The Shareware CD Archive

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http://archive.org/details/cdbbsarchive

Has a lot of images to dig into.

[Tadrio]

I love that collection, I'm checking weekly to see what has been added. They have a lot of game magazine cover discs with playable demos that are otherwise very hard to find these days.

[Scaryfun]

I'm pretty sure they got some of The DOOM Level CD Collection images from us too, but since they provide an archive that will last forever, then more power to them.

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For those who like such stuff - computer magazines archives:

http://archive.org/details/computermagazines (various)
http://www.cgwmuseum.org (Computer Gaming World and some early magazines)
http://kultcds.com (predominantly German)
http://www.thecomputershow.com (text-only: PC Game Center, etc.)

[Tadrio]

I'm pretty sure they got some of The DOOM Level CD Collection images from us too, but since they provide an archive that will last forever, then more power to them.

Yeah, they also got a few magazine coverdiscs and cover scans up there that I recognised as mine, shared e.g. at UG but I think most of us who are active in these things care about preservation anyway, so if this helps decentralise the archives, get more people interested, and reduce the risk of data loss, it's a good thing. Although some kind of attribution to where they got the stuff from would be nice. It kind of sucks that we let copyright trolls and extortionists persecute those who do the actual hard work of preservation by researching, buying, collecting, archiving, scanning, sharing... while the IA can hover above it in some sort of aura of immunity (although I guess that also remains to be seen).

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As far as I understand they accept user contributions and only moderate them and do 'staff picks'. Unfortunately admission level is a bit low (like no covers and searchable contents for discs), at least they should fill missing details themselves.

... while the IA can hover above it in some sort of aura of immunity (although I guess that also remains to be seen).

Thought about that too — is it allowed to distribute all those magazines? Perhaps no one wants to deal with IA yet, unless it is something serious.

[Scaryfun]

Are any of those magazines still in existence anymore?

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I guess many are, but how does it matter? As if we can start uploading there titles from defunct publishers.

Hmm, these look like full versions?

[Tadrio]

Hmm, these look like full versions?

They are, I downloaded one myself to check. More than that, they even host many complete TOSEC romsets now. I doubt Sega would be amused to see them distribute a zip file containing the complete Genesis library... they're entering some dangerous territory now and I'd hate to see trouble over this endanger the other things they do (e.g. the Wayback Machine).

Some recently uploaded shovelware shooter add-ons even appeared complete with 3DSL.nfo and 3DSM.nfo files... I know I said a source attribution would be nice, but preferrably it could be one without direct links to the site? It even contains the message to report on these forums if the files were found anywhere but on Legends...