Metal MP3 Trading via Direct Connect FAQ
Version: 2.0
Date: November 4, 2008
This is a FAQ for those interested in trading death and black metal
music and other forms of neoclassical music, including synthpop,
electronic music, soundtracks and ambient, in the form of mp3 files
using the Direct Connect P2P networks.
Throughout this FAQ, we use Neoclassical Music Hub as our example
and encourage all who are interested in ancient or modern Indo-
European music to visit this hub.
I. Getting Online
1. Install Software
2. Prepare MP3s
3. Begin Sharing
II. Hub Questions
1. Technical
2. Social
3. Conventions
4. Contact
Appendix A: List of Metal MP3 Trading Sites
I. Getting Online
You will be accessing a "hub," which is a computer serving as an
address book for those computers currently online and sharing files.
When you connect to the hub, you can then see what other machines
are available, and connect to them through the mediation of the hub.
This hub uses the "direct connect" protocol and is online 24 hours a
day, seven days a week.
1. Install Software
The first step is to find the software, and the second to install
it.
a. Finding Direct Connect++
The preferred version of Direct Connect is an open-source freeware
version authored by a brave team of volunteers. While it is not
perfect, it has no advertising and runs more efficiently than the
original.
You can find it here:
http://dcplusplus.sourceforge.net/
Click on the "download" option to the left, and save the current
version for your operating system to your hard disk. There are both
Windows and source code versions here, so if you are on a Mac or
Unix system you will need to compile a binary. Seek your local
expert for help with that process (it is beyond the scope of this
file).
b.
On Windows machines, installing is as simple as double-clicking the
installation archive and then entering some information about your
system. You can change the values entered later, including most
importantly the location of your "shared folder."
Since the values entered can be changed, and require explanation to
be lucid, they are covered in more detail in the next section.
2. Prepare MP3s
a. Settings
The most important decision is the choice of folder to share. It is
wisest to pick a place on your local harddrives where you have
plenty of room, and can consolidate your mp3 files by folder. If you
have only one drive, your C: drive, it is advisable to pick some
place away from your system folders and files, such as C:\tmp\share
or c:\share, which allows you to add new folders within it with
minimal chance of you including sensitive files.
b. Configuration
By local custom, the configurations used are thus:
C:\share
\band name
\album_name1
\album_name2
\album_name3
band_name - album name - 01. track name.mp3
band_name - album name - 02. track name.mp3
band_name - album name - 03. track name.mp3
Using the extended "0n" format for track listing allows computers to
automatically sort the tracks correctly in numerical order.
c. MP3s
"Ripping" MP3s refers to the process of transferring files from a
music CD to digital form. Since the Windows file system does not
natively recognize these files, an additional piece of software is
used to convert them so that they can be encoded.
To rip MP3s, you need:
- A CD-ROM drive of ripping capability
- Software to rip and software to MP3 encode
- Space on your hard drives
(approx 40 mb per full-length album to be ripped)
The software we recommend for extracting from CD or WAV files is
CDex, which can be found here:
http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/
Go to the Options menu, select "Settings" and then "Encoder"
and enter "%1 - %2\%1-%2 - %7. %4" (without quotation marks) in
the "Filename" blank.
This package both rips (CDex) and encodes (LAME).
A more complete set of instructions for the ripping process,
including a list of compatible drives, can be found at:
http://www.mp3-faq.org/tips/encoders.html
It is also useful to change the "WAV -> MP3" directory to your
shared folder. This allows you to directly rip CDs in the
preferred format. To do this, go to the "Options" menu and
select "Settings" and browse to your share directory in the
field "WAV -> MP3".
3. Begin Sharing
a. Connecting
Once you have installed the software of your choice and set up your
MP3 directory, you are ready to connect to the hub itself.
Checklist
(Use the rulesets in Section II part 3 as a checklist.)
In the upper left hand corner of the DC++/Direct Connect screen is a
button option called "Connect." Select this, and in the "Address"
line of the ensuing dialogue box, enter the address of the hub you
wish to use (see list in Appendix A).
