Interview: aXXo, The Most Popular DVD Ripper on BitTorrent
Written by Ernesto on March 11, 2007In real life, aXXo is probably just an average person, but on the Internet he’s a celebrity, with over a million people downloading his DVDrips every month. The search term “aXXo” is among the top searches on every torrent site, and even anti-piracy organizations use his name to trap people into downloading fake torrents. We had the chance to ask him a few questions, and find out a little more about him.
For those of you who never heard of aXXo, he is responsible for hundreds of DVDrips that find their way to millions of PCs around the world. Most of the rips are 700MB, made to fit on a single CD. Some have criticized his preference for single CD rips because of the inferior video quality, but most pirates agree that he does a great job.
Earlier this year aXXo temporarily stopped uploading movies because axxotorrents.com was trying to profit from his name. After a few weeks that site went down, and aXXo continued releasing DVDrips.
Most of the time it is impossible to track down the source of DVDrips, especially with people from “the scene“. But aXXo is not a member of the scene, and although was not very talkative either, he was at least willing to answer a few questions.
TorrentFreak: When did you start ripping / uploading DVDrips?
aXXo: When I was about 15 or 16 I got into backing up my old DVD’s. History from there.
TorrentFreak: What motivates you to share these movies?
aXXo: Why not? If I see a great film I believe everyone has the right to be entertained by it.
TorrentFreak: Don’t you think that ripping and uploading these (copyrighted) movies is wrong?
aXXo: No not really. It was just for me and some mates at first.
TorrentFreak: Are you alone in this, Or do you get help from others?
aXXo: No help, It’s all me.
TorrentFreak: You seem to prefer 700MB rips, and not higher quality ones, why is this?
aXXo: Very little (if any) Loss of quality, and will fit on a Single Music CD.
TorrentFreak: On which torrent sites do you release this movies, and why not just on one?
aXXo: There are quite a few I release to. Many people prefer one site over the rest, and I want to spread these as much as possible.
TorrentFreak: What do you think of sites that (mis)use your name, like axxotorrents.com?
aXXo: This is a touchy subject. I have nothing against any of them, it was a complete misunderstanding and the issue has been cleared up. They are reliable, And I have checked every torrent on there thus far to be real.
TorrentFreak: How can people tell if the torrent is not a scam, or a fake torrent?
aXXo: If it’s a RAR archive, It’s not mine. My rips will contain 2 or 3 files. One info and one .avi files. On occasion a .txt file but that will stop.
TorrentFreak: Where do you get the movies, and do you use scene releases as well?
aXXo: …
TorrentFreak: Do you think that distributing these (copyrighted) movies is morally wrong? That is, do you consider sharing shows to be the same as stealing?
aXXo: Thank god in this country we don’t believe in copyright infringement. It’s just sharing entertainment, nothing more.
TorrentFreak: Okay, perhaps this one is easier to answer. What is your favorite BitTorrent site?
aXXo: I don’t have one. Darksiderg.com is where my original releases are, But I release to many. Superfundo, Demonoid, MiniNova, The Pirate Bay.
TorrentFreak: Anything you want to add to this?
aXXo: Upload what you’ve downloaded, and then some.
TorrentFreak: Thanks!
aXXo: You’re welcome.
Previously: Mosts Popular DVDrips on BitTorrent (wk10)
Next: The Pirate Bay’s Torrents Quadruple in a Year
86 Responses
The problem with aXXo is that he’s easy to track down. It’s not hard to find his real name, and the city where he lives on Google.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the FBI / MPAA are watching him at this very moment.
He is easy to find?
Hmm. Anyway, axxo if you are reading this thanks matey!
Peace.
Great interview :)
Just incase make sure you have your Peer Guardian 2 running :)
http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/
If he lives in the US, how has the MPAA not killed him yet?
Toxicity, he sleeps with a Masamune Katana under his bed (http://xkcd.com/c225.html) and has dispatched several of the MPAA hitmen.
if he isnt 18 yet they are probably just waiting till he is to get him
He’s the new Robin Hood.
aXXo,
Thank you for your torrents!
AxxO is ruining the integrity of the whole scene architecture.
I”m curious how torrentfreak actualy got an interview? And WOW he’s only a teenager. I actualy wanted a bit longer interview but heck anyone who can get an interview with the great axxo is a hero of mine :)
there is no such scene group as “axxo”, at least i didn’t find any track of it.
can someone enlighten me?
axxo touched my peepee and made me cry :(
This phony is second hand.
Ha has not released anything.
He uses real scenereleases and put them on torrentsites.
This guy’s a great big phony!
