For those of you who have been into Chiptune music for a while, you probably remember the website 8bitcollective.com. Plagued with site issues like downtime and a finicky uploader, 8bc held a special place in my heart, it was an incredibly active portal for free chiptune music. Every submission was downloadable, and its where I learned of many of my new favorite artists, included Smiletron, MisfitChris and Electric Children.
At the end of 2010, 8bc went down for good. Luckily, some crafty people took the time to create this: an archive.org collection of every song on the 8bc database. Just over 18GB, this collection is massive chunk of chiptune history, and includes some songs that can’t be found anywhere else. And the best part, this collection is entirely legal under Creative Commons.
For those looking for a new Chiptune fix, check out uCollective, a website started in the spirit of 8bc, with much more attentive developers ;)