- Mar 24, 2012
- 6,100
- 670
The goal of this thread is to provide a way/sources for anyone to find music~ I need to revise soon this when I remember and have time :o
*new way to get 115 links that are orange~ (if/when I remember, I will cover that here with pics)
* a new quick note~ sometimes searching google with the album image will help you find your album really fast. You click "image" at the top. click the camera in the search bar, and either paste a image url or upload the image~ (might give pics later~)
sorry about not updating~ I've not forgotten about this thread :P
Helloo any people~ it'll take me a while before I update this, but your feedback/sources will help!
I plan to remake the basics part and give better examples. The best way to search something is like:
Code:
"album name" (flac OR ape OR wav OR cue OR tak OR tta OR eac)You can also take out things you don't want by putting a minus next to the word.
ex: -search -shop -115 -review -buy -store -website
website ex: -vgmdb
You may have to change a few things depending on your search. Duckduckgo and google will give you totally different results, so try both~
*added a lossless source: http://forums.ffshrine.org/f72/lossless-video-game-soundtrack-thread-links-first-64743/
When I'm done with several more rips, I'll re-work this guide and give more examples to go by. I'll also have a simplified version at the top. (so you don't have to read the details~)
*added https://nipponsei.minglong.org/
*adding a special blog: http://blog.xuite.net/s08333/lamkee/41549385-C79%E7%B8%BD%E5%90%88%E6%88%B0%E5%A0%B1#The
*cleared change log, added lonE as a DL and IRC source.
going to add:
*extra irc stuff (a link for now)
*more sources
*finding reliable places???
*using the korean website (once it's all figured out)
*spoilers and new basic searching examples.
*better explanations for some search tools.
**A simplified summary near the top.
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This is the raw essence of searching for music, and the samurai ways that people use to fulfill music requests. This thread is meant to help users find what they want by using some of the advanced search functions of Google and DuckDuckGo.
There are five main parts to this guide:
B0. Tools and Notes
B1. Searching Anime-Sharing and vgmdb.net
B2. IRC and XDCC
B3. Basic Searching with Google and ddg.
B4. Advanced and Foreign Language results.
B5. Other Useful Sources, websites and Tips.
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B0 Tools and notes:
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Before using Google, I'd like you to understand how Google limits your searches. Please read about DuckDuckGo.com I would recommend using this search engine, but it sometimes does not reach as far as Google can. If you see a DMCA report in google, that may have been what you were looking for.
I will refer to DuckDuckGo as ddg. Try using ddg and google, most of the search functions will be the same.
I recommend using:
0. The current stable version of Firefox.
1. pearltrees which is basically online bookmarks highly organized. I use this when I have trails of lost music since sometimes I might find a clue in another website.
2. Download Statusbar (ff). You can pause downloads, re-visit download sources, and see how long a download will take.
3. Rikaichan to translate Japanese.
4. http://vgmdb.net/ for album information.
5. Keep a list of accounts that you make while searching for downloads. This will help you if you ever see the same website again.
6. Keep a list for file links that have multiple parts. This will help if one of the files go bad and you have to re-download.
7. Some albums might not be on the internet as quickly as others. Some people may not be willing to buy the CD until a certain time of the year (such as comiket).
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B1 Searching Anime-Sharing:
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You should search Anime-Sharing with the exact album title of what you're looking for. Go to http://vgmdb.net/ and find the album title that you are looking for.
If you have trouble searching vgmdb, here's a few tips for you.
1. Search with the catalog or JAN number. If you can find the music for sale, it should have a number that you can search with. Here's an example catalog number, try searching with this: TAM3-0061
2. For Doujin/fan albums, you may need to try searching the artist or producer because it's not for sale. Here's an example of an album without a number: Acoustic Air I found this just by searching "Air".
3. Change the words that you search with. Sometimes you can find the album if you search with fewer words, in romaji, or in Japanese. Even if you copy/paste the exact title, it might not show up. Just delete a few words and you should get a result.
Searching A-S:
If you are looking for music, use the "advanced search" under the search bar. Next to "keywords" change the menu to "search titles only." Search AS with either the whole title or different parts of the English or Romaji title.
Take this title for example: KeySoundsLabel ArrangeCD vol.1 Try searching using the whole title, space between the words, different parts and ways. This should help you understand how the A-S search works.