Damn newbies
And this made me laff ahahhah
“TorrentFreak: What do you think of sites that (mis)use your name, like axxotorrents.com?
aXXo: They can go to Hell, we are here for the community, and will never ask anything in return.”
Like you yourself do newb. Take credit for other peoples work.
To the first comment i doubt its tat easy to find aXXo via Google and his name and address or FBi would be knocking at his door now.
Not everything that’s written is true, for one–axxo speaks spanish, so he/she is not your typical US teen (that’s not even true, also)
Maybe this interview was faked?
I dont know…
we will never know.
Appreciate your time for the interview aXXo. I second the American Teenager presumption too…
[quote comment="62036"]Not everything that’s written is true, for one–axxo speaks spanish, so he/she is not your typical US teen (that’s not even true, also)[/quote]
The “American teenager” was info I got from other sources, not from aXXo himself. That is obviously info he doesn’t want to give away.
But the interview is absolutely legit, otherwise I would have come up with something better ;)
[quote comment="62010"]AxxO is ruining the integrity of the whole scene architecture.[/quote]
how is axxo ruining the scene architecture…?
I couldnt care less how aXXo gets the torrents, if he’s a “fake” or what. All I know is I always download his torrents because I know they are the real thing, and worth the download, plain and simple.
Thanks aXXo!!!
Like some people have said this newb is not scene and does not have his own sources. All he does is dupe scene releases then uploads them on stupid public torrents trackers. Thats why you wont find him on any newsgroup, irc channel or private tracker. He is simply ruining the scene and he needs to go to hell.
Anyone who can afford $25-50 for a DSL/Cable connection can afford $8.50 for a movie. Get real kiddo.
How much does the coffee, pack of smokes on Monday and a magazine cost, eh? Around the same if not more.
Haze: “Like some people have said this newb is not scene and does not have his own sources. All he does is dupe scene releases then uploads them on stupid public torrents trackers. Thats why you wont find him on any newsgroup, irc channel or private tracker. He is simply ruining the scene and he needs to go to hell.”
Haze the kind of elitist, the kind that prides themselves for being a member of “the scene” and their ability to get anything through technical prowess, all elitists whether those using money or wits will hate anyone who can bring their prized possessions to the masses.
this re-encoder has no real purpose other than for noobs who can’t find scene releases
“all elitists whether those using money or wits will hate anyone who can bring their prized possessions to the masses.”
It is not about that at all.
The Scene wants everyone to get all releases, thats the point with the scene.
It is about taking credit for other peoples hard work and relable them as your own, and then upload them on torrent sites and boost about it on the net like he does in this interview.
Check a real dupe site like
http://www.nforce.nl
http://www.swedupe.com
and search for axxo,aXXo.
No hit whatsoever, as he has released nothing.
Lets see how long he last now that he has pissed of the REAL scene by taking credit for others hard work.
Sorry for my bad english ;/
re-encode pussy. stop ruining the scene with your shit. get a life(leave it to the big pirates in the scene), anyone can download a dvd-r off a newsgroup and run it through AUTO-GK, you are nothing special. and you’re bound to get yourself caught if you keep it up.
I thought it was hilarious that he had a meltdown over axxotorrents using his name in the url, yet he infringes copyrights and re-encodes others’ releases. you’re certainly right about him being a teenager.
@Hal Jordan
wouldn’t say haze’s an elitist. No one’s fucking complaining about if DiAMOND or REPLiCA releases get into the p2p scene, cuz duh it’s expected. This guy DOES nothing but re-encode already compressed DVD-5 sources for even shittier bitrate into XviD, hence fucking up the integrity of the scene ya asswipe. there are plenty of real internal groups in the scene who use proper sources. in short: aXXo is a lowly scumbag who gets a thrill with seeing his name tagged and seeded for the masses. loser
who cares if he steals, or does anything against the scene…ALL PIRACY IS STEALING!!!!! regardless what you wanna believe…. no one does it because they believe “movies should be free” or this should be free, or whatever… they do it because they want FREE shit and don’t care….fucking idiots…you expect me to believe you guys are patriots to freedom or whatever? NO!!! you guys use WINDOWS, not open source, and I bet most of you also don’t do ANYTHING to get shit right…guess what…if NO one pirated anything…i bet dvds would be the price of a cd….brand new…9.99
Anyone saying “aXXo ruins the scene” obviously has no clue what they’re talking about.
To think that aXXo-releases are re-encodes from other Xvids is just insane, considering the final quality aXXo manages to achieve (his popularity confirms this).
The mere fact that his encodes do not follow scene-rules (quick example: 1CD size, and audioformats used), should be enough for scenegroups to ignore him, as there’s no way their releases can be confused.
