.cd, you must possess a clear understanding of:
|-----------------------------|
| THE WHAT.CD TRANSCODE RULE |
|-----------------------------|
"No transcodes or re-encodes of lossy releases are acceptable here. There are no exceptions to this rule, no matter how rare you claim the release is. The only acceptable transcodes are releases that were transcoded from a lossless source (such as a CD or lossless file)."
In other words, lossy-to-lossy and lossy-to-lossless transcodes are forbidden. Lossless-to-anything is OK.
*Consider yourself so instructed and warned as to this rule*
Do you have any questions about the Transcode Rule? Now is the time to ask!
(Yes or No)

Kindly proceed with me to the next set of questions, designed to test your ability to apply The What.cd Transcode Rule to real world conditions.
SECOND QUESTION SET:
You must satisfactorily answer the following questions to proceed. In the event that you do not pass this section, I shall have no choice but to terminate the interview.
According to What.cd's Transcode Rule (as described above), which of these conversions are acceptable to upload?
(Yes or No for each)
1. CD -> FLAC
2. CD -> FLAC -> 320kbps MP3
3. CD -> FLAC -> V0 MP3
4. CD -> 320kbps MP3 -> FLAC
5. CD -> 192kbps MP3 -> 320kbps MP3
6. CD -> V0 MP3 -> 256kbps MP3
7. CD -> APE -> 192kbps MP3
8. CD -> 320kbps MP3 -> 256kbps MP3
9. CD -> 256kbps MP3 -> 192kbps MP3
10. CD -> ALAC -> FLAC -> 320kbps MP3
11. CD -> V0 MP3 -> V2 MP3 -> 192kbps MP3
12. CD -> FLAC -> ALAC
(Yes or No for each. LABEL YOUR ANSWERS)


------------------------------------->
Do you know what V0 or V2 refer to?

They are quality settings (presets) for LAME MP3 encoder, which produces variable bitrate MP3s.
-V0 (~245 kbps), -V1 (~225 kbps), or -V2 (~190 kbps) are recommended. These settings will normally produce transparent encoding (transparent = most people can't distinguish the MP3 from the original in a blind test).


This is a problem. But it is a problem that can be fixed!
I want to help.
I regret to inform you that you did not pass this interview. I shall provide you with some links to study, then you are welcome to come back and try the interview process again in 48 hours:
-------------------------------------------------------------\
http://www.campmurphy.net/blog/2007/02/28/lame-v0-encoding-mp3-transparency/
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Lossy
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Lossless
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=LAME
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=CBR
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=VBR
and most importantly:
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Transcoding
http://xs.vc/eac/Spectral/spectral.html
http://xs.vc/eac/
http://whatintro.webs.com/index.html
-------------------------------------------------------------/
A lossy file must NEVER be converted to another format and then uploaded to What.cd! You must know what V0 and V2 MP3s are.
Keep this in mind, study the links provided above, consider the guidance given herein and return in 48 hours to try again. Thanks for taking the time to interview.
-------------------------------------------------------------\
Please review these materials and come back in 48 hours to pass this interview. I know you can do it!
You should part the channel as soon as you copy these links.
-------------------------------------------------------------/
Thanks. Do you have any questions?


NICELY DONE!!
/me reveals the THIRD set of questions:
1. What is the concept of maintaining a ratio?
2. If you have downloaded 50 gigabytes and uploaded 25 gigabytes what is your ratio? Is this a "good" ratio, in your opinion?
3. What is your OS? What CD-ripping program do you use? Do you know if that program is able to rip an EXACT copy of the CD?
4. What is a .log file? What CD-ripping program generates a .log file when ripping an exact copy of the CD?
5. If after joining What.cd you were given invites, for how much money (in US dollars) would you sell them to others?
6. If after joining What.cd you were given invites, for what other trackers' invites would you be willing to trade them?
7. Let's you've downloaded a FLAC encoded album, and you want to make sure it was not improperly transcoded from a lossy source. How would you find out?

I recommend you use EAC (Exact Audio Copy) to rip CDs to lossless or LAME MP3 formats when using Windows. It is our preferred ripper here.
http://xs.vc/eac/
Read that later...proceed

I recommend you use XLD to rip CDs to lossless or LAME MP3 formats when using Mac OSX. It is our preferred ripper here.
http://tmkk.hp.infoseek.co.jp/xld/index_e.html
Read that later...proceed

You should conduct a "spectral analysis" of the music files. This will provide you with visual depictions of the audio files for inspection. You may read about how to do this here:
http://xs.vc/eac/Spectral/spectral.html
Read that later.


You are doing great so far!
Kindly proceed with me to the next set of questions.
/me reveals the FOURTH set of questions:
You must satisfactorily answer the following questions. These questions will test the rules and concepts you should have already read while waiting in the queue, or learned from previous tracker experience.
***TRUE or FALSE***
1. You are allowed to post your What.cd .torrent files on other sites.
2. DHT is good for private trackers and you should enable it for What.cd.
3. "Partial Seeders" are actually people who only downloaded a portion of the torrent and seed that portion to the swarm, but appear as leechers on a tracker.
4. Everyone gets to download their first 5GB before ratio watch kicks in. If you've been a member for less than 2 weeks, ratio watch doesn't kick in until the 10GB barrier.
5. It sometimes takes considerably longer to seed your downloads to a 1:1 ratio on a music tracker than on general trackers because of the low ratio of leechers to seeders.
6. When seeding audio files, editing the ID3 tags of the file will not interfere with seeding.
7. Seeding and uploading mean the same thing.
8. You are allowed to download torrents from other sites and seed them at What.cd.
------------------------------------------------/
***TRUE or FALSE*** One line per answer, please.
------------------------------------------------\

If you are unsure, the answer may be here: http://whatintro.webs.com/index.html


Key:
1 is False. Do not post our .torrent files on other sites.
Every .torrent file has your personal passkey embedded in it. The tracker will automatically disable your account if you share your torrent files with others. You will not get your account back.
This doesn't prohibit you sharing the content on other sites, just the torrent file.
2 is False! It is important to disable DHT! If you have enabled DHT you could be uploading to people who don't even have access to the site so you won't be receiving the proper credit for your uploads & downloads.
You will be sharing data out of the tracker and those ghost peers will be using your bandwidth to download from you. Even worse, you could be tagged for cheating! Disable DHT!
3 is True! A "partial seeder" is someone who downloads just a portion of a torrent and then seeds that portion back to the swarm. A "partial seeder" will appear as a leecher on the tracker. Beware of older torrents with a high number of reported leechers! Chances are those "leechers" are partial seeders, and will never download a single kilobyte from you. Don't fall in the ratio trap!
4 is True! You can download up to 5GB before ratio rules kick in. This does not apply if you've been a member for less than two weeks.
5 is True! It can take a very long time to seed to a 1:1 ratio on unpopular torrents here because there is a very low leecher-to-seeder ratio. In other words, it may take a long time for an interested person to come along and download an unpopular torrent from you.
6 is False! If you alter the file in any way the client will notify you that the hash check has failed, and it will try to download the missing/altered parts again. You won't be able to seed properly.
Be sure to make a copy of the file before you edit the tags (edit the tags on the copy!).
7 is False! Remember: Just because you are seeding does not mean you are actually uploading! Uploading means that you are actually transferring data to someone who is downloading the file from you. You may seed a torrent for months (or years!) without actually uploading a single kilobyte if no one ever connects to you.
8 is true! For example, you are permitted to download scene releases from 0-day sites and seed them here to help boost your ratio. Just be sure that you do not modify the files in any way.


