There are a small number of very active DAT tapers and traders about. A lot of people feel that DAT traders are a very "exclusive" group who don't often "lower themselves" to trade with the rest of us.
Of course, DAT is a higher quality medium than CDR, so it is quite reasonable for them to refuse to accept CDR recordings.
Try joining the DAT-Heads mailing list. On this discussion list, people with DAT equipment swap hints on how to get the best possible recordings out of their DATs and set up trades with each other. To find out more, visit the DAT-Heads website at:
http://www.solorb.com/dat-heads
Yes, alt.music.bootlegs does have a small number of MiniDisc traders, although most people trade CDR or Videos. MiniDiscs seem to be mainly used by tapers though.
Yes, MiniDisc uses a lossy compression system called Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding (ATRAC) to achieve a compression ratio of roughly 1:5. If no compression was used, a MiniDisc could hold only 15 minutes of audio.
There have been a number of different versions of ATRAC used in MiniDiscs over the years — several by Sony and several by Sharp — and the audio loss with recent versions can only be noticed by die-hard audiophiles, although of course, loss increases with generations.
ATRAC is similar to MP3, but most people agree that it sounds better — probably because ATRAC stores sounds in 292kbps, whereas normally MP3s are no more than 192kbps. A full technical article can be found at minidisc.org's website. http://www.minidisc.org/aes_atrac.html
Because ATRAC is heavily patented, there are currently no computer ATRAC players/recorders like there are with MP3. There are ATRAC3 players though:
Despite some MiniDisc manufacturers' claims, all MiniDiscs really do sound the same! Data is stored on MiniDiscs digitally, so disk quality does not affect the sound quality.
Disk quality is important though — not to sound quality, but to reliability. A good quality MiniDisc will last longer than a low quality disk, which may wear out after a few years.
MDLP stands for MiniDisc Long Play. It is a way of fitting more sound on a standard MiniDisc, similar to the Long Play mode of some VCRs. There are two MDLP modes: LP2 which gets 160mins of sound onto a standard disc; and LP4 which gets 320mins onto a disc. This is a feature of some newer MiniDisc players.
MDLP uses a different way of storing sound called ATRAC3 (there was no ATRAC2 — probably a marketing decision given the popularity of MP3) so will not play on older MiniDisc players. ATRAC3 uses only 132kbps for LP2 and 66kbps Joint Stereo for LP4 resulting in a lower recording.
That said, LP2 recordings are reportedly almost as good as ATRAC recordings. LP4 recordings have noticeable artifacts so should probably not be traded.
Not really! Most people are stopping trading tapes and moving onto CDR. A lot of CDR traders will be willing to dub their CDs onto tapes for you, but very few people will accept tapes in return, unless it's something ultra rare!
That said, it does depend on which band or artist you are trading — some are still heavily centred on cassettes — for example, Jewel, whose taping policy forbids CDR trading, but not tape trading.
You can try asking in alt.music.bootlegs and you might get one or two replies, but I doubt you will.
The previous edition of this FAQ (version 3.1, from 1998) was almost all concerned with trading cassette tapes. For a detailed explanation, find a copy of that FAQ. What follows is a short summary.
Most people prefer you to dub without using Dolby Noise Reduction. While Dolby NR suppresses a lot of the hiss generally associated with cassettes, it also cuts back on some of the "ambience".
Nearly everyone will tell you not to use high-speed dubbing. High- speed dubbing can damage sound quality considerably.
Use "virgin" tapes — in other words, do not record the bootleg over the top of something else — use a brand new, unused tape to record the bootleg onto.
Maxell and TDK are generally considered to be the best tapes. You should always use "Type II" tapes.
MP3 is short for Motion Picture Experts Group, Layer 3. It is a way of compressing sound data, invented for MPEG video files, but commonly used in plain audio files (without any pictures).
The compression is "lossy", meaning that the sound of the MP3 file will be of a slightly lower quality than the original source. The quality difference is generally rather small though.
MP3 files are small enough to send over the Internet, so unlike trading CDs or other physical media, you don't have to pay any postage.
