So, P2P refers to generic releases rather than a specific group While one can be pretty sure that an R2R or VR release on the sister site is as legit as it gets, how is there any degree of assurance with P2P? Could a P2P release potentially be ransomware filled junk, found in tbe sewers of the net, or do the main sites only tend to 'find' P2P releases from trusted places?
Yes. Any release can be filled with junk, even if you think you're downloading it from a "trusted uploader" from TPB or places like that. Some day that "uploader" can start adding "stuff" to their uploads and it will be too late. It has happened before and it'll happen again.
First off P2P = Peer to Peer, by definition that means 1 person is sharing with others ,by the time that stuff hits the forums , it has already been tested and vetted for pubic distro by some really knowledgeable people. Never in the 15 years , have I seen a release have any thing like you mentioned ,when it comes to reliable sources but such as some get repacks from sites like TPB anything can happen, best advice is to stick with sites that actually give a fuck and read the comments, sometimes things do slip through the cracks but do get caught and reported
P2P is viewed as a wicked sketchy scene with crap filled crap around every corner, but in the fifteen years I've been downloading stuff off of numerous different sites (and not even renown ones like KickAssTorrents, TPB, that have comment boards where people can alert others to a bunk upload, since those have a pretty weak offering of audioware,) and I've never gotten anything but poorly patched stuff once in a while. No one I know has ever had an issue either. PC games are *far more prone to unwanted bonus crap than anything else, and even that's rare. Something to note: the faster a torrent pops up as available, the more people are on it (and you can check the peer list in your DL client, as well, obviously,) and most people aren't going to sit on something that's bust, so that's a small clue. Also, if a torrent has been up for a year-plus, that's another good sign, as most torrents (even popular movies,) die within a very short amount of time if they are even slightly sub-par (i.e.: a movie that's labeled BluRay and is actual 620x480 with a low video bitrate, or an audio pack that is missing elements.) And, a side note; I've never even found *one R2R, Otherside, Decibelle, etc., release that wasn't fully legit. Plus, a lot of plugins, packs, and even programs, can be found in uncompressed forms (mostly so that people can choose what they want, like only grabbing MAC .pkg and not a WIN .exe, which cuts the file size in half,) so you don't have to worry about the actual .zip/.rar package unleashing something on your PC that resembles the evil seen in the finale of Indiana Jones: Raiders of The Lost Ark. And sites geared towards audio torrents, like VSTorrent (which used to be .ru, but has other addresses now,) which are essentially AudioZ-esque-but-Torrent-only sites, are easy to find and tend to filter their stuff fairly well. I'm not saying crapware isn't a real thing and that everything is legit, but it's really not as prevalent as some would claim. P.M. me if you're interested in a couple of the search sites that I use to "borrow" stuff (is it too late to say "allegedly?" )
It happened with "CracksNow", which is not related at all with audio but it's a recent example. After 2 years, they started adding ransomware on their "releases". So, yes. It happened, it still happens (just not from "trusted uploaders" that we know) and it will happen again. That's what you get when everyone can upload their own stuff and everyone can repack it. I only trust certain private trackers and certain uploaders from sister site.