Well done! You're almost finished!
/me reveals the FIFTH and FINAL set of questions:
Answer the questions as best as you can.
1. How old are you? Male or Female? (optional)
2. What kind of music do you like?
3. How big is your music collection? (both physical and digital)
4. What are your preferred bitrates, quality settings and formats?
5. Why do you want to be invited to What.cd? In other words, what do you expect to find here?
6. Why should you be invited to What.cd? In other words, what do you expect to offer our community?
7. What bittorrent client do you use? Is this client allowed on What.cd? (see the client Whitelist)
8. What upload speed do you usually get when uploading torrents?
9. What kind of experience do you have with actually creating and uploading your own torrents?
10. Are you a member of any other private trackers? If so, post your stats here - profile links would also be helpful IN ADDITION to the stats. MUSIC TRACKERS ARE PREFERRED.


Puppies
Bunnies
Kittens
Babies
Rainbows
Teddy Bears
Lesbians
Candy Factories

Are you thinking happy thoughts?

You have completed the interview. Are you ready to see your results?

You Passed. I knew you could do it!
What's your email address? Must not be hotmail.

/me has sent you an invitation to What.cd
Congratulations!
Before using the site, read these forum posts (which will help you with your ratio):
----------------------------------------------------------\
forums.php?action=viewthread&threadid=11333
forums.php?action=viewthread&threadid=3027
forums.php?action=viewthread&threadid=15841
----------------------------------------------------------/
PLEASE COPY THESE LINKS AND SAVE THEM FOR LATER!!!
Do you have any questions?
----------------------------------------------------------\
If you need help, feel free to PM me on the site or IRC, or check out the forums where you'll find loads of helpful and knowledgeable users, along with tutorials. You can also visit #what.cd-help here on IRC and on the site there is a wiki with a wealth of information.
You may idle here in the channel until you get your invite email.
Thank you for taking the time to interview with me today.
----------------------------------------------------------/




INTRO
Hello. Welcome to the What.CD Invites Channel. I will be your interviewer for today. Please answer each question as thoroughly, and quickly as possible.
Also, answer each question in its own line, label your answers, and don't bother using outside sources like Wikipedia or Google.
If you’re unsure about a particular question, just say so. Not all the questions are evenly weighed. The purpose of this interview process is to make sure that all the members have a basic audio and bittorrent proficiency.
When you are ready to begin, say "I'm ready."

FIRST SECTION:
1. How old are you? / Where are you located?
2. Have you been interviewed before? If so, by who?
3. Have you had an what.cd account in the past?
4. Why do you want to join what.cd?
5. Are you a member of any private trackers? If so, which ones? (Provide links)
6. Where did you hear about this IRC channel? If online, please provide a link.

Please rank the following formats in order of quality, running from highest to lowest:
a. V0 MP3
b. 128kbp/s MP3
c. 320kbp/s MP3
d. 160kbp/s MP3
e. FLAC
f. V2 MP3

SECOND SECTION:
1. Explain what is V0/V2? What are their target bitrates?
2. Explain what a lossless audio codec is? Give three examples.
3. Explain what a lossy audio codec is? Give three examples.
4. What is CBR & VBR? How are they different? Explain.
5. What is the highest possible MP3 bitrate?

THIRD SECTION:
1. What is a transcode?
2. How do you determine whether a file is a bad transcode? What program can you use?
3. Which of the following are acceptable transcodes: (more than one answer is possible)
a. lossless to lossless
b. lossless to lossy
c. lossy to lossy
d. lossy to lossless
4. Which of the following conversions are acceptable? (Format: a. yes/no)
a. CD -> FLAC
b. CD -> V0 MP3 -> FLAC
c. CD -> FLAC -> V0 MP3
d. CD -> V2 MP3 -> ALAC
e. CD -> 192kbp/s MP3 -> 320kbp/s MP3
f. CD -> APE -> FLAC
g. CD -> 192kbp/s MP3 -> V0 MP3
h. CD -> FLAC -> V2 MP3 -> 192kbp/s MP3
i. CD -> FLAC -> V0 MP3 -> V2 MP3
j. CD -> APE -> FLAC -> V2 MP3
Explain your answer to letter i.

FOURTH and FINAL SECTION:
1. What is the concept of maintaining a ratio?
2. How big is your music collection? (both physical and digital)
3. What is the minimum bitrate accepted at what.cd?
4. What application do you use to rip music?
5. What is the purpose of .log file in a music rip?
6. What is the purpose of .cue file in a music rip?
7. What is port-forwarding? Do you have your ports forwarded?
8. What OS are you using?
9. What do you feel that you can bring to the what.cd community?

FAIL
Unfortunately, you have failed this interview. Provided below are some useful links to get more familiar, with encoding/transcoding/etc. You may come back in 48 hours to take another interview.
-----------------------------------------------------------\
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Transcoding
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Lossy
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Lossless
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=LAME
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=VBR
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=CBR
http://xs.vc/eac/Spectral/spectral.html
http://whatintro.webs.com/index.html
-----------------------------------------------------------\
Just to clarify a few things:
V0 is a VBR (Variable Bitrate) LAME preset that averages 245kbp/s (check the LAME article for more info)
V2 is a VBR (Variable Bitrate) LAME preset that averages 190kbp/s (check the LAME article for more info)
V0/V2 are the most used preset on what.cd, therefore it's important that all the members invited know what they are.
Also, check the LAME article for a chart comparing the quality for: 320kbp/s and V0/V2 MP3’s.
Lastly, please review CBR/VBR, Lossless vs. Lossy, and Transcoding (both good and bad types).
Do you have any questions?




My name is slomog and I shall conduct a membership interview with you today. What.cd is normally an invite-only tracker. This channel was created so that certain people could obtain membership without a sponsor to invite them.
The purpose of the interview is to determine whether or not you know enough about bittorrent and music file encoding to survive here without running into problems that could get you banned for accidentally violating the rules.
I hope you find this interview to be a rewarding experience, whatever the result.
Are you ready?

Have you been interviewed here before? If you remember, by who and when?

Where did you hear about What.cd and this IRC channel? If online, please provide links.

Do you already have an account at What.cd? How many?

Cool. The Golden Rules say: "One account per person per lifetime. Anyone creating additional accounts will be banned." Do you understand? (Yes or No)

Please tell me if English is not your primary language so that I don't get impatient


Thank you for your answers. You must correctly answer the question below in order to continue the interview.
__________________________________________________________________________
Please rank the following formats in order of quality, running from LOWEST TO HIGHEST:
a. FLAC
b. 128kbp/s MP3
c. V0
d. 320kbp/s MP3
e. V2
__________________________________________________________________________

KEY:
b e c d a


Great! Now please answer the 4 following questions. Do not even try to copy and paste your answers from the web, use your own words!
__________________________________________________________________________
1. Explain what is V0/V2. What are their target bitrates?
2. Explain what a lossless audio codec is? Give three examples.
3. Explain what a lossy audio codec is? Give three examples.
4. What is CBR & VBR? How are they different? Explain.
__________________________________________________________________________
Please write "slomog" once you have finished to answer.