Scenegroups are (mostly) anti-P2P anyway so they probably welcome aXXo because his releases help keep their scenereleases off the P2P.
If you’ve read the warning he’s been posting in his torrents, then you know that it wasn’t so much the fact that his name was used in the fake site’s url, but that he is concerned that the wrong people may be watching those torrents posted on those fake sites.
His many fans will know his real homesite by now anyway, but it was a legit concern as TorrentFreak recently explained in its article about the mafiaa posting fake torrents.
You people and your precious “Scene”. It seems like your more angry over the fact that you aren’t getting the credit for uploading this. I mean he’s apparently able to upload a large quantity of video because there is a LOT of stuff out there. He’s spending time and effort creating easily viewed video for the mass, not just for your little “Scene” of friends that get on private IRC channels and share amongst yourself. Yes he will probably get caught but no one is completely safe. I applaud him for doing what he’s doing, he’s got more courage then you people that just hide on IRC.
Well I prefer DVD quality rips vs 700mb ones, aXXo is for people not intelligent enough to make it to private sites, which offer much better releases. Thanks anyway, though I kinda doubt it’s all your work.
It’s called subpoena IP records people.
Computer Investigative Procedure.
L2Live
Thanks aXXo whoever u r ;)
u rock in our part of the world.
@diarrrr
“This guy DOES nothing but re-encode already compressed DVD-5 sources for even shittier bitrate into XviD, hence fucking up the integrity of the scene ya asswipe”
This shows how ignorant you really are. DivX looks the same at 700mb as a DVD @ 4.5gb, ya asswipe.
Did anyone already mentioned that scene DVR-R releases are almost always 2 days before AxxO’s dvdrip release?
[quote comment="62151"]you know that it wasn’t so much the fact that his name was used in the fake site’s url, but that he is concerned that the wrong people may be watching those torrents posted on those fake sites.[/quote]
but they’re not watching his torrents that are released on torrentbox? they’re all right there in one place for them to point their tracking bots at:
http://www.torrentbox.com/account-details.php?id=277561
ffs, torrentbox has even been sued by the MPAA:
http://isohunt.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38933
his little tantrum had absolutely nothing to do with the security of the torrents, it had to do with his inflated ego.
Sorry who is this nobody again? who gives a crap who the fuck this retard is. Meh!
this guy is a nobody! Who cares!
Hopefully he will be busted. He’s a total douche. I bet he hasn’t ever been laid either. LMAO, what a gimp. Pathetic and sad.
1. Who cares where axxo gets the movies from? He is obviously the best at putting them all out there under one name, thus creating a RELIABLE name that people can trust to get good quality torrents from.
2. some people (students like me) can’t afford to buy or rent movies or may live in switzerland in the countryside (like me) where there is no video store and spend the little money they have on a broadband internet connection to do their online university course. Thanks Axxo.
All you people saying he is ruining the scene, ROFL, maybe the guys who are ripping the DVD-r and releasing to the priv FTPs should add their files to the torrent sites themselves.
[quote comment="62236"]All you people saying he is ruining the scene, ROFL, maybe the guys who are ripping the DVD-r and releasing to the priv FTPs should add their files to the torrent sites themselves.[/quote]
They wont because they dont support any p2p or torrents especially public ones which are where all axxo releases are. Public torrents trackers are going to ruin the scene by increasing its publicity.
Anyone who still thinks the scene exists in some Robin Hood fashion (bringing releases to the poor), is disillusioned. The scene is all about elitism and bragging rights and the egos within it.
P2P is a lame landscape of recycled and repackaged scene releases brought to the masses.
The two can never live harmoniously. Kill P2P and the morons that use/support it.
“aXXo: Not everyone can afford $8.50, or whatever it cost’s these days, to see movies.”
“aXXo: The movie industry loses only 1% of its yearly profits, in a multi-BILLION dollar industry. I think the people who can’t afford movies deserve to be entertained just like more privileged people.”
If you have a PC that can run one of his rips and an internet connection capable downloading one in a reasonable amount of time, you’re already highly priveleged.
He can and will do what he wants but painting himself like some kind of robin hood is ridiculous.
If i hear one more thing about ‘the scene’ ill lose it
[quote comment="62194"]
but they’re not watching his torrents that are released on torrentbox? they’re all right there in one place for them to point their tracking bots at:
http://www.torrentbox.com/account-details.php?id=277561
ffs, torrentbox has even been sued by the MPAA:
http://isohunt.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38933
his little tantrum had absolutely nothing to do with the security of the torrents, it had to do with his inflated ego.[/quote]
- Public trackers don’t always have up-to-date IP information. A torrent can have its tracker(s) changed without changing the hash of the torrent, so if the mafiaa adds their fake tracker to it, they can track the IP distribution more directly.
