Torrents on RPGN? Whats your opinion?

[Locke Cole]

Hey all,

I've been considering adding the option of torrents to RPGN for ages now, but it has come time to decide if it would be at all a good idea. Would you make use of them? The mirrors would still be available, the torrents would simply be another method of sharing the music.

Torrents are logically faster and easier to download an album, as there is no waiting to get into the server, and everyone is helping send the file out a little. It sounds like a win-win situation, however....

A torrent is reliant on atleast one user to seed a file so that everyone can complete their download. If we cannot find enough loyal users to seed our torrents, they won't last very long.

I have been unable to share VGM for the past 30 months due to bandwidth restrictions and problems with my local ISPs, however there is now a chance for me to try and give back again. Seeding a few new albums every week is very possible for me using a new provider I have found, and I plan to signup with them if we decide this would be a good move for our site.

We will need to put up our own torrent tracker as well as decide on a method of formatting our files that are put up (filename formatting, file type? etc). Do we want to put the album into single RAR file? Torrent it as a folder, with all the files inside? These are all things to consider.

Feel free to add your views and comments on this idea.

[Kilu]

When compared to other vgm sites that share via torrent, the good side of this would be the fact that you could share some older albums that aren't easy to comeby nowadays.

A good way would be to send the data to couple good seeders before putting it up in the tracker, and thus having 3 seeds to begin with. This way no one needs to superseed, and other people will get the file faster, and hopefully seed.

Biggest issue will obviously be the usage. Will there be enough users and will they seed? There is always a possibility for monitoring share ratios and ban people who don't give back. Obviously not immediately, because some connections (like mine) can upload only so slow compared to the downloading speed. But if after given time the person continues to leech and keep the upload to minimum...ban. Maybe put some sort of limit to the ratio that would need to be met. Also a possibility for enabling some sort of registering and only allow registered users to use the tracker. This would reduce the number of random leechers, but could also prevent lazy bums (just like me ) but potential good seeders from participating.

Someone would probably need to write a mini tutorial for torrent usage as well. Or just link to an existing one, I'm sure there are some.

As for the format and stuff... I personally would prefer single files in a folder with info and maybe sfv. This way, if someone is missing only one song from the album that is seeded, they could prioritaze and download only the one song that they need. It would be a pain to download whole rar pack if I would only need one song. Most likely mp3 would be a good, well known, popular format, though I'm not against any other. It just seems that some people are format nazis Using mp3s would also prevent stupid questions like "hw can i ple thise msucs? itis nt wokrin. ITS BRUKKEN! U SUXXORS!"

As for filename, I personally use format like "xXX songtitle.ext" where 'x' is the disc number if the album has multiple discs, 'XX' is the track number and the rest should be self explanatory. Tag format that I have come to use recently:


Where the composer/s reside in the artist field, possible singer or instrument player or whatever as (feat. blaablaa) after the title and vgm album name is as you see it there. NOT ALL CAPS LIKE SOME OF THE MOTOI~ ALBUMS ARE. As you see, I also put the Original Soundtrack, Premium Arrange, Super Duper Double Extra Fun Album Turbo is in [] after the actual album name. Couple good examples would be Dark Chronicle [Premium Arrange], Biohazard 3 ~ Last Escape [Original Soundtrack], Chrono Cross [Original Soundtrack] and Hitman ~Contracts~ [Promotional Sound Track]. Some may hate that style though And as you can see, my tas are minimalistic. I personally don't need all the information that some provide, but I don't mind if it's there, I can always remove it

Anyway, I'm just throwing all this out there.

[Zeugma 440]

Will there be enough users and will they seed?

IMO, the best is to make a request board, so that we are sure that the albums we provide are downloaded. If we put random stuff that one or two random members find cool, I'm not sure that it will get its public among the RPGN visitors.

. I personally would prefer single files in a folder with info and maybe svf

I assume you're talking about SFV files

On the overall, I agree with Kilu about the format, tags and packaging issues. I would also add that IMO, one torrent for one album/related albums is better than one torrent containing several unrelated OSTs.

[Lucky 7]

Never heard 'bout this stuff, but if it works: cool. If it doesn't: suckage.

Actually, this has caught my curiosity. Anyone willing to explain this in a nutshell?

And on an unrelated note: LEVEL UP!!

[Kilu]

In a nutshell.

[Lucky 7]

Damn, that is sweet. Go for it. Thats all I got to say.

[Kaze Nigai]

The single format is probably the best way to go. I have one thing that I feel would be better than one folder. For OSTs with multiple disks, multiple folders.

Instead of "xXX-title.mp3" I think "x - title name.mp3" Would be better.

Other than that little nit-pick, wich may indeed be too picky, I agree 100% with everything Kilu said.

Torrents are great!

[pikatsu]

I figured I'd pass suggesting torrents, since the trackers and such seem to be in perilous situations recently, atleast in the anime front.

But otherwise, I'm all for it.

[Zeugma 440]

the trackers and such seem to be in perilous situations recently, atleast in the anime front.