KEYS:
1. They are quality settings (presets) for LAME MP3 encoder, which produces variable bitrate MP3s. -V0 (~245 kbps), -V1 (~225 kbps), or -V2 (~190 kbps) are recommended.
2. Lossless compression is a compression methodology in which the result of the compression can be restored faithfully, i.e. bit-by-bit identical with the uncompressed data.
3. Lossy compression is a form of compression that significantly reduce multimedia file size by throwing away information imperceptible to humans. The downside to this is that waveform reconstructed from compressed information will never exactly match the original waveform.
4. In CBR (Constant Bitrate) encoding, the bitrate is kept constant across the entire file: the same number of bits is allocated to encode each second of audio, and internally, frames of audio data occur at regular, predictable intervals, so the overall file size for a given duration of audio is predictable. In Variable Bitrate (VBR) coding, the user chooses the desired quality level and/or a range of allowable bitrates. Then the encoder tries to maintain the selected quality during the whole stream by choosing the optimal amount of data to represent each frame of audio. The main advantage is that the user is able to specify the quality level and conserve as much space as possible, but the inconvenience is that the final file size is quite unpredictable.


That's okay. Now, the rules.
To be a good member, you must possess a clear understanding of The What.cd Transcode Rule which states that:
"No transcodes or re-encodes of lossy releases are acceptable here. There are no exceptions to this rule, no matter how rare you claim the release is. The only acceptable transcodes are releases that were transcoded from a lossless source (such as a CD or lossless file)."
In other words, lossy-to-lossy and lossy-to-lossless transcodes are forbidden. Lossless-to-anything is OK.
Do you have any questions about the Transcode Rule? Now is the time to ask! (Yes or No)

The next question is designed to test your ability to apply The What.cd Transcode Rule to real world conditions. You must satisfactorily answer it to proceed.
__________________________________________________________________________
According to What.cd's Transcode Rule (as described above), which of these conversions are ACCEPTABLE to upload? (One line per answer, "Yep" or "Nope")
a. CD -> 320kbps MP3 -> 192kbps MP3
b. CD -> V2 -> 192kbps MP3
c. CD -> FLAC -> V0
d. CD -> FLAC -> 192kbps MP3
e. CD -> V0 -> FLAC
f. CD -> ALAC -> V2
g. CD -> V0 -> V2
h. FLAC -> V0 -> 320kbps MP3
i. 320kbps MP3 -> FLAC
j. FLAC -> ALAC
k. V0 -> 256kbps MP3
l. CD -> ALAC -> FLAC -> 320kbps MP3
m. CD -> 320kbps MP3 -> V2
n. CD -> 256kbps MP3 -> 192kbps MP3
o. CD -> FLAC -> FLAC
__________________________________________________________________________
Please write "slomog" once you have finished to answer.

Answer Key:
a Nope
b Nope
c Yep
d Yep
e Nope
f Yep
g Nope
h Nope
i Nope
j Yep
k Nope
l Yep
m Nope
n Nope
o Yep

C D F J L O


You are doing great so far!
You must satisfactorily answer the following questions. These questions will test the rules and concepts you should have already read while waiting in the queue, or learned from previous tracker experience. If you are unsure, the answer may be here: http://whatintro.webs.com/index.html
Please, one line per answer. Label your answers.
__________________________________________________________________________
Which of the following statements are TRUE?
1. You are allowed to post your What.cd .torrent files on other sites.
2. DHT is good for private trackers and you should enable it for What.cd.
3. The minimum bitrate for any music file uploaded to the site is 320 kb/s.
4. Everyone gets to download their first 5GB before ratio watch kicks in. If you've been a member for less than 2 weeks, ratio watch doesn't kick in until the 10GB barrier.
5. It usually takes considerably longer to seed your downloads to a 1:1 ratio on a music tracker than on general trackers because of the low ratio of leechers to seeders.
6. When seeding audio files, editing the ID3 tags of the file (for example, by playing the file in iTunes) will not interfere with seeding.
__________________________________________________________________________
Please write "slomog" once you have finished to answer.

Key:
1. False. Do not post our .torrent files on other sites.
Every .torrent file has your personal passkey embedded in it. The tracker will automatically disable your account if you share your torrent files with others. You will not get your account back. This doesn't prohibit you sharing the content on other sites, just the .torrent file.
2. False. It is important to disable DHT! If you have enabled DHT you could be uploading to people who don't even have access to the site so you won't be receiving the proper credit for your uploads & downloads.
You will be sharing data out of the tracker and those ghost peers will be using your bandwidth to download from you. Even worse, you could be tagged for cheating! Disable DHT!
3. False. Music quality ranges from the lowest MP3, Ogg Vorbis, AAC, AC3 at 192 Kbps bitrates to high quality lossless FLAC, APE, ALAC, and Wavpack. There are 24-bit / 96 kHz FLAC vinyl, SACD, DVD, and multi-channel DTS rips as well. 192kbps is the minimum.
4. True. You can download up to 5GB before ratio rules kick in. This does not apply if you've been a member for less than two weeks.
5. True. It can take a very long time to seed to a 1:1 ratio on unpopular torrents here because there is a very low leecher-to-seeder ratio. In other words, it may take a long time for an interested person to come along and download an unpopular torrent from you. Remember: Just because you are seeding does not mean you are actually uploading!
6. False. If you alter the file in any way the client will notify you that the hash check has failed, and it will try to download the missing/altered parts again. You won't be able to seed properly.
Be sure to make a copy of the file before you edit the tags (edit the tags on the copy!).

What is the minimum bitrate for any music file uploaded to the site?


Nicely Done! Let's proceed.
Why are you interested in becoming a What member?

How often do you plan on using the website?

If after joining What.cd you were given invites, for how much money (in US dollars) would you sell them to others?

If after joining What.cd you were given invites, for what other trackers' invites would you trade them?

Are you a member of any other private trackers? Which ones?

How much experience do you have creating and uploading torrents? What bittorrent client do you use?

How long can you seed daily and weekly?

What is the concept of maintaining a ratio? If you have downloaded 50 gigabytes and uploaded 25 gigabytes what is your ratio? Is this a "good" ratio, in your opinion?

Which is a better idea between these two choices when you first get on What.cd? Please explain.
1. Downloading a single torrent that is 3.0 gigabytes
2. Downloading 100 torrents that add up to 3.0 gigabytes?

What is your OS? What CD-ripping program do you use? Do you know if that program is able to rip an EXACT copy of the CD?

What are your preferred bitrates, quality settings and formats?

Key:
I highly recommend you use EAC (Exact Audio Copy) to rip CDs when using Windows. It is our preferred ripper here.
http://xs.vc/eac/
http://exactaudiocopy.de/
Bookmark the links and read later...proceed

I highly recommend you use Rubyripper to rip CDs when using Linux.
http://tmkk.hp.infoseek.co.jp/xld/index_e.html
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Rubyripper
Bookmark the links and read later...proceed

I highly recommend you use Max to rip CDs when using Mac OSX.
http://sbooth.org/Max/
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Max
Please bookmark the links and read later…

Well done! You're almost finished!
What are your age / sex / location ?

What kind of music do you listen to? What are your 3 favorite bands/artists?

Beatles or Rolling Stones? Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin? Queen or Abba? Michael Jackson or Madonna? Coldplay or Radiohead?

How big is your music collection? (both physical and digital)

How/Where do you find stuff to download on the Internet?

Why should you be invited to What.cd? What do you expect to offer our community?



******** You Passed!!! ******** Congratulations! I knew you could do it!
What's your email address? It must NOT be hotmail or aol.
Your thoughts on this interview process?

___________________________________________________________
*** READ THE RULES/WIKI/FAQ BEFORE YOU START ***
___________________________________________________________
Then read these forum posts which will help you with your ratio:
forums.php?action=viewthread&threadid=11333
forums.php?action=viewthread&threadid=3027
forums.php?action=viewthread&threadid=15841
___________________________________________________________
COPY THESE LINKS AND SAVE THEM FOR LATER!!!
Do you have any questions?