4. If the A-S link is dead, see the guide for downloading via IRC XDCC. There is also another thread here for a little extra help.
If you didn't find in A-S what you are looking for, continue with this guide.
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B2. IRC and XDCC:
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(I'll add more overtime for various clients, servers, commands, and explanations)
tutorial.
http://www.kasshin.net/downloading.php
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B3. Basic searching with Google and ddg. (this will generally solve most problems.)
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To the learning user:
Take each step as practice before continuing to the next. Search for the album title that you're looking for as you go through this guide. Feel free to skip steps that are not in bold. If you're frustrated at any time, take a break and try again later.
All of these will work on duckduckgo.com/, feel free to try that as well.
First, I'm going to explain the simple functions.
To see Google's explanations and examples, go here.
0. General search.
If what you're searching for is popular enough, you'll find the music quickly. Search your album title in Google or ddg along with "download". Make sure you pay attention to the url and descriptions of what you find. This is very important for most of this guide.
1. Minus.
When you do a search, you should have main key words and take away what you aren't looking for. Search: angel beats soundtrack. You may see some results like Amazon, CDJapan, YesAsia, etc., where you buy the soundtrack. Look at the number of results you get at the top (in the billions?). Now try: angel beats soundtrack -buy. This will take away Most websites selling CD's, and give you fewer results. You might come across a review, a website, a song, or a format you don't want which you can take away by using a minus. You can also take away a phrase like: -"Brave Song". You can get rid of a website by taking out the domain. (for example: -vgmdb). You can also get take out websites that use the same file host. (ex: -mediafire) However, keep in mind that you may be giving up a page that just has several download hosts. (for example: the MU link doesn't work, but RS does.) You can also use minus to connect words that are strongly related. (ex: air-original-soundtrack) Connecting words helps to make sure each word is in every page you get. Using minus can save lots of time, or get past Website Spinners.
1.1 Album titles with special text.
When searching for an album, there might be text other than words. for example: PERFECT SELECTION -AIR- Aozora no Suzu This album has -air- which will take out that word. You might find other text like ~ / ☆ ・ 「 」 [ ] etc. These are sometimes included in a Japanese album, which you should not include in a search unless they're needed. You can search with quotes and still find the album using the special text.
1.2 Spinners.
A website spinner will search their own database for something that they probably don't have, and will show up in your search results. You can tell if a website searched itself by looking at the url for "/search", "/s", "related", etc. Most of these websites will have a box that says how fast you can get a download. There may be a box that says: "trusted, 100%, verified, kbs" etc. They may even direct you to a place to select a server in your country. All of these things are fake. To cut out these websites, add one of these: -search, -related, -s, -find, etc. If you use ddg, you won't have this problem 99% of the time.
2. Plus.
Let's say you want a lossless quality or image CD, but you could not find it using the above tools. Using a plus will find results that use a plus. (ex: [FLAC+CUE+BK]) Try: angel beats +flac. When doing this search, you may see some Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, etc which is normal. Look under the links for Bold letters, those will be the word you searched. You may also see some uploader tags like [AEC], [Nipponsei], etc. If there's too few results, try Boolean operators: (Wav OR flac OR lossless) or simply don't use a plus. This becomes useful when you're searching with a Japanese title. However, keep in mind that the plus sign is extreme, and may take out plenty of pages that have the lossless music. A better option to try is quotes around each word. Try comparing: Angel beats +flac, with: Angel beats "flac". You will see a significant difference. Do not use plus with a word other than a format. See Google's explanation of plus for more details about using plus.
2.1 Boolean Operators.
Boolean operators can sometimes be useful, but should not be used often. They must be in caps. Using OR means to use either word between it. (ex: flac OR wav). You can also choose to search between two phrases. (ex: "soundtrack" OR "sound track" OR "ost"). AND means that the results must have both words. (ex: angel AND beats AND soundtrack). You can also use NOT. Using NOT is similar to using a minus, but much stronger. You shouldn't have to use NOT unless you have trouble using minus. Search Google for more about using these functions.
2.2 Underscores.
Using an underscore means that a word is not ignored when you search for results. In other words, every word connected must be in each result you get. They're similar to using quotes or connecting words with minus. (ex: air_original_soundtrack). This can sometimes be better than using quotes, so try searching in different ways.
