New RS Links posted 19 October 2009

Phew!....Thanks for this...thought I had missed it.

Thank you very much!
Please... don't forget to inform us if someday, somehow, you decide to give a go with torrents...
I wouldn't want to miss any of your wonderful rips!

Take care!

Chipicui

I have a few thoughts on deleted rapidshare files which I submit to engender discussion. I don't claim to have answers. I also have never uploaded a file in my life.

If you take a look at the rapidshare website, they confirm that they are now compelled to actively seek out and take down illegal music files because of a German court decision. They also give the specifics of how they go about it.
See quote from Privacy Policy section "Nobody can access your files without knowledge of the complete download link. This does also apply to RapidShare employees. There is no software that will scan your files for certain patterns or the like. However, there is a program which calculates the MD5 checksum for each file immediately after the upload. The MD5 checksum is a 16 bytes value which is alsways the same when calculated for the same file. This value is stored in connection with the file. If you upload and distribute an illegal file, we will delete the file upon notification and add the MD5 checksum to a blacklist, so the same file cannot be uploaded again".
It seems to me (as an inexpert non-uploader) that Rapidshare will lose a lot of premium account holders from this enforced policy, and so are telling users their way of implementing the recent court decision. The inference is that it is up to uploaders to work around it and keep them in business!
The statement seems to imply that uploaders need to make the initial 'notification' to rapidshare as difficult as possible. Also if uploaders re-upload previously notified and deleted files they must change the md5 checksum of the re-uploaded files or they will be promptly deleted again. Rapidshare would not themselves be able to suggest a way to do this. Maybe adding a small, randomly sized text file to accompany the data file when it is uploaded within a compressed rar or zip volume would change the md5. At least then the uploader's files will not have the same md5 checksum as anyone else's upload of the same material. ( I guess an EAC rip of a CD track would probaly have the same md5 as anybody else's rip and upload of the same track so some form of 'individualisation' of files might make an md5 vs track id database a bit more difficult and unweildy to implement?)
It is unlikely rapidshare have the resources to unpack and identify every uploaded file manually, and I would think they would actively want to avoid it. Notifiers are probably third parties who identify "illegal" files from plainsight links in web pages like this, and they may not even have the resources to download from every link, unpack and positively identify the content themselves. They also are probably only interested in their own specific clients, and such interest is probably a function of time elapsed since release date for music. Who is going to pay them to find and notify links to out-of-print material? An automated web crawl through web sites for links would produce huge amounts of data, and at some point a winnowing out process would have to target their resources at the most obvious infringements to make their work cost-effective. For example expect a blitz on Beatles links from 090909! (There may of course be people who get a kick from notifying who would do it for free!)
To avoid notification it seems prudent to use "cryptic" filenames and links, and to avoid direct links to files on rapidshare from web pages. Using passworded folders on rapidshare's servers to hold (passworded?) links file(s) which point(s) to one or more other rapidshare folders containing the constituent parts for a post might make it much more expensive in time and so more expensive to automate harvesting of weblinks to enable notification to occur. If the notifiers can't make an easy profit then they are more likely to refine their targets to concentrate on a more limited range of material.
If a poster were to go through such a process to try to extend the lifetime of a post it obviously wouldn't help if other people then republish more direct links in the comments! Is more difficult access to posts worth longer post lifetimes? It would be interesting to see a survey of link lifetimes versus the method used to publish the links. It wouldn't be prudent to publish such a survey though! :-)

Personally, I would be happy to pay a reasonable subscription for a good, fast, legal, lossless download service (e.g. flac) with massive choice and never be tempted to download from a possibly illegal weblink again. I want to pay the artists and not the current bloated record company infrastructure. Yet even if this service were to be made available there would always be limits on what it is profitable to provide. One of the good points of sites like Avaxhome is that it keeps alive obscurities for real fans and interested newcomers that could never be made available on a commercial basis.
That's enough from me.....

W00t? I knew there was a reason for saving those 2 first rar off the 1st posting ;)
The circle is now complete and let's see which version I prefer: this one or the the redbook shm-cd. I have a feeling the japanese version will take a beating! Thanks for the double effort Doc!!!!!

@ariadne - Thanks for taking to time to research and write your findings.

I get all your points, however in this case, the only thing I see I did wrong was to post popular music, on a popular open forum and have my files hosted on a popular host which is now under harsh court ordered conditions.

I pretty much do everything to conceal my files. All file names were cryptic. Yellow Submarine was named "YSUB" and Neil Young Harvest was named "NYH". Files were password protected. When files are banned I know to make new RAR's. When I make new RAR's of same master folder, those new RAR's have different MD5 checksums automatically, even if the RAR names are the same. The MD5 of vinyl FLAC will never be the same from two different rips.

Perhaps real live reps for Neil Young, The Moody Blues and Beatles are looking for these posts. If it was only the Beatles that were deleted, I would think I just got caught in the EMI trolling net looking for advanced postings of the new CD's. But being it was also Neil Young and the Moodies perhaps I just pissed off the wrong Avax troll.

But then again, recent Beatles posts by Kel bazar and Moulder were deleted on the same day. But then again, were all have been visited by the same trolls.

I and Kel Bazar have similar clickable links. Moulder links a text file. All deleted.

I see other posters use proxy re-direct servers, which as a downloader I always found a pain.