When you connect, you should should see the following message:
neoclassical.no-ip.org:412
[ Indo-European modern and classical music hub. ]
b. Sharing
Your files are made available when you place them in your share
directory and tell your Direct Connect client to recompile a list of
the files it has (in the "Settings" menu). Other people will
download your files and your system will establish a queue, or line
in which tasks wait before being acted upon, both for the people
downloading files and for the files you download from others. A user
list should be in the upper right hand window of the program; if you
right-click on a user name and select the "Browse" option, your
system will download a directory of their files.
There is also an area on your client for system messages and hub
chat, which is a free for all channel based around the hub. When you
are on the hub, the speeds you perceive for each transfer will
reflect the portion of your bandwidth being consumed by all of your
transfers. If you join the hub at 56k with 3tb of rare black metal,
expect to have a bandwidth shortage rapidly.
II. Hub Questions
1. Technical
"I can't connect to the hub(timeout)!"
Most likely, one of two things has happened:
1. Your local ISP/relay is moving slowly.
2. The local ISP/relay for the hub is moving slowly.
There are other possibilities, such as cataclysm or hardware
failure, but it is most likely one of the above two. Wait for a few
hours, then try to reconnect.
"I can see a user's files, but not download."
Either this user is out of slots (method of regulating number of
people using the user's bandwidth at any one time) or there is a
problem, most likely with a firewall, in the sending of your file
request. Often, if the user whose share is inaccessible can be
enticed to send a message to the user requesting, routing blockages
are "cleared" because the system recognizes the connection and
allows it.
2. Social
"I've been banned!"
The person banning you will send a one-line message with the ban
request. This explains the reason why you are being banned. This is
usually one of the rules of the hub. Fix whatever it is (unorganized
files, not sharing, not enough sharing) and return when you're
ready. If you show a willingness to help us out by standardizing to
the formats and behavioral level required, we'll help you out by
allowing you to download and trade MP3s.
"People were mean to me!"
(cough) this is black metal (cough)
"What do you mean, 'too much humanist music'?"
Undue amounts of hippie music, nu-metal, leftist metalcore, etc.
will annoy the clearer-headed ones on the hub. If you're sharing 75%
RnB and Soul Classics and then a handful of later black metal
albums, expect "no connection" error messages.
3. Conventions
On the Neoclassical Music Hub, we don't like rules because it's easy
to conform to the meaning of the words used to state rules without
acting out the social role which is needed.
Once you are forced to state clear rules, people follow those and stop
thinking about the spirit of what they are doing. Thus there are no
rules, and discipline - while lax - is arbitrary if you do not
understand the principles of neoclassical culture and thought.
The following behavioral suggestions seem necessary:
1 - Contribute (you get what you give).
2 - No moralizing (no topics are taboo).
3 - Your behavior reflects your character.
If you really need these defined, it's not the place for you. We are
not inclined toward kicking/banning, since these are overused on most
hubs for the masturbatory glorification of the egos of the ops, but if
you are not contributing you are a drain on the community and will be
ejected.
You can type "+rules" into the main chat window or the server window to
see a display of the current standards.
- All shares must contain neoclassical music. A metal-only share, or a
rock share, does not count. If the music you are sharing that is not
neoclassical outweighs the amount that is, we would like you to return
only when that condition is corrected.
- Shares that are disorganized and have the bulk of mp3s more than one
level from the root will not be acceptable.
- Games/warez, movies, porn, etc. are not part of neoclassical culture.
If these outweigh the musical contributions of your share, you will not
be welcome.
- Finally, if you are kicked/banned, check your share for the above
violations. If you do not correct them, you will not be welcome to
return.
4. Contact
For help, visit our support forum here:
http://www.anus.com/metal/hall/
This FAQ
--------
There will be information about these servers and software at:
http://www.anus.com/metal/about/mp3/
Appendix A: List of Metal MP3 Trading Sites
* Underground Metal Search Engine
http://www.deathmetal.org/
* Death Metal and Black Metal Reviews
http://www.anus.com/metal
* Political Representation for Metalheads
http://www.hessian.org/
(c) 2002-2008 srp (http://www.anus.com/etc/people/srp)
all rights reserved.