3. Quotes.
When you're searching for an exact word order, you should try using quotation marks around some words. They narrow your search down to the bare minimum. To see the difference, open Google and search: Piece of Wonder ost. Look under the search bar and see how many results you get. Now search: "Piece of Wonder" ost. You get a significant amount of less clutter, but it is still possible that the album you searched can be left out. If your album has a long title, you can put quotations around several groups of words to get the best results. If your title is in Japanese using special characters: ~ / ☆ ・ 「 」 [ ] etc., you can take some of them out, and still find the album using those characters. (ex: search "fate stay night" and you'll see pages with / included in the middle). If you must, you can also take out a phrase like -"not a relevant text".
3.1 Words not included in a search.
When searching without quotes, there are some words that will not be searched. (ex: the, for, a, is, etc.) If one of these words is important to search with, just add quotes around the word.
When you search using any of the above tools, don't give up completely if you can't find something. Sometimes there will be something right under your nose just by changing the words. Using these tools can help, but sometimes they can prevent you from finding what you want. If you can't find it after really searching, try again either later or the next month. A fresh start will always give better results. Keep any broken or slow links you find until you get your album.
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B4 Advanced and Foreign Language results.
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4. Foreign Language search.
Lots of times, you won't find an album by searching in English or Romaji. This is where you'll need to combine other methods in searching. There are still some terms you can use, such as: -store, -shop, etc. because the url uses English characters. Sometimes just by putting "download" in the search, you'll miss what you're looking for because it's an English word. You have to look at the URL and descriptions only. When you view a page, never view it through google translate. This can make you miss what you're looking for by giving you a bad translation, or prevent you from clicking links.
The most effective way to search in this case is to use: Boolean operators, phrase quotes, underscores, minus, and audio formats.
for example: this album. There was a request for a lossless format. I searched by using something like:
Code:
("kakkowarui" OR "Kakko warui" OR "カッコ悪い") AND I_Love_You AND (flac OR wav OR tta OR tak OR cue OR ape OR eac) -buy -search -store -lyrics4.1 Translating websites.
Usually you'll be familiar with the way a website is made, and you can guess where something is.
The foreign websites that you'll have the most trouble with are: torrents, forums, and Asian ones. When looking through these websites, you'll need a translator such as:
translate.google.com.
This can help you figure out how to register, what you're looking at, or something related to your album. You should try to translate buttons one at a time. Try coping the text from different sides if you have trouble with unwanted parts of the page being highlighted.
4.2 Navigating in Foreign Websites.
Most foreign websites use English words for link and url names. If you put your mouse over a link, you should be able to see some text in a corner of your browser about where the link goes. Asian websites sometimes use flash where copying text does not work. You may be confused about what link to click. You can translate some of the text to mark out what is not the download link. You may have to click around if there's no familiar signs such as a downward arrow.
Registering:
In some websites, you may be given a special security question that you have to answer. Google translate cannot give you the exact word it is asking for, but there are some things in common that will be the answer. Some websites ask a strange question, and the website name is the answer. Some websites will have you do simple math (answering with the equation, or without). In any case, most of the time it will be a simple task.
Sometimes a website might have trouble using the email address you have. Gmail has the best compatibility in most cases, whereas yahoo is restricted to your area (US, EU, JP, etc.)
If you find a forum with a hidden link, learn about what you need to do to see the link. Some websites ask you to make a few posts, give a "thanks", or be the uploader's friend. Depending on what you have to do, you should consider carefully whether or not it's worth the trouble. If the link is on a popular website, you can probably find a link somewhere else.
Korean websites have the most difficult security. They require you to register to access any of their content. Unless they support foreigners, you will not be able to register. This is because they require Koreans to use their Social Security Number. However, they don't ask for a foreigner's SSN. If you can't figure out how to register, save the website url and try to look for a different website.
Download Speed
When you start a download, the speed may be anywhere from 1kbs to 200kbs. This is because of how far the server is from your country, how busy the server is, and whether or not their server can give foreign connections. Even if the file downloads at a snail's pace, keep trying to download it until you find another link. You may have to leave the computer on overnight.
Sometimes you may get an unfinished file without knowing it. It'll say "corrupt" when you try to unpack it. You can tell if the file is unfinished by comparing the website's file size and your file size.
Foreign torrents.
Sometimes you might find a database of torrents. It might look like this website. If you copy parts of the file name, you can search with the exact name of the torrent and possibly find the file somewhere else. You can quickly find the same name if you add it into the quick search. (ctrl + F). Look at the highlighted text in the picture below.
