Once giant torrent website Mininova is set to shut down for good. The site's forums are set to close imminently while according to an announcement on the file-sharing website, Mininova itself will cease to exist starting this April.
Mininova: Legendary Torrent Website
Mininova was at one time the biggest torrent website on the internet. When its popular predecessor, Suprnova, bit the dust in December of 2004, a huge gap was left as far as torrent resources were concerned, and soon numerous other sites popped up to try and fill the hole.
Five Dutch students collaborated to start Mininova, which was initially intended as a hobby project by the bunch. Soon, however, the website blossomed, and became the largest BitTorrent site in the world, earning its founders millions of dollars. The size and scope of Mininova soon attracted the attention of copyright owners, who collaborated with the Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN. The group filed a lawsuit against Mininova, and won the case.
The lawsuit led to the removal of all torrents except those contributed by pre-approved publishers, and although the site has managed to survive since, it now receives only a fraction of the traffic it once generated prior to the lawsuit and subsequent purging of the majority of its torrents.
Imminent Mininova Shutdown Announced
Now, the operators of Mininova have decided to shut the site down, citing a lack of sustainability in the current environment. A notice was posted at the header of the site which reads as follows:
"Mininova is shutting down. On April 4th, 2017 Mininova.org will be shutting down. After this date, content distribution torrents will no longer be seeded. Uploaders are advised to make copies of their content."
Mininova co-founder Niek explained that the group decided to shut down the site as it has been losing money for several years. Niek expressed his gratitude and appreciation for users of the site.
"The support from our users was especially amazing to experience, millions of people used the site on a daily basis and we got many emails each day — ranging from a simple 'thank you' to some extensive story how a specific upload made their day," said the site partner.
Last year proved to be a particularly volatile one in the torrenting world, with the shutdown (and subsequent return) of no. 1 torrent site Kickass Torrents as well as top 10 site Torrenthound and popular meta search engine Torrentz. While the demise of Mininova won't make as big an impact, it is indicative of the ever-changing file-sharing environment these days.
