Who is axxo?

After a brief hiatus, I return. Today, I was searching for good quality movies to download on mininova when I found an interesting pattern. Almost all the movies with the highest number of seeds were uploaded by a person going by the name of axxo. Intrigued, I did a google search on ‘axxo’ and boy, was I suprised. axxo is a faceless, anonymous person in some corner of the world who is causing millions, if not billions of damage to Hollywood. So what does he do? He just picks a DVD off the shelf in his neighbourhood movie store, puts it into his computer and rips into a super-quality 700 MB which is downloaded by millions around the world. I wonder how he manages to pack that kind of quality and bitrate into a 700 MB file. I have had some experience at ripping ( I use AutoGordianKnot ) but the countless settings leave me somewhat flummoxed.

 

What suprised me was the fact that he has managed to remain undercover for so long. Nobody, not even the Feds, have traced him so far. His popularity has spurred many people to come out claiming themselves to be axxo and giving out interviews. Check out one such interview here. There are so many fans of axxo worldwide that the slightest calumnious comment about axxo in any torrent forum would leave your email inbox spammed out of the planet. Of course, I kid but I wouldnt advise you to try. I suspect he lurks somewhere in Sweden. And now, ladies and gentleman, I also have joined the legion of axxo fans. Hail the faceless hero!!

 

 

I am posting his interview below from torrentfreaks.com

 

 

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.