Huh ? Anime fansub releases don't seem to slow down, as far as I know Do you have any example, Pikatsu ?

[Zedie9]

Originally Posted by Kilu

Some may hate that style though And as you can see, my tas are minimalistic. I personally don't need all the information that some provide, but I don't mind if it's there, I can always remove it

Why bother removing tag information the ripper/encoder has bothered to add in there? It's not as if it being there hurts you or adds significantly to filesize or anything... Changing filenames to suit personal preference I understand, but radically changing perfectly good tags...?

And on that note -

Originally Posted by Kaze Nigai

The single format is probably the best way to go. I have one thing that I feel would be better than one folder. For OSTs with multiple disks, multiple folders.

Instead of "xXX-title.mp3" I think "x - title name.mp3" Would be better.

I agree. Personally, I use the 01.Song Title - Artist naming scheme, with any 'featuring' or guest performers in that place. (Composers go in the composer field in the tags, some soundtracks being an exception. ) Nevertheless, I've never understood the desire to dump all the files from multiple disc soundtracks into one large folder. Separating by disc makes much more sense to me.

[Kilu]

Originally Posted by Zedie9

Why bother removing tag information the ripper/encoder has bothered to add in there? It's not as if it being there hurts you or adds significantly to filesize or anything... Changing filenames to suit personal preference I understand, but radically changing perfectly good tags...?

Because they are not perfectly good, they never are. I always retag any albums I get my hands on. With few exceptions of course. And while I'm tagging, I remove the data I don't need. If there is too much information on the tag and when I look at, I feel my head is going to explode. Not really. I think it's aesthetically more pleasing not to have all that data in there.

Originally Posted by Zedie9

01.Song Title - Artist naming scheme, with any 'featuring' or guest performers in that place.

As we are speaking of vgm, and quite often vgm has more than one composer, this will create too damn long filenames. Too damn long meaning, over joliet stantard, resulting in cut filenames if one decided to burn them on disc. And I for one find cut filenames quite annoying.

Originally Posted by Zedie9

Nevertheless, I've never understood the desire to dump all the files from multiple disc soundtracks into one large folder. Separating by disc makes much more sense to me.

Separating by filename is all the separation I personally need. I have no good reason for it though, I just like it better. Aesthetics again.

[OutcastedNomad]

I will say that Torrents are good and a list like what GameMP3 does (save it will be in the forums ) however we should set the seed count to 1 - 1.5 or 24 hours of inactivity as most torrents die because of this the three seed structure is a great idea to keep it alive but we also should have a common list that will be hosted that Month and will Rotate via a weekly update. Also a request page that will tell what will be out next week. also if you need a Seeder ( or a Reseeder ) I do that normally for some apps and games that are Free ( linux stuff mostly ) but I have stopped as of late as My trackers kept crashing My router. also if we go this route maybe we should think about having Both a compressed ( be it zip or Rar or 7-zip, it doesn't matter as most people here can get the decompresser fairly easy ) and single files. I say this will allow for more seeder to appear as they can host the zip and people can stay in the queue longer and contribute more. Burst is a great client that has the plugin ability to make torrents. Just My .02

[Zedie9]

Originally Posted by Kilu

Because they are not perfectly good, they never are. I always retag any albums I get my hands on. With few exceptions of course. And while I'm tagging, I remove the data I don't need. If there is too much information on the tag and when I look at, I feel my head is going to explode. Not really. I think it's aesthetically more pleasing not to have all that data in there.

Obviously, if the tags contain incorrect information, I also correct them. I'm saying I don't see the point in removing correct information from the other fields. If I've bothered to enter the composer, encoder, ripper, album serial number, et al, I see no logical reason for you to remove it - just your personal preference.

Originally Posted by Kilu

As we are speaking of vgm, and quite often vgm has more than one composer, this will create too damn long filenames. Too damn long meaning, over joliet stantard, resulting in cut filenames if one decided to burn them on disc. And I for one find cut filenames quite annoying.

There are several options for this. Nero always asks me what I want to rename the file before it cuts anything, so that's not a problem. If the filename is too long because of multiple composers, I edit the filename to include only their last names, and if this is still too long, I try to list the main composers or as many as possible - after all, all the information is already in the tags, which is what they exist for in the first place. I suppose it all boils down to personal preference, but I spend a lot of time tagging my rips with correct information, so of course I don't like hearing that half of it is arbitrarily deleted.

[Kilu]

Originally Posted by Zedie9

Obviously, if the tags contain incorrect information, I also correct them. I'm saying I don't see the point in removing correct information from the other fields. If I've bothered to enter the composer, encoder, ripper, album serial number, et al, I see no logical reason for you to remove it - just your personal preference.

There is no logic behind that, and I never claimed there to be. As I said, it looks better for me.