Also, as you are not sending anything physical, there is less of a problem with bad traders.
However, MP3 files lower quality than the original CD source. Also, you probably can't play MP3 files in your car stereo.
While MP3 files are smaller than a lot of other audio files, they are still big (a typical song will usually be at least 4 megabytes). Downloading could take a long time on a slow Internet connection.
There are a wide range of software players for MP3 files. Here are just some:
There are also a few portable MP3 players available.
There are several pieces of software that can convert MP3s to WAV files.
Probably the best tool to use is LAME. Like many of the tools I recommend, it is a command-line program, but has several user-friendly interfaces, such as winLAME. The LAME site also has a list of other programs that feature the LAME decoding engine. WinAmp and mpg123 mentioned above also have the ability to convert MP3s to WAV files.
Although the International Standards Organisation (ISO) definition for the MPEG format rigidly specifies the method for decoding MP3s so that all software should give the same results, as always, some software has bugs that result in lower quality output. In particular, versions of WinAmp before 2.7 may contain a bug that causes static when decoding certain files. For details of this bug and deficiencies in other decoders, please see http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~djmrob/mp3decoders/
Unlike decoding MP3s, the ISO MPEG specification allows programmers to invent their own ways to encode MP3s. This means that different MP3 encoders will give you MP3s with different sound qualities. It is generally accepted that LAME (mentioned above) is the best of the bunch.
There are some CD rippers that include the ability to make MP3s of your CDs. Exact Audio Copy (EAC) and Grip are two of these and they can both use the LAME engine to do the conversion. Other CD rippers, like AudioCatalyst use faster but lower quality MP3 encoders so should be avoided where possible.
When encoding an MP3, you can choose its "bitrate". MP3s with higher bitrates have better sound quality, but are bigger files. MP3s with lower bitrates are lower quality, but have smaller file sizes. 128kbps is typically used as a good compromise between file size and sound quality. 192kbps is used when quality is very important.
alt.music.bootlegs has a lot of MP3 traders reading it, who will often trade by sending files from computer to computer by a method called FTP (File Transfer Protocol).
People also often tade files using "file sharing" services like Morpheus or Napster.
God, yes!!! Most serious traders do not want to receive a recording which is sourced from MP3 files because of the lower sound quality. This does not just mean that they don't want the MP3 files, but that they don't want a CD made out of the files either. Or a CD made out of a CD made out of MP3 files, etc, etc...
Please respect this wish and if you are planning on trading an MP3-sourced recording, warn your trading partner in advance! If you do not, you are likely to be posted as a bad trader, and it could repesent the end of your new hobby! For this reason, it is strongly advisable to keep a careful record of where all your CDs come from and if they have an MP3 "generation" in their history.
First of all, listen to it. If you can't tell the difference, does it matter? Well, if you still think it matters, here's a way of checking.
Rip a random track from the CD into a WAV file using EAC. Open it in a good audio editor. Run a "frequency analysis" on the WAV file and take a look at the treble frequencies. Most MP3 encoders savage frequencies above about 16KHz or 18KHz, so if there's little to no sound in that region, the CD is probably MP3-sourced.
However, newer better MP3 encoders are always being developed. LAME at bitrates of above 192Kbps is virtually indistinguisable from the original WAV file.
Also, there can be other reasons for the loss of high frequencies — older MiniDiscs for example have a similar effect, as can a cassette tape generation followed by hiss reduction.
Small clicks between tracks can also be a sign of an MP3-sourced recording, but it is possible to convert MP3s to CDR without adding clicks, and there are also other reasons why the clicks could be there (a bad TAO to DAO conversion for example)
So in short, there's no way to be 100% sure.
SHN is an abbreviation for "Shorten".
Unlike MP3, SHN files are non-lossy, so the sound contained in a SHN file is exactly the same as the WAV file it was created from.