- The fake site was an ad-infested listing that was clearly designed to profit from filesharing, which is something the majority of filesharers disagree with.
Everyone who thinks this interview was legit is plain stupid. Think from axxo whatever you want, it doesn’t matter anyway. But keep you eyes open for misinformation and lies. I could publish an interview with anybody via the net, pft. Anyone should be able to find out on his own wether this was the real axxo or just some gimp.
hey im axxo, i suck.
Yeah the real aXXo is good but your … NOT
This person is an imposter and is pretending to be aXXo.
How do i know ? well the real aXXo who releases on a site i visit, posted the link cos he thought you were a joke.
What a sad person you must be.
aXXo thank you.
ERM….. I know aXXo, but I do not know the guy supposedly giving this interview, yes axxo is real and how the hell is he destroying the “scene” the so called scene is about sharing is it not???? This is a guy who gets a quality dvd rip up on the net before shop release so why keep bitchin about him? The guy offers a service that you do not have to use, so rather than keep using his name or ruining his reputation make your own mark… oh yeah i forgot thats too much work for lamers!!
This just seems like americans (not all) stealing other peoples history again.
If axxo is so bad why do people keep trying get fame and fortune off his name???
[quote comment="62052"][quote comment="62036"]Not everything that’s written is true, for one–axxo speaks spanish, so he/she is not your typical US teen (that’s not even true, also)[/quote]
The “American teenager” was info I got from other sources, not from aXXo himself. That is obviously info he doesn’t want to give away.
But the interview is absolutely legit, otherwise I would have come up with something better ;)[/quote]
the interview is NOT legit. and aXXo himself has said it’s a fake on our forum site.
[quote]It seems like people have nothing better to do.
I’ll be glad if you leave a polite comment here and there, cause that guy is not me.[/quote]
This was posted on our forum site by aXXo himself
This isn’t aXXo, this IS a fake, proof of this, see a post here from the real aXXo.
http://83.149.99.14/forums/index.php?showtopic=12990
This interview is bogus.
Most of this thread is pointless posturing by elitist fools, very very sad.
So here we have a fake interview, SAD
Posts by elitist scene posers/wannabe’s, also sad.
Sumation, pointless drivel the whole thing!!!
@Bob Dole
“This shows how ignorant you really are. DivX looks the same at 700mb as a DVD @ 4.5gb, ya asswipe.”
thx i lol’d
Axxo’s rips are cbr and poorly optimised. I am glad he is no longer releasing. His material is the equivalent of a 128 kbps CBR MP3, which consequently a lot of his releases contain. I am sure it’s peachy for portable use, but for home theater it’s an absolute joke. Good riddance! Leave the PROPER encoding to the big boys.
I don’t care what anybody says. Axxo is the one who got me started. For one, this interview is not aXXo. And if your gonna bitch and whine about the quality, don’t down it. I’ve taken requests and if people like the quality of my rip, I’m sure they’ll DL again. I think it pretty lame for people to try to fake or take credit for anothers work, lol, or i would put his name on my rips, We live in a world of file sharing and thats all i’m doing. No different than taking out my VCR and rippin a movie for my buddies. If you don’t like the quality DL a cam. But all in all, it just goes to show how pathetic people are to get a little attendtion. Are you guys that afraid of the unknown?
Thanks for all your work aXXo.
This is not aXXo !
What a fake “interview”:
This is the reply from the real aXXo: “don’t believe that, somebody is faking me….. again”
http://thepiratebay.org/tor/3636338/The.Queen2006DvDripEng-aXXo
Some people question whether the guy I interviewed is aXXo.
To be honest, I can’t be 100% sure he is. I reached him through trustworthy channels, so I was pretty sure I had the right guy. However, other aXXos (3 other aXXos contacted me today) claim that he’s not the real deal. I’m sorry if I’m wrong, but I can assure everyone that I didn’t make this up, I could have come up with better answers… Will the real aXXo please stand up?
okay you bunch of retards, you know Axxo is Dutch! no question about it!
uh, in the interview he said his country does not believe in copyright infringement, so he most defiantly does NOT live in the US. he isn't dead(i.e. arrested is what i'm assuming you mean ) because he has not broke his laws…that is until the capitalists of the world turn the internet into its own state…
thanks mate keep it coming!!!