If you search with the ID, you may find other websites that may have the file.
Websites to avoid:
astost.com (must be active in the forum to download, foreigners usually not welcome)
115.com (cannot download)
indowebster.com (downloads will drop)
Tora.to (a chinese blog with high restriction)
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B5 Other Useful Sources, websites and Tips
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(I'll sort these soon! sorry they're confusing x_x)
Some websites I recommend searching:
Bakabt.me (music, manga, anime)
http://losslessone.wordpress.com/download/
http://losslessone.fansub-torrents.com/
Nyaa.eu (second website: http://sukebei.nyaa.eu/) (everything)
Sonixgvn.net (music only)
http://doujinstyle.com/ (has tons of music)
http://vgmdb.net/ (music information)
http://re-persona.com/
http://audioforyou.anisource.net/?p=254 (comiket stuff)
http://comiket.me/ or irc.rizon.net channel: #Comiket
http://archive.foolz.us/jp/thread/8309638 (comiket)
Touhou Lossless music collection
http://doujingravity.blogspot.com/
http://arcane753.com/hane/
http://www.e-ns.net/ (east new sound)
http://www.halozy.com/
kaede.org
http://soundonline.info/
Nipponsei
forums.ffshrine.org/lossless-video-game-soundtrack-thread-links-first-64743/
a music streaming site: http://vgmpulse.blogspot.com/
music blog: http://hiddenchannel.blogspot.com/
http://blog.xuite.net/s08333/lamkee/41549385-C79%E7%B8%BD%E5%90%88%E6%88%B0%E5%A0%B1#The
Diverse system music: http://doujinstyle.com/?paged=65
Chinese websites:
http://www.tsdm.net
115.com
http://www.astost.com
Korean website:
http://www.clubbox.co.kr/
foreign register
Place to discover (maybe DL?) more music:
http://www.aongaku.com/
Common Lossless Audio Formats: EAC, Ape, Wav, Flac, TTA, Tak, AIFF.
(see http://www.fileinfo.com/filetypes/audio)
4.9 Free Audio Converting Software.
For Mac: All2Mp3, Audacity, X Lossless Decoder, Youtube to Mp3, Media Human.
For Windows: Youtube to Mp3, Media Human, foobar2000, WinAmp,
5. Spam Emails.
You need to have email accounts from different hosts. Sometimes a website will work better with gmail than yahoo, for example: http://www.hello-online.org/ has trouble with yahoo, but not gmail. It's usually a good idea to not use your main email account.
6. Long lists of names.
If you find a long list, press "CTRL and F" (or cmd F). You can search where in the page is what you're looking for. You might have to use a keyword instead of a full name. You might even have to use a catalog number, which you can find at a website that sells the music, or vgmdb.net. When you find the album it's not surprising if the links are dead. You should save this website in Pearltrees because you might find a connection later on.
7. Take a break.
Getting bad results can make you frustrated and completely give up. You'll want to stop before you get there, so try again later. You could try searching for something else if you want, but you'll want to be sure that your mind is refreshed. The longer you wait, the better. You'll have better ideas of what to do next, and you might become familiar with some websites.
8. Torrents
Search Nyaa.eu, Baka.bt or another reliable torrent host whenever you can.
You should avoid torrents whenever possible. Most of the torrents you find will either be false, dead, incomplete, or not what you wanted. You should consider using them if you're searching in Japanese, especially if you want FLAC. Lots of Asian websites will use some torrents and have a special name for the album. If you copy and search that file name, you might find another website that has the same thing. If not, try taking out some of the text.
9. Don't open every link.
Depending on how many results you have, you won't need to open most of the links you find. The only case where you'll need to open more, is when you're desperate enough. If you pay attention to the URL and descriptions, you'll notice what is more likely to have what you're looking for. If you couldn't find the album, try again another time. The links you've visited will be a different color, so you'll know where you don't have to look again.
10. Leave feedback for dead links and requests.
Sometimes you'll find websites with people asking for what you're looking for. You never know if they or someone else will respond saying "Hey, here's the album!" You might get lucky if you watch threads with a "database" of music links. If you find what you wanted, give it to the same people you found asking for it. It doesn't matter how old something is, there will be someone in the future looking for it, just as you have.
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This thread is made from this suggestion.
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