/me has sent you an invitation to What.cd
Please confirm it RIGHT NOW!

If you need help, feel free to PM me on the site or IRC, or check out the forums where you'll find loads of helpful and knowledgeable users, along with tutorials. You can also visit #what.cd-help here on IRC and on the site there is a wiki with a wealth of information.
You may idle here in the channel until the time to bookmark the links I gave you.
Thank you for taking the time to interview with me today.



I regret to inform you that you did not pass this interview. I shall provide you with some links to study:
_________________________________________________
http://whatintro.webs.com/index.html
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Lossy
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Lossless
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=LAME
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=CBR
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=VBR
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Transcoding
http://xs.vc/eac/Spectral/spectral.html
_________________________________________________
Then you are welcome to come back and try the interview process again in 48 hours.
A lossy file must NEVER be converted to another format and then uploaded to What.cd! You must know what V0 and V2 MP3s are.
Keep this in mind, study the links provided above, consider the guidance given here and return in 48 hours to try again. I know you can do it!
Thanks for taking the time to interview.
You should part the channel as soon as you copy these links.
_________________________________________________
Thanks. Do you have any questions?



My most recent script:

; Questions script

; Usage:

; Type /q <set #>

/q {

  if ($$1 == intro) {

    /say Please answer all questions in order and on a separate, numbered line. Namedropping OiNK will get you nowhere.

    /say If you don't know the answer to a question, say so. If you've got a  question, feel free to ask. If you need clarification on a question ASK BEFORE ANSWERING IT. Googling/copypasta is not allowed.

    /say PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS:

    /say PLEASE NUMBER YOUR ANSWERS. I've asked twice because it's important. If you do not do this you will fail. Also note that lying about anything will net you a permanent ban.

    /say 1. What is your email address? It must not be a hotmail address.

    /say 2. Have you ever had an account here before?

    /say 3. Have you been interviewed before? If so, when? By who? How many times?

    /say 4. What country are you from?

    /say 5. Do you have difficulty speaking or understanding English?

    /say 6. Why do you want to be a member of What.CD in particular?

    /say 7. Please rank the following formats in order of quality, from highest to lowest, using the format "a b c d e f":

    /say - a) V0 MP3

    /say - b) FLAC

    /say - c) 128kbps MP3

    /say - d) 160kbps MP3

    /say - e) V2 MP3

    /say - f) 320kbps MP3

    /say -- AFTER ANSWERING A SET OF QUESTIONS, SAY MY NAME IN THIS CHANNEL - If you do not do this I will not know you have finished --

  }



  elseif ($$1 == t1) {

    /say INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT:

    /say At What.CD no transcodes or re-encodes of lossy sources are acceptable. There are no exceptions to this rule. The only acceptable transcodes are releases that were transcoded from a lossless source. With this in mind, please answer the following question:

    /say You have got 5 minutes to answer each of the following sets of 6 questions.

    /say 7.  Which (if any) of the following transcodes are acceptable? Answer YES or NO for each example. Numbers represent MP3 bitrate.

    /say a) $randomtranscode

    /say b) $randomtranscode

    /say c) $randomtranscode

    /say d) $randomtranscode

    /say e) $randomtranscode

    /say f) $randomtranscode

    /say In this section if you don't get too many wrong you'll get one chance to correct them. If you can't do so, the interview will  end.

    echo 4 -a Answers: $randomtranscode().answers

  }



  elseif ($$1 == t2) {

    /say g) $randomtranscode

    /say h) $randomtranscode

    /say i) $randomtranscode

    /say j) $randomtranscode

    /say k) $randomtranscode

    /say l) $randomtranscode

    echo 4 -a Answers: $randomtranscode().answers

  }



  elseif ($$1 == t3) {

    /say m) $randomtranscode

    /say n) $randomtranscode

    /say o) $randomtranscode

    /say p) $randomtranscode

    /say q) $randomtranscode

    /say r) $randomtranscode

    echo 4 -a Answers: $randomtranscode().answers

  }



  elseif ($$1 == gen1) {

    /say GENERAL QUESTIONS:

    /say 1. How old are you?

    /say 2. Where did you hear about this channel? Be specific

    /say 3. Are you a member of any other private trackers (Demonoid counts)? If so, please post your stats and profile links here. Images are not  acceptable.

  }



  elseif ($$1 == gen2) {

    /say 4. Have you ever participated in invite trading before? Admit to it now and your actions will be excused. Deny it and get  found out later (staff monitor places where invites are traded) and you will be banned.

    /say 5. How much experience do you have with creating and uploading torrents?

    /say 6. How big is your music collection? (both physical and digital)

    /say 7. What are your preferred bitrates/presets/formats and what program do you use to rip?

  }



  elseif ($$1 == tech) {

    /say TECHNICAL QUESTIONS:

    /say 1. What is port-forwarding? Are you connectable?

    /say 2. What is DHT? Is it good or bad for private trackers? Why?

    /say 3. When seeding audio files, editing the ID3 tags of the file will interfere with seeding (TRUE or FALSE)

    /say 4. Explain the difference between lossless and lossy codecs. Give three examples of each.

    /say 5. What are CBR and VBR? What does each mean? How are they different?

    /say 6. What is V0?

    /say 7. What is the highest possible MP3 bitrate?

  }

}



/randomtranscode {



  ;!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  ;dont read this script as it is! load it in your aliases and

  ;type /randomtranscode for a semi-pretty output with instructions!

  ;!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



  if (!$isfile($mircdirtranscodelist.txt)) {

    echo 4 -a Error: No transcodelist.txt found!

    echo 4 -a I will now create a transcodelist.txt for you in: $mircdir. Save the file when you are done editing.

    .write -n " $+ $mircdirtranscodelist.txt $+ " CD -> V0 MP3|Y

    .timer 1 5 .run " $+ $mircdirtranscodelist.txt $+ "

    echo 4 -a Please place each question|answer on its own line like these examples:

    echo 4 -a CD -> V0 MP3|Y

    echo 4 -a FLAC > -v6 Vorbis (Ogg)|Y

    echo 4 -a 192kbps MP3 to FLAC to V2|N

    echo 4 -a 192MP3 -> 320MP3 -> ALAC|N

    echo 4 -a ALAC -> FLAC -> V0|Y

    echo 4 -a You are welcome to use T/F/Y/N/+/- or anything else as the answer.

    echo 4 -a Just make sure you use a " $+ $chr(124) $+ " to separate the question from the answer.

    echo 4 -a Use "/randomtranscode" again once you are done editing to see usage examples.

    halt

  }

  elseif (!$isid) {

    echo 4 -a Welcome to the transcode interview randomizer!

    echo 4 -a The purpose of this script is to randomize the questions during the transcode section of your interview.

    echo 4 -a Once you have filled up $mircdirtranscodelist.txt with your questions and answers, usage of this script is simple:

    echo 4 -a In your scripted interview simply put $!randomtranscode in place of the actual question.

    echo 4 -a Each time the $!randomtranscode is used it will get a random question and keep track of the answers for you.

    echo 4 -a Once you are done with the questions you can use $!randomtranscode().answers in your script to output the current answers.

    echo 4 -a Its probably a good idea to just echo the answers to yourself by putting this in the script after your questions:

    echo 4 -a echo 4 -a Answer key: $!randomtranscode().answers

    echo 4 -a 

    echo 4 -a Thats it! If you have questions send 'jdp' a message. Enjoy the pseudo-randomness!