Originally Posted by Zedie9

There are several options for this. Nero always asks me what I want to rename the file before it cuts anything, so that's not a problem. If the filename is too long because of multiple composers, I edit the filename to include only their last names, and if this is still too long, I try to list the main composers or as many as possible - after all, all the information is already in the tags, which is what they exist for in the first place. I suppose it all boils down to personal preference

As far as the filenames go, there should only one naming structure. Naming one set with composers full name, second with last names and third with one name of the two composers (for example) is ugly and inconsistent. Therefore composer names doesn't need to be in there, because, as you said, they have a good place in the tags.

So, I propose that we either use '01 title.mp3' or '01.title.mp3'. I personally prefer the first one, but in the end it really doesn't matter to me. Because I use Tag & Rename.

Originally Posted by Zedie9

but I spend a lot of time tagging my rips with correct information, so of course I don't like hearing that half of it is arbitrarily deleted.

Better learn to live with it

Seriously though, what do you do with albums catalogue number or copyright info? What good use do you have for it? Because I can't think of any.

[Locke Cole]

I actually use the filename format "01 - Trackname.mp3". I have a mass file renamer for all those albums I get that are named differently, as its a pain in the butt reformatting 1000's of files to fit one type of naming scheme. I always put multi-disc albums into folders (one folder per disc) and thats probably how the albums will be when I seed them. As for ID3 tags, I usually have the ID3v1 tags filled out, however personally, most of my collection has the v2 tags wiped. Either the music was obtained well before v2 was popular, or they just never contained the data. At this point I don't plan to spend the next 2 months retagging every album I have, so I'll just pretty up the ones I seed before they go online, if this plan ever takes motion.

Right now I'm looking into the torrent tracker program, and how it works.

[bluedragonx]

I guess I'm the only one that outright HATES ID3 tags on mp3s. Whenever there is one, I just delete it because I only want to see the filename of the song, not some ID3 tag. The reason being that I always put time into how my music files are named, making them the best that I want them to be.

For regular music, this is how my files naming goes.

artist name - album name - (disc number-)track number - track name.mp3

Here is if for VGM:

abbreviated album name - (disc number-)track number - track name. mp3

**(disc number-) is there if the album is multiple discs (without the brackets, of course).

The folders those tracks are in are fully named instead of abbreviated.

[Zedie9]

Originally Posted by Kilu

As far as the filenames go, there should only one naming structure. Naming one set with composers full name, second with last names and third with one name of the two composers (for example) is ugly and inconsistent. Therefore composer names doesn't need to be in there, because, as you said, they have a good place in the tags.

Well, I'll clarify. I put the performer in the filename, because I prefer it there when I'm listening to my random list in my car or old mp3 player. I sometimes put the composer in the performer field, like with Elfman's scores, instead of whichever orchestra performed it. So far, I haven't run out of room in the filename often enough to be overly concerned with using only surnames, but on the unusual occasion in which I am forced to, I personally find it neither ugly nor inconsistent, as I like the system and foloow my own personal guidelines each time (and I'm more consistent than the tags I DL, naturally, since everyone uses his or her own system.)

Originally Posted by Kilu

So, I propose that we either use '01 title.mp3' or '01.title.mp3'. I personally prefer the first one, but in the end it really doesn't matter to me. Because I use Tag & Rename.

Same here. As well as many mp3s are tagged nowadays, I nevertheless do edit them with tag & rename to fit my naming structure, and sometimes have to edit tags, as with the Spider-Man 2 Score...

Originally Posted by Kilu

Better learn to live with it

Yah, yah, to each his own. I wasn't trying to persuade you, but there should never be only one opinion or option listed when there could be several.

Originally Posted by Kilu

Seriously though, what do you do with albums catalogue number or copyright info? What good use do you have for it? Because I can't think of any.

I don't often use the copyright field, actually - I'm sure I have before, but I don't remember the last time, offhand, and if I did, I'm sure I had a good reason for it (in my mind, if not yours ). The catalog number I include as often as possible - it doesn't hurt to have as many identifiers as possible. Some releases of the same album have a different mastering esthetic; sometimes one mp3 strays from the fold and into a random folder or sometimes gets renamed beyond identification (Believe it or not, in my kazaa days, I came across tags with screwy artist and title fields, but intact catalog numbers, helping in identifying what I'd gotten instead of what I thought I'd gotten. ) *shrug* If nothing else, catalog number feels appropriate to me. Delete them if you don't like them; I can always add them if I do.

[Kilu]

Originally Posted by Zedie9

Same here. As well as many mp3s are tagged nowadays, I nevertheless do edit them with tag & rename to fit my naming structure, and sometimes have to edit tags, as with the Spider-Man 2 Score...

Those tags were perfect

[Zedie9]

Originally Posted by Kilu

Those tags were perfect

I could say the same about some of mine that you say you changed, but instead I'll remind you of something else you said:

Get used to it.

[Kilu]

Originally Posted by Zedie9

I could say the same about some of mine that you say you changed, but instead I'll remind you of something else you said:

Get used to it.

I don't have a problem with anyone changing my tags as I do it myself, but I'm wondering was it that needed changing? You don't like the [Original Motion Picture Score] part?