Protecting links from deletion from record and artist reps who visit these pages or childish trolls is impossible. At this point I believe I was visited by one or the other.

Thank You very much. Tags w/artwork are a nice touch too!! Sounds good so far.

Hi Dr Robert,

Please accept nothing I wrote was intended in any way as a criticism of you or your procedures. I meant to generalise but perhaps did not express myself too well. I am very grateful that you take so much trouble to share what you have with others. I wish I knew a better way to ensure your great effort is not so quickly undone. The quality and care taken over postings here reflects a love for the music, and an altruistic wish to share I cannot be alone in appreciating.

Given your belief the notifications are a result of live trolls and not some sort of bot sweep it is difficult to see how one can do anything but live with it. I hope someone else has a brainwave!

@ ariadne - I took nothing you wrote as critical. I understood your comments as coming from a kind and caring person.

in most cases that isnt the work of "trolls". the labels appoint investigators (firms like mediaprotect), witch are searching popular underground sites for stuff of their clients. this investigation firms do have direct access to rapidshare and are able to delete anything they want, without informing rapidshare itself. posting direct links makes it very easy to take them down, it is harder if they are crypted with DLC (jdownloader), but even this encryption isnt save.

Use cryptic names for the filenames. Change password everytime you make a new post, do not use the same. Put all links in a text file including password - leave nothing on the web page. Leave the text fuile on another server like hotfile. That will keep them busy for a while. When you use same password , they keep the one from a previous post. When trying to access a password protected file on RS to see if its illegal they firs scan with "old" passwords from their list.

Changing the name does nothing to the hash - once my files get deleted they won't re-up no matter how I re-name them. Adding erroneous material to the folder before zipping/rar'ing will change the hash but it can be very time consuming.
This works for me, it's a simple hash changing program. Everything in the quotes is a copy and paste from the place I found it. Installation/usage instructions are found at the links.



"This program allows you to simply right click on a file and it will give you the option to use the "Rapidshare Fucker" tool. This is a very simple tool to use and you can do multiple files at one time.

http://beeblebrox.org/hashtab/ (this is the author's site)

http://rapidshare.com/files/177152143/MD5.rar (This is the program)

you need to install both of these files to make it work:
hashtab2_setup.exe
Rapidshare-Fucker.exe

You'll know you have it installed correctly when you right click on a file and you see the "RAPIDSHARE FUCKER" option

Happy HASH FUCKING"

@ namrats417 -

I think you gave one of the best suggestions yet, FUCK RAPIDSHARE. I installed the programs and used these same Harvest RAR's that were deleted by Rapid Share (and now on Hot File). The check sums were changed. I tested a 50/50 mix of original and changed RAR's and they expanded perfectly.

I am uploading the new hash changed RAR's to Rapid Share now and will post new RS links on this page when upload is complete. THANKS!!

deleted again...

I used "RAPID SHARE FUCKER" to successfully upload the same RAR's.

But if someone is watching this as I expect then there is little that can be done.

"RS FUCKER" is still a useful tool. It allows me to upload new RAR's to RS and these new files are still compatible with those on mirrored host.

Yes, it is possible that RS's time is over... the only problem is getting a concensus as to which service to shift to, as no one wants to have to buy multiple monthly premiums. For me, the recent post of the beatles 2009 by valkan on hotfile, and yours here, was the clincher, so maybe that will become a trend.
Anyway, sorry you were caught in the middle of the file sharing wars dr R, but thanks for hanging in there!

@ freedom2 - Yes, for me this is the end of the line for Rapid Share. RS has the power of the German Courts looming over their heads. Future posts will be primarily on Hot File. See you all next week with something new.

Yeah, maybe it is time for a change - hopefully nobody's ratting out the posts; hash changing can't fix that - maybe RS is just quicker to delete after receiving "complaints"

whatever you decide, thanks for everything and hope to see you soon!

Not allowed to delete a comment?!Guess I just did.

Another fine rip from the DR. Sounds wonderful however there is a slight problem at 1:34 of The Needle And The Damage Done but only lasts for a second or two. I noticed it with a good pair of Grado headphones so it might not be that noticeable to most. Not sure what the source of this could be. Maybe Dr. Roberts could look into it if he's the perfectionist type.
Other than that very minor flaw I thought it sounded excellent and the vinyl is very "clean".
Thank you once again for all your contributions.

vaultman110 - What you heard is damage to the original two track master tape. I hear the same defect on every edition of Harvest I have including the SHM-CD. It sounds like a piece of mangled tape going across the tape head. It is not there on Greatest Hits as most of those tracks were remixed from multi-tracks.

Great rip, thank you.
Cheers

@Dr. Robert - Thanks for the clarification. I thought that might be the case. Maybe because the rez is so much better on this rip I never noticed before now. I have to check out my commercial DVDA disc and see if its there too.

SORRY but we need a repost dr robert this is too much of a classic for anyone to miss. Por favor subelo otra vez amigo

New MegaUpload links posted above

Rapid Share updated with Tiny Paste list

Hey Doc!
MANY THANKS AGAIN!!!!!

Thanks for all the great work on this rip :D

Thank You for all your time and effort, downloaded OK. .

Thanks Dr.
It sounds great: natural voice, warm drums, and orchestrals are very well bodied.

@Doc
MegaUpload Links are GREAT and easy to grab with, because downloading via mageupload is very speedy, and I don't have to wait a bloody long time to download another file after I've downloaded one! :D