  }

  else {

    if ($prop == answers) {

      var %answer = %transcodeanswers

      unset %transcodeanswers

      unset %transcodeunused

      return %answer

    }

    if (!%transcodeunused) {

      var %transcodelines = $lines($mircdirtranscodelist.txt)

      set -u5 %transcodeunused 1

      var %a = 2

      while (%transcodelines > 1) {

        set -u5 %transcodeunused %transcodeunused $+ . $+ %a

        dec %transcodelines

        inc %a

      }

    }

    var %whichline = $rand(1,$lines($mircdirtranscodelist.txt))

    while (!$istok(%transcodeunused,%whichline,46)) {

      var %whichline = $rand(1,$lines($mircdirtranscodelist.txt))

    }

    set -u5 %transcodeanswers %transcodeanswers $gettok($read($mircdirtranscodelist.txt,%whichline),2,124)

    set -u5 %transcodeunused $remtok(%transcodeunused,%whichline,1,46)

    return $gettok($read($mircdirtranscodelist.txt,%whichline),1,124)

  }

}




Welcome to the What.cd Invites Channel!
My name is Filefly and I shall conduct a membership interview with you today.
What.cd is normally an invite-only tracker. This channel was created so that certain people could obtain a membership without a sponsor to invite them.
The purpose of the interview is to determine whether or not you know enough about BitTorrent and audio file encoding to survive here without running into problems that could get you banned for accidentally violating the rules.
I respectfully request that you answer the questions quickly and to the best of your ability, one answer per line, numbering them as you go. If you don't know an answer, tell me you don't know. Not knowing an answer is not an automatic failure!
To begin the interview, type my name in this channel. You have three minutes to respond.



1. Have you ever had an account at What.cd before?
2. Have you been interviewed here before? If so, by whom and when?
3. Are you a Waffles.fm Power User?
4. Where did you hear about this IRC invite channel? (provide a link if you have it handy)
5. Please tell me if English is not your primary language so that I don't get impatient.
6. What is your email address?
7. Type my name in this channel.



Alright! Let's proceed.
To be a good member at What.cd, you must possess a clear understanding of:
|----------------------------|
| THE WHAT.CD TRANSCODE RULE |
|----------------------------|
"No transcodes or re-encodes of lossy releases are acceptable here. There are no exceptions to this rule, no matter how rare you claim the release is. The only acceptable transcodes are releases that were transcoded from a lossless source (such as a CD or lossless file)."
In other words, lossy-to-lossy and lossy-to-lossless transcodes are forbidden. Lossless-to-anything is OK.
*Consider yourself so instructed and warned as to this rule*
Do you have any questions about the Transcode Rule? Now is the time to ask!



According to What.cd's Transcode Rule (as described above), which of these conversions are acceptable to upload?
(Yes or No for each)
1. CD -> FLAC
2. CD -> FLAC -> 320kbps MP3
3. CD -> FLAC -> V0 MP3
4. CD -> 320kbps MP3 -> FLAC
5. CD -> 192kbps MP3 -> 320kbps MP3
6. CD -> V0 MP3 -> 256kbps MP3
7. CD -> APE -> 192kbps MP3
8. CD -> 320kbps MP3 -> 256kbps MP3
9. CD -> 256kbps MP3 -> 192kbps MP3
10. CD -> ALAC -> FLAC -> 320kbps MP3
11. CD -> V0 MP3 -> V2 MP3 -> 192kbps MP3
12. CD -> FLAC -> ALAC
13. Type my name in this channel.


------------------------------------->
Do you know what V0 or V2 refer to?

They are quality settings (presets) for the LAME MP3 encoder, which produces variable bitrate MP3s.
-V0 (~245 kbps), -V1 (~225 kbps), or -V2 (~190 kbps) are recommended. These settings will normally produce transparent encoding (transparent = most people can't distinguish the MP3 from the original in a blind test).


This is a problem. But it is a problem that can be fixed!
I want to help.
I regret to inform you that you did not pass this interview. I shall provide you with some links to study, then you are welcome to come back and try the interview process again in 48 hours:
-------------------------------------------------------------\
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Lossy
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Lossless
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=LAME
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=CBR
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=VBR
and most importantly:
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Transcoding
http://xs.vc/eac/Spectral/spectral.html
http://xs.vc/eac/
http://whatinterviewprep.webs.com
-------------------------------------------------------------/
A lossy file must NEVER be converted to another format and then uploaded to What.cd! You must know what V0 and V2 MP3s are.
Keep this in mind, study the links provided above, consider the guidance given herein and return in 48 hours to try again. Thanks for taking the time to interview.
-------------------------------------------------------------\
Please review these materials and come back in 48 hours to pass this interview. I know you can do it!
Thanks. Do you have any questions?



1. What is the concept of maintaining a ratio?
2. If you have downloaded 50 gigabytes and uploaded 25 gigabytes what is your ratio? Is this a "good" ratio, in your opinion?
3. What is your OS? What CD-ripping program do you use? Do you know if that program is able to rip an EXACT copy of the CD?
4. What is a .log file? What CD-ripping program generates a .log file when ripping an exact copy of the CD?
5. If after joining What.cd you were given invites, for how much money (in US dollars) would you sell them to others?
6. If after joining What.cd you were given invites, for what other trackers' invites would you be willing to trade them?
7. Let's say you've downloaded a FLAC-encoded album, and you want to make sure it was not improperly transcoded from a lossy source. How would you find out?
8. Type my name in this channel.



I recommend you use EAC (Exact Audio Copy) to rip CDs to lossless or LAME MP3 formats when using Windows. It is our preferred ripper here.
http://xs.vc/eac - read that later.
EAC produces a .log file with each rip, detailing the encoding settings that were used. It also gives information on any errors that may have occurred during the ripping process. You should always include a .log with your uploads, so that people who download them are able to see that you knew what you were doing.


I recommend you use XLD to rip CDs to lossless or LAME MP3 formats when using Mac OSX. It is our preferred ripper here.
http://tmkk.hp.infoseek.co.jp/xld/index_e.html - read that later.
XLD produces a .log file with each rip, detailing the encoding settings that were used. It also gives information on any errors that may have occurred during the ripping process. You should always include a .log with your uploads, so that people who download them are able to see that you knew what you were doing.


You should conduct a "spectral analysis" of the music files. This will provide you with visual depictions of the audio files for inspection. You may read about how to do this here:
http://xs.vc/eac/Spectral/spectral.html
Read that later.


Trading or selling invites is specifically prohibited by the rules, and will get you banned. Do not do this -- you WILL be caught.


You must satisfactorily answer the following questions. These questions will test the rules and concepts you should have already read while waiting in the queue, or learned from previous tracker experience.
***True or False***
1. You are allowed to post your What.cd .torrent files on other sites.
2. DHT is good for private trackers and you should enable it for What.cd.
3. "Partial Seeders" are actually people who only downloaded a portion of the torrent and seed that portion to the swarm, but appear as leechers on a tracker.
4. Everyone gets to download their first 5GB before ratio watch takes effect. If you've been a member for less than 2 weeks, ratio watch doesn't take effect until the 10GB barrier.
5. It sometimes takes considerably longer to seed your downloads to a 1:1 ratio on a music tracker than on general trackers because of the low ratio of leechers to seeders.
6. When seeding audio files, editing the ID3 tags of the file will not interfere with seeding.
7. Seeding and uploading mean the same thing.
8. You are allowed to download data from other torrent sites and seed it at What.cd to boost your ratio.
9. The minimum bitrate allowed at what.cd is 128kbps.
10. Type my name in this channel.