Real aXXo is a Vatican citizen, the real aXXo is Pope Benedetto XVI! That's why they don't jail him, he has diplomatic immunity! Jesus loves P2P! Oh yeah Lord bless Pope aXXo!
aXXo thanks a lot mate and to the rest of u people having a pop out him fuk u he makes a lot of people happy go suck a egg u fuking muppets pe@ce aXXo and thanks once again mate.
If you don't care about this guy and thinks he is a nobody, why the fuck do you read his interview then :P … And aXXo can't possibly be american - I think he's swedish - In sweden there is a rather big political party called "Pirat partiet" or something haha :D
I think he lives in video store or something where he can easily get newest movies without paying… I think he lives in Sweden or Russia
love u man
pls let me be cheesy… we love you aXXo! Thanks for sharing.
Man this is funny!!! You go on about aXXo supposedly re-encoding other peoples work and taking credit for them…. Lets for instance say that he does re-encode and re-distribute Mr X's rip, where did Mr X get it from? He just re encoded a film makers work and took credit for it you dumb asses.
So don't you find your little "scene" rants a bit hypocritical in regards to copying other peoples work?.
As for Scenes full of up tight up their own arse morons - Fuck them!
fake.
a million time grats to axxo! If you think axxo can't do what he does, then don't download it. but you can't say I am against it or say what he does is bad and watch the movies anyway. Infact, I think we should be all like axxo, when we have the chance to share something with the net, share it. It's a great feeling to helping others, givin' them what they where looking for AND getting some respect back!!!
About the whole fbi deal etc, if he ever would need a place to hide, he would more then welcome here. The only real question would be, who is he?
that is simultaniously his greatest strength and his greatest weakness. Cuz if we would know who he was, we could donnate him money. A variable amount, then if they sue him, he can get a decent advocate.
cheers, and like axxo said, keep the uploading up. Even if axxo wouldn't be here anymore, thats a way to show some respect!
His rips are 700mb re-encodes of dvd released movies. They're not intended to be the top of the line home entertainment solution. If you want that, go shell out for a bluray of the movie. aXXo provides comparitively small rips with decent quality for what they are, for those of us without dedicated T1 connections and unlimited download quota.
Bunch of elitist faggots saying he ruins "the scene". You kids are throwing around the word "scene" like it actually means something any more. That makes me scoff even harder than the queerbaits calling it low quality. THEY'RE 700MB, what the FUCK do you expect from them? 1080p?
I stumbled on this conversation by being curious and googling aXXo(I download his movies). I'd never heard of "The Scene" until I read this. Sounds to me like a bunch of elitist overly informed selfish fucktards to me. If I remember correctly, the internet gave informational access to the masses and gave us at least some power to fight back against the greedy-ass large companies who rapes us everyday. Now we also have a bunch of greedy-ass assholes who could help the rest but refuses to do so because we're not cool enough and don't know enough - thanks for nothing assholes. At least aXXo shares.
Did I mention I think you're assholes? Oh, Oh well, it's worth mentioning again.
yeah right and the scene never released a 700mb movie :rolleyes:
the scene can do a much better job than this wannabe on a 700mb movie.
example:
the descent
axxo vs DoNE
DoNE has much better quality. both 700mb
u know there is movie coming out: "searching for axxo"
I love aXXo's uploads. I just want to know the application with which he rips DVDs coz I have some Hindi DVD which need to be riped!! somebody can tell me?
fake interview
soooo why do we have internet??? why do we pay for internet??? tell me that first — we got internet to download/have fun/have info y know? aXXo thanks, =)
aXXo is just a brand like Coca-Cola, there are Pepsis out there too with the same quality. however aXXo attracts the masses and in turn there are always plenty of seeders, ensuring that the film is very quickly downloaded. hats off to you aXXo but you could easily have not been king.
btw, check out Zeus Dias's torrents on mininova, he is releasing many good DVDrip ahead of the crowd.
Axxo probably live in Eastern Europe or Eastern Asia (Kina, Japan) because normaly home broadband is available in 1gbit.. Can happened Sweden, Romania, Russia.. We never know where from..
But I thank you to axxo for work.
I enjoyed it. :)
Hell ya AWESOME - FUCKTARDS!
I <3 aXXo!!! Thank you!!!!
You people saying aXXo is lame and is ruining "the scene" need go go out back and shoot yourselves. For the majority of people who don't know/care what "the scene" is and just want a movie that will fit on a CD aXXo is the first thing they search. There are always lots of seeders, its a fast download, has good quality, and is a reliable source - it works every time no exceptions. You "scene" people need to get your heads out of your asses and share your accomplishments with the rest of the world before you start criticizing someone who does just that.
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