SHN does have some disadvantages though — SHN encoders and decoders are slower than the equivalent MP3 tools. Also, SHN files are much bigger than MP3 files. Here is an example. These are all the same song (an acoustic version of REM's "Losing My Religion" if you must know!):
MP3 (128kbps, Joint Stereo) ... ... ... 4,209 KB MP3 (192kbps, True Stereo) ... ... ... 6,314 KB SHN ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 27,870 KB ZIP (Maximum Compression) ... ... ... 43,400 KB WAV ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 46,397 KB
It should be noted, that SHN compresses Mono recordings very badly — use FLAC instead.
Like MP3 files, they can be sent over the Internet, so you have no postage to pay and less trouble with bad traders.
Unlike MP3 though, once you've downloaded an SHN file, you have a nice CD-quality recording which you can freely trade.
However, SHN files are much bigger than MP3 files, so you will have to spend a long time downloading them! Usually only people with broadband (very fast) Internet connections trade them.
MP3 files are a lot more popular than SHN files, so while there are 100s of MP3 players around, there are very few SHN players. That said, a few do exist.
Firstly, it is wise to check that the files haven't been corrupted during downloading them. This step is not neccessary, but it's a very good idea. There is usually an MD5 file that comes with the SHN files. This file allows you to check the SHN files are OK. To use the MD5 file, you will need some MD5 software:
Note: Linux users probably already have md5sum installed. On Red Hat based systems, it is in the "textutils" package, which is generally installed by default. On Debian based systems, it is part of the "dpkg" package, which is always installed. See the md5sum man page for detailed usage instructions.
In general, to perform the check, type the following at the command prompt:
md5sum -c [FILENAME].md5
If any of the files have been damaged while downloading, then you should re-download them. If after a second download they are still corrupted, contact the person you are downloading them from and have him check that the files aren't corrupted at his end. If they check out OK, then continue...
Now you are sure the files are alright, you can decompress them. To do this, we need some more software:
Once again, we go to the command prompt to decompress the files:
shortn32 -x [FILENAME].shn [FILENAME].wav
If you are a Windows user and thus terribly afraid of using the command line, then I can heartily recommend a piece of software called mkwACT that does all the MD5 checking and decompressing for you using a nice drag-and-drop interface.
There are some nice instructions on how to install and use it here http://www.etree.org/mkw.html
Anyway, you should now have your SHN files in the flexible WAV file format. As WAV files, they can be recorded onto CDs or converted into other file formats.
Firstly, you will need the same software specified in the answer above. To create an SHN from a WAV file (to create WAV files from CDs, check out the CDR section above) you can either use mkwACT or go the command line way. mkwACT is so easy to use that I won't bother explaining it. Here's the command line way. For each WAV file do:
shortn32 [FILENAME].wav [FILENAME].shn
At the end of converting all the files, it is a good idea to create an MD5 file:
md5sum *.shn > [FILENAME].md5
Currently, the biggest group of SHN traders can be found at etree.org. You can also try searching the Web for other SHN traders.
The MD5 algorithm is described in RFC1321 by R. Rivest. Using the MD5 algorithm, it is possible to calculate a "signature" for a file. For example:
5c63cea472906212bffa149299be0e59
This signature is essentially unique to that file. Any changes to the file (even tiny ones!) will result in a completely different signature.
An MD5 file contains a list of all the signatures of all the SHN files of a bootleg. You can check the signatures in the MD5 file against the signatures for each SHN file. If some of them don't match, it means that those files were damaged during downloading them, so you should try downloading again.
For MD5 software that automates the checking process, see etree.org. Also, mkwACT has MD5 checking built in.
For more details about how MD5 works, please see the original RFC at:
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1321.html
NTSC, PAL and SECAM are different ways of broadcasting audio/video information. PAL and SECAM offer slightly better resolution than NTSC, but on the other hand, NTSC has less flicker.
NTSC is short for National Television System Committee. It was developed in the USA and is used in most of North and South America and most of Asia, including Japan.
PAL is short for Phase Alternating Line. It is used in most of Europe and in Australia and Brazil. There are 5 variants of PAL, but once the signals have been put onto video, the differences between them are eliminated.
SECAM is short for Sequential Couleur Avec Memoire. It is used in France, some of Eastern Europe and the Middle East. It has two variants, which are similarly compatable once they have been recorded onto tape.