Key:
1 is False. Do not post our .torrent files on other sites.
Every .torrent file has your personal passkey embedded in it. The tracker will automatically disable your account if you share your torrent files with others. You will not get your account back.
This doesn't prohibit you sharing the content on other sites, just the torrent file.
2 is False! It is important to disable DHT! If you have enabled DHT you could be uploading to people who don't even have access to the site so you won't be receiving the proper credit for your uploads & downloads. You will be sharing data out of the tracker and those ghost peers will be using your bandwidth to download from you. Even worse, you could be tagged for cheating! Disable DHT!
3 is True! A "partial seeder" is someone who downloads just a portion of a torrent and then seeds that portion back to the swarm. A "partial seeder" will appear as a leecher on the tracker. Beware of older torrents with a high number of reported leechers! Chances are those "leechers" are partial seeders, and will never download a single kilobyte from you. Don't fall in the ratio trap!
4 is True! You can download up to 5GB before ratio rules apply. This does not apply if you've been a member for less than two weeks.
5 is True! It can take a very long time to seed to a 1:1 ratio on unpopular torrents here because there is a very low leecher-to-seeder ratio. In other words, it may take a long time for an interested person to come along and download an unpopular torrent from you.
6 is False! If you alter the file in any way the client will notify you that the hash check has failed, and it will try to download the missing/altered parts again. You won't be able to seed properly. Be sure to make a copy of the file before you edit the tags (edit the tags on the copy!).
7 is False! Remember: Just because you are seeding does not mean you are actually uploading! Uploading means that you are actually transferring data to someone who is downloading the file from you. You may seed a torrent for months (or years!) without actually uploading a single kilobyte if no one ever connects to you.
8 is True! For example, you are permitted to download scene releases from 0-day sites and seed them here to help boost your ratio. Just be sure that you do not modify the files in any way.
9 is False! The minimum allowed MP3 bitrate at what.cd is 192kbps, except in certain rare circumstances involving comedy CDs and audiobooks.



1. How old are you? Male or female? (these questions are optional)
2. What kind of music do you like?
3. How big is your music collection? (both physical and digital)
4. What are your preferred bitrates, quality settings and formats?
5. Why do you want to be invited to What.cd? In other words, what do you expect to find here?
6. Why should you be invited to What.cd? In other words, what do you expect to offer our community?
7. What BitTorrent client do you use? Is this client allowed on What.cd? (see the client Whitelist)
8. What upload speed do you usually get when uploading torrents?
9. What kind of experience do you have with actually creating and uploading your own torrents?
10. Are you a member of any other private trackers?
11. What is the meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything?
12. Who said: "The smoker you drink, the player you get"?
13. Pizza, hamburgers, bratwurst, or eggplant?
14. Which colour?
15. Type my name in this channel.



Puppies
Bunnies
Kittens
Babies
Rainbows
Teddy Bears
Lesbians
Candy Factories
Are you thinking happy thoughts?

You have completed the interview. Are you ready to see your results?

You passed. I knew you could do it!
I'll need your email address again.


I have sent you an invitation to What.cd...
Congratulations!
If you need help, feel free to PM me on the site or IRC, or check out the forums where you'll find loads of helpful and knowledgeable users, along with tutorials. You can also visit #what.cd-help here on IRC and on the site there is a wiki with a wealth of information.
Please stay in this channel until you get your invite email and have logged in to the site, in case you have any problems.
I'll be sending you a PM on site. Reply to it if you have any questions, and I'll do my best to assist you. I am also on What.cd's First-Line Support Team -- I can help with audio software and equipment, OS support, EAC/XLD, and general torrenting questions.
Thank you for taking the time to interview with me today.


It may take up to 5 minutes to receive your invite email and the subsequent confirmation email, so be patient!
----------------------------------------------------------/



Thank you for taking the time to interview. May you have a happy and prosperous experience here at what.cd! If you have any questions, feel free to reply to this message, PM me on IRC, or contact me on AIM: "WhatCDfilefly".

These forum posts will be useful in showing you how to build and maintain your ratio:
forums.php?action=viewthread&threadid=11333
forums.php?action=viewthread&threadid=3027
forums.php?action=viewthread&threadid=15841

Much whatlove,
filefly



    INTRO:
    Hello. Welcome to the What.CD Interview Channel. I will be your interviewer for today. Please answer each question as thoroughly, and quickly as possible.
    Also, answer each question in its own line, label your answers, and don't bother using outside sources like Wikipedia or Google.
    If you're unsure about a particular question, just say so. Not all the questions are evenly weighed.
    The purpose of this interview process is to make sure that all the members have a basic audio and bittorrent proficiency.
    After every section type: !Finish when you're finished and ready to proceed to the next section.
    If you don't have any questions, type !Ready to begin.

    FIRST SECTION:
    1. How old are you? / Where are you located?
    2. Have you been interviewed before? If so, by who?
    3. Have you had an what.cd account in the past?
    4. Why do you want to join what.cd?
    5. Are you a member of any private trackers? If so, which ones? (Provide links)
    6. Where did you hear about this IRC channel? If online, please provide a link.
    7. Please provide your email address.
    Please rank the following formats in order of quality, running from highest to lowest:
    a. 128kbp/s MP3
    b. ALAC
    c. V0 MP3
    d. Q6 OGG
    e. 320kbp/s MP3
    f. APE

    SECOND SECTION:
    1. Explain what is V0/V2? What are their target bitrates?
    2. Explain what a lossless audio codec is? Give three examples.
    3. Explain what a lossy audio codec is? Give three examples.
    4. What is CBR & VBR? How are they different? Explain.
    5. What is the highest possible MP3 bitrate?

    THIRD SECTION:
    1. What is a transcode?
    2. How do you determine whether a file is a bad transcode? And what program do you use?
    3. Which of the following are acceptable transcodes: (more than one answer is possible)
    a. lossy to lossless
    b. lossy to lossy
    c. lossless to lossless
    d. lossless to lossy
    4. Which of the following conversions are acceptable? (Format: a. yes/no)
    a. CD -> Q6 OGG
    b. CD -> FLAC -> APE
    c. CD -> APE -> FLAC
    d. CD -> FLAC -> V0 MP3
    e. CD -> ALAC -> FLAC
    f. CD -> FLAC -> 192kbp/s MP3
    g. CD -> 320kbp/s MP3 -> V0 MP3
    h. CD -> V2 MP3 -> V0 MP3
    i. CD -> V0 MP3 -> V2 MP3
    j. CD -> FLAC -> V0 MP3 -> V2 MP3
    Explain your answer to letter j.

    FOURTH and FINAL SECTION:
    1. What is the concept of maintaining a ratio?
    2. How big is your music collection? (Both physical and digital & Provide a screenshot)
    3. What is the minimum bitrate accepted at what.cd?
    4. What application do you use to rip music?
    5. What is the purpose of .log file in a music rip?
    6. What is the purpose of .cue file in a music rip?
    7. What is port-forwarding? Do you have your ports forwarded?
    8. What OS are you using?
    9. What do you feel that you can bring to the what.cd community?

    Answer the next series of questions with: True (T) or False (F)
    10a. Trading, selling, sharing, or giving away your account is allowed.
    10b. DHT is good for private trackers and you should enable it for What.CD.
    10c. Posting What.CD .torrent files on other sites is permitted.
    10d. Everyone gets to download their first 5GB before ratio watch takes effect. If you've been a member for less than 2 weeks, ratio watch doesn't take effect until the 10GB barrier.
    10e. It usually takes considerably longer to seed your downloads to a 1:1 ratio on a music tracker than on general trackers because of the low ratio of leechers to seeders.

    Pass:
    Congratulations, your invite to What.CD has been sent. Please be sure to use a unique password for your account. It takes roughly ~3-5 minutes for the invite to arrive.
    -----------------------------------------------------------\
    *** READ THE RULES/WIKI/FAQ BEFORE YOU START ***
    -----------------------------------------------------------\
    If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. Otherwise enjoy the site. Lastly, you may idle in the channel until your invite arrives.

    Fail:
    Unfortunately, you have failed this interview. Provided below are some useful links to get more familiar, with encoding/transcoding/etc. You may come back in 48 hours to take another interview.
    -----------------------------------------------------------\
    http://whatinterviewprep.webs.com/
    http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Transcoding
    http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Lossy
    http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Lossless
    http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=LAME
    http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=VBR
    http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=CBR
    http://xs.vc/eac/Spectral/spectral.html
    -----------------------------------------------------------\



mIRC script -- aXiom01 v3.0 wrote:

    ; Email Checker -- /email <full_email>
    /em {
    /msg #what.cd-interviewers !whatemail $$1
    }

    ;Introduction -- /intro
    /intro {
    /say Hello. Welcome to the What.CD Interview Channel. I will be your interviewer for today. Please answer each question as thoroughly, and quickly as possible.
    /say Also, answer each question in its own line, label your answers, and don't bother using outside sources like Wikipedia or Google.
    /say If you’re unsure about a particular question, just say so. Not all the questions are evenly weighed.
    /say The purpose of this interview process is to make sure that all the members have a basic audio and bittorrent proficiency.
    /say After every section type: 4!Finish1 when you're finished and ready to proceed to the next section.
    /say If you don't have any questions, type 3!Ready1 to begin.
    }

    ;First Set (1) -- /p1
    /p1 {
    /say FIRST SECTION:
    /say 1. How old are you? / Where are you located?
    /say 2. Have you been interviewed before? If so, by who?
    /say 3. Have you had an what.cd account in the past?
    /say 4. Why do you want to join what.cd?
    /say 5. Are you a member of any private trackers? If so, which ones? (Provide links)
    /say 6. Where did you hear about this IRC channel? If online, please provide a link.
    /say 7. Please provide your email address.
    }

    ;First Set (2) -- /p2
    /p2 {
    /say Please rank the following formats in order of quality, running from highest to lowest:
    /say a. 128kbp/s MP3
    /say b. FLAC
    /say c. V2 MP3
    /say d. 160kbp/s MP3
    /say e. 320kbp/s MP3
    /say f. V0 MP3
    }

    ;Second Set (1) -- /p3
    /p3 {
    /say SECOND SECTION:
    /say 1. Explain what is V0/V2? What are their target bitrates?
    /say 2. Explain what a lossless audio codec is? Give three examples.
    /say 3. Explain what a lossy audio codec is? Give three examples.
    /say 4. What is CBR & VBR? How are they different? Explain.
    /say 5. What is the highest possible MP3 bitrate?
    }

    ;Third Set (1) -- /p4
    /p4 {
    /say THIRD SECTION:
    /say 1. What is a transcode?
    /say 2. How do you determine whether a file is a bad transcode? And what program do you use?
    /say 3. Which of the following are acceptable transcodes: (more than one answer is possible)
    /say a. lossy to lossless
    /say b. lossy to lossy
    /say c. lossless to lossless
    /say d. lossless to lossy
    }

    ;Third Set (2) -- /p5
    /p5 {
    /say 4. Which of the following conversions are acceptable? (Format: a. yes/no)
    /say a. CD -> Q6 OGG
    /say b. CD -> FLAC -> APE
    /say c. CD -> APE -> FLAC
    /say d. CD -> FLAC -> V0 MP3
    /say e. CD -> ALAC -> FLAC
    /say f. CD -> FLAC -> 192kbp/s MP3
    /say g. CD -> 320kbp/s MP3 -> V0 MP3
    /say h. CD -> V2 MP3 -> V0 MP3
    /say i. CD -> V0 MP3 -> V2 MP3
    /say j. CD -> FLAC -> V0 MP3 -> V2 MP3
    /say Explain your answer to letter j.
    }

    ;Fourth Set (1) -- /p6
    /p6 {
    /say FOURTH and FINAL SECTION:
    /say 1. What is the concept of maintaining a ratio?
    /say 2. How big is your music collection? (Both physical and digital & Provide a screenshot)
    /say 3. What is the minimum bitrate accepted at what.cd?
    /say 4. What application do you use to rip music?
    /say 5. What is the purpose of .log file in a music rip?
    /say 6. What is the purpose of .cue file in a music rip?
    /say 7. What is port-forwarding? Do you have your ports forwarded?
    /say 8. What OS are you using?
    /say 9. What do you feel that you can bring to the what.cd community?
    }

    ;Fourth Set (2) -- /p7
    /p7 {
    /say Answer the next series of questions with: True (T) or False (F)
    /say 10a. Trading, selling, sharing, or giving away your account is allowed.
    /say 10b. DHT is good for private trackers and you should enable it for What.CD.
    /say 10c. Posting What.CD .torrent files on other sites is permitted.
    /say 10d. Everyone gets to download their first 5GB before ratio watch takes effect. If you've been a member for less than 2 weeks, ratio watch doesn't take effect until the 10GB barrier.
    /say 10e. It usually takes considerably longer to seed your downloads to a 1:1 ratio on a music tracker than on general trackers because of the low ratio of leechers to seeders.
    }

    ;Pass -- /pass <nick>
    /pass {
    /say Congratulations, your invite to What.CD has been sent. Please be sure to use a unique password for your account. It takes roughly ~3-5 minutes for the invite to arrive.
    /say -----------------------------------------------------------\
    /say *** READ THE RULES/WIKI/FAQ BEFORE YOU START ***
    /say -----------------------------------------------------------\
    /say If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. Otherwise enjoy the site. Lastly, you may idle in the channel until your invite arrives.
    /msg #what.cd-invites .pass $$1
    }

    ;Fail -- /fail <nick>
    /fail {
    /say Unfortunately, you have failed this interview. Provided below are some useful links to get more familiar, with encoding/transcoding/etc. You may come back in 48 hours to take another interview.
    /say -----------------------------------------------------------\
    /say http://whatinterviewprep.webs.com/
    /say http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Transcoding
    /say http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Lossy
    /say http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Lossless
    /say http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=LAME
    /say http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=VBR
    /say http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=CBR
    /say http://xs.vc/eac/Spectral/spectral.html
    /say -----------------------------------------------------------\
    /msg #what.cd-invites .fail $$1
    }

    ;10b Answer -- /10b
    /10b {
    /say 10b is False. It is important to disable DHT! If you have enabled DHT you could be uploading to people who don't even have access to the site so you won't be receiving the proper credit for your uploads & downloads.You will be sharing data out of the tracker and those ghost peers will be using your bandwidth to download from you. Even worse, you could be tagged for cheating! Disable DHT!
    }

    ;10d Answer -- /10d
    /10d {
    /say 10d is True! You can download up to 5GB before ratio rules kick in. This does not apply if you've been a member for less than two weeks.
    }