The bad news is thata PAL video won't play on an NTSC VCR. A SECAM VCR can't play an NTSC recording. Et cetera.
The exception to this is that most modern European VCRs can now play NTSC videos as well as PAL, but only record in PAL.
For more information, I recommend http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Contrib/WorldTV/
The short answer is that you can't! It requires specialist equipment. Of course some people have this equipment and will offer to do the conversion for you for a small fee — expect to pay between $5 and $15 (US dollars) per hour. There will usually be a big reduction in picture quality caused by the conversion.
You need two VCRs. We will call the VCR that plays the original video "VCR P" and the VCR that records onto the blank tape "VCR R"
If your VCRs are relatively new, they will have SCART (Syndicat des Constructeurs d'Appareils Radiorécepteurs et Téléviseurs) sockets at the back. These are big rectangular sockets, similar in appearence to the parallel port socket on your computer, typically used for printers. If you don't have a SCART socket on both videos, go to the next question.
Connect a SCART lead between the two VCRs. Put a blank tape into VCR R and make sure it is rewound. Switch VCR R onto the "AV" channel.
Put the original tape into VCR P and fast-forward/rewind to the beginning of what you want to copy.
Press "record" on VCR R and wait 5 seconds. Press "play" on VCR P. Wait until the program you are copying is finished. Press "stop" on VCR P. Press "stop" on VCR R. Rewind the tape in VCR R.
(Note: using SCART you will get a better quality copy and it will be easier. Use SCART if it is possible.)
You need two VCRs. We will call the VCR that plays the original video "VCR P" and the VCR that records onto the blank tape "VCR R"
Get a regular TV aerial lead (the kind you normally use to connect a video to a TV. Connect it from the TV-out of VCR P to the aerial-in of VCR R.
Put the original tape into VCR P and fast-forward/rewind to the beginning of what you want to copy.
Press "record" on VCR R and wait 5 seconds. Press "play" on VCR P. Wait until the program you are copying is finished. Press "stop" on VCR P. Press "stop" on VCR R. Rewind the tape in VCR R.
VCD stands for "Video Compact Disc". It is a CD that contains video as well as audio. These CDs can be played on some DVD players and some CD-ROM drives as well as VCD players (these came out years ago, but never sold very well, except in Asia). They can also be played in PlayStations, Dreamcasts and Sega Saturns if you purchase the appropriate add-on.
A 74min CDR can hold 74min of film when used as a VCD. This is thanks to MPEG1 compression. Like DVDs, they can have menus and chapters.
Just copy the VCD like a data CD-ROM.
The details of VCD creation are way beyond the scope of this FAQ. A basic summary is:
Further information at http://www.vcdhelp.com/
Ogg Vorbis is a lossy compression similar to MP3, but it gives you slightly better sound quality and slightly smaller files. It also has much less restrictive licensing conditions. Other than these differences, you may treat OGG files almost the same as MP3 files. For more information, see http://www.xiph.org/
These files are for Real Networks' media player called Real Player. It is very difficult to convert these files to any other format, although there is a piece of Windows software called Streambox Ripper than can do it. Streambox no longer makes this product, but copies can be found in the online underground.
The official Real Player can be downloaded from http://www.real.com/.
The format is lossy.
These files are for Microsoft's Windows Media Player. It is even harder to convert these files to any other format.
The official player (only for Windows and Macintosh) can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/. An unofficial player for most other operating systems is Xine, which can be found at http://xine.sourceforge.net/.
The format is lossy.
This is a new non-lossy format designed to replace SHN. It creates smaller files than SHN (by about 15%), especially when dealing with a Mono recording (sometimes about 40% difference from SHN!). The files have built in integrity checks (so MD5 files aren't needed), built in seek tables (so you can fast-forward and rewind them in media players) and tagging support (so you can store information about the files, such as Title and Artist). The format also has less restrictive licensing conditions.
The FLAC home page is http://flac.sourceforge.net/.
There are recordable DVDs now, and people do trade them, but not many people have the equipment.