    /10e Answer -- /10e
    /10e {
    /say 10e is True! It can take a very long time to seed to a 1:1 ratio on unpopular torrents here because there is a very low leecher-to-seeder ratio. In other words, it may take a long time for an interested person to come along and download an unpopular torrent from you.
    }

    ;EAC -- /eac
    /eac {
    /say For PC, the preferred method for ripping CD's is with Exact Audio Copy (EAC).
    }

    ;XLD -- /xld
    /xld {
    /say For Mac, the preferred method for ripping is with X Lossless Decoder (XLD).
    }

    ;Spectrals -- /spectrals
    /spectrals {
    /say Adobe Soundbooth/Audition are good ways to spectrally see if the file is a bad transcode.
    /say Checking the peaks on the graph depending on the encoding types, and blocks of the graph are key indicators.
    }

    ;Explain .log files -- /log
    /log {
    /say Log files track the cd ripping process and show any errors that occured.
    }


    ;Explains .cue files -- /cue
    /cue {
    /say Cue files provide cd layout and other information to burn an identifical disc.
    }

    ;Explains V0, V2, etc presets -- /vx
    /vx {
    /say V0 is a VBR (Variable Bitrate) LAME preset that averages 245kbp/s (check the LAME article for more info)
    /say V2 is a VBR (Variable Bitrate) LAME preset that averages 190kbp/s (check the LAME article for more info)
    /say V0/V2 are the most used presets on what.cd, therefore it's important that all the members invited know what they are.
    /say Also, check the LAME article for a chart comparing the quality for: 320kbp/s and V0/V2 MP3s.
    }

    ;Email -- /eml
    /eml {
    /say What is your email? (Hotmail is not allowed; Gmail is preferred)
    }

    ;Format -- /format
    /format {
    /say Please follow this format:
    /say a. yes/no
    /say b. yes/no ... etc
    }

    ;Minimum bitrate -- /192
    /192 {
    /say The minimum bitrate that is allowed on what.cd is 192kbp/s CBR.
    }

    ;What port fowarding means -- /wport
    /wport {
    /say Port forwarding, is the act of forwarding a network port from one network to another. This technique can allow an external user to reach a port on a private IP address (inside a LAN) from the outside via a router.
    }

    ;Importance of port forwarding -- /port
    /port {
    /say Also, it is very important that you forward your ports correctly. This will ensure that you are 'connectable'. Visit: http://portforward.com/routers.htm, search for your router, check for port forwarding, and follow the guide.
    }



Mainly stolen from Filefly and aXion01, thanks very much!

Hey, my name is Psych. Thanks for your interest in joining What.CD? I will be conducting an interview with you today to determine your willingness to abide by the rules, ability to contribute to the community, your prior experience with BitTorrent, and perhaps most important, your knowledge of audio encoding.

Please number your answers as I have numbered my questions, this makes it easier for me to keep track of everything. IRC has a line length limit, please keep your answers short and concise. If you need to type a lot, use multiple lines (Enter key). Please do not use any outside sources during this interview. This interview is about what you know, not how well you can google and copy/paste your answers. Use your own words. If you do not know the answer, say so. It is not an automatic fail and I will appreciate it more than you searching google and wasting everyones time.

If you have any questions for me, ask them now. If you feel you need to review information, do that now. When you're ready to begin, type "Psych, begin". After you're done with each question set please type my name as well this way I won't forget about you.

So, lets get to know each other.

1. What country do you currently live in?

2. Have you ever been interviewed here in the past? If so, when, by whom, and how many times?

3. Have you ever had an account here in the past?

4. Are you a Waffles.fm Power User?

5. Where did you hear about this IRC invite channel? (provide a link if you have it handy)

6. Please tell me if English is not your primary language so that I don't get impatient. If you feel you can better complete this interview in your primary language, tell me. Perhaps we have an interviewer who speaks it.

7. What is your email address?

8. How old are you?


Now that we all feel warm and fuzzy inside (at least I do) lets get down to some better questions.


This is important. The rest of the interview will be based, at least in part, off of this one rule. Please read it. Then read it again. If you still feel uncertain, read it again. If you have a question about it, ask.

|----------------------------|
| THE WHAT.CD TRANSCODE RULE |
|----------------------------|
"No transcodes or re-encodes of lossy releases are acceptable here. There are no exceptions to this rule, no matter how rare you claim the release is. The only acceptable transcodes are releases that were transcoded from a lossless source (such as a CD or lossless file)."
In other words, lossy-to-lossy and lossy-to-lossless transcodes are forbidden. Lossless-to-anything is OK.

1. What is a transcode?

2. How do you determine if a file is a transcode? What programs would you use?

So, according to the rule which ones are acceptable transcodes.

1. CD -> WAV
2. CD -> 256 kbps MP3 -> FLAC
3. CD -> FLAC
4. CD -> V0 -> V2
5. CD -> 192kbps MP3
6. CD -> 320 kbps MP3
7. CD -> APE -> Ogg q8
8. CD -> FLAC -> V0
9. CD -> V0
11. CD -> 320 kbps MP3 -> WAV
12. CD -> AAC

Lets move on, you're doing well!

1. Explain to me the best you can what V0 and V2 are. Plus one point if you tell me what their target bitrates are.

2. What is the difference between CBR and VBR.

3. What is a lossless audio codec? Give 3 examples

4. What is a lossy audio codec? Give 3 examples

Congratulations! The hardest part is over, I think. The next set of questions is largely random and put in here just so I get to talk to you more! Short answers are fine. I don't need an essay.

1. What is the concept of maintaining a ratio? What is a good ratio, in your opinion?

2. How big is your music collection, both digital and physical?

3. What is your OS? What CD-ripping program do you use? Do you know if that program is able to rip an EXACT copy of the CD?

4. What is a .log file? What CD-ripping program generates a .log file when ripping an exact copy of the CD?

5. If after joining What.cd you were given invites, for how much money (in US dollars) would you sell them to others?

6. If after joining What.cd you were given invites, for what other trackers' invites would you be willing to trade them?

7. What is port forwarding? Do you have your ports forwarded?

8. What is the minimum bitrate accepted at What.CD?

9. Tell me about trading and selling invites...

10. What kind of experience do you have making torrents and uploading in general?

11. Tell me the difference between seeding and uploading?

12. What torrent client do you use?

13. Are you a member of any other private trackers? Screenshots are appreciated.


*Woot* We're on a roll now! Almost done! The next set of questions are true or false. Simple, right?

1. DHT. Good or bad?

2. Trading, selling, sharing, giving away, invites/accounts are encouraged?

3. Posting .torrent files on other sites is a great idea and A9 will be pleased!

4. Everyone gets to download their first 5GB before ratio watch takes effect. If you've been a member for less than 2 weeks, ratio watch doesn't take effect until the 10GB barrier.

5. Psych is the best interviewer EVER!

Last 2 questions, perhaps the most important!!

1. Why do you want to be invited to the site? In your own words, what do you expect to get out of it?
2. Why should I invite you to What.CD? What can you give back?

Congratulations, we're finished! Unless I think of something else to add

How badly do you want to see the results? Would you give me a pony?

Congratulations, you have successfully passed the interview!!! Welcome to What.CD!!!! In a few moments I will send you an invite. Just one more question... Please stay in the channel until you have received your invite and successfully signed up. After that, please /part. Feel free to spend some time in our IRC channels. For any questions join #what.cd-help on the same network. The following posts are recommended reading:

forums.php?action=viewthread&threadid=11333
forums.php?action=viewthread&threadid=3027
forums.php?action=viewthread&threadid=15841
rules.php
wiki.php