DOWNLOADING SPLIT RAR-FILES

[Elroel]

Hi everybody,

Most of you know this already, because we discussed it before. But not everyone is informed.
This resulted in a lot of un-necessary re-uploads.

When uploading to Mediafire the maximum size is100MB. Most of my files are in .wav, because of the fact that there is no loss on the sound quality when unpacked. However, this means that the files are too large. So when packed, they have to be split. Rar gives the extension .part!, .part2 etc.
When you unpack them, only part1 should be clicked. The other parts automatically unpack.
When clicking on part2, or higher, you get the notice: corrupt file or something like that.
The part-files must be in the same directory. That's the only necessity.

There are more ways to split a file. Sometimes (f.i. at Rapishare) the extension is .001 .002 etc.
Here another method  has to be used. A program (free of course) like HJSplit restores those extensions. It can split them as well!.

For your conveniance I'll try to give a remark: SPLIT RAR's. Only unpack .part1



Regards,


Elroel

[eschiss1]

I find no -ear-noticeable- lack in sound quality with 128kbit per second (256 or 320 if you want to be safe; I always reconvert to 128 VBPR in anycase... no matter what form it arrives in) mp3 conversion. But maybe that's because my ears have undergone such rough treatment and my speakers are inadequate. I don't know. It's (precisely) like sending every image as a huge BMP. Jpgs and PNGs contain most of the actual eye-noticeable information at a fraction of the file-space, I'm told and so it seems.

[Mark Thomas]

Well, it's entirely up to Elroel what format he chooses for his music uploads. After all, it's the uploaders who are doing the rest of us the favour. That said, although I store a copy of all the digital music I have as WAV files, so that any changes I make don't further reduce the quality, I do find that my 60 year old ears can't detect any difference between 192 kbps mp3s and their WAV originals and that's why I upload in that format. It's also a good compromise between file size and fidelity. I find that I can hear some degradation in quality if I squeeze the music down to 128 kbps.

[fr8nks]

I prefer the lossless formats that Elroel uses to upload his files. When he makes a digital transfer of an Inedits LP and then uploads it in wave or rar format the sound is stunning. I convert all downloads from UC to wave format to preserve the sound quality as a result of any editing I perform. I haven't uploaded in rar format in the past but I think I will do it from now on. I, for one, appreciate the efforts Elroel and PJ have made to preserve sound quality.

[fr8nks]

A lot of members of UC are familiar with and use 7Zip. Here is a link to a YouTube video showing how to create a rar file using 7Zip. 7Zip is free and easy to use.

                                  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfAfLMFjdHo

[eschiss1]

Mark - no disagreement on that point. I admit to some surprise at first when I saw the .wav files extracted but so long as I have a sense who to expect what from ;^) - and even so, it doesn't matter that much except -practically- speaking- my HD is limited on free space right now so that it begins to cough if I overdo downloading a few large files (rather than a very much larger number of small files) but that issue is one I should be fixing yesterday anyways!!

[MikeW]

While I certainly respect that people are free to upload as they choose, I will observe that

1) There are plenty of lossless compressed formats (FLAC, WMA etc) that reduce the number of files required plus upload/download times. RAR does not compress media files - it just provides a package that supports splitting across multiple files. These formats also allow you to easily store the metadata and album-art inside each track.

2) Users in countries with restricted bandwidth or d/l budgets (e.g. Australia) would certainly benefit from smaller files.

For archiving I use FLAC or WMA-Lossless, but for most regular playback I use VBR0. If I have to convert to something smaller then I always start with the lossless file

[fr8nks]

MikeW states that rar does not compress media files but that is not correct. RAR will compress a file by about 20%. I just tested it on several wave files. I used 7Zip to convert from wave to rar.

[MikeW]

I should have been more careful and said that RAR is a poor compression for media files, and YMMV according to the software used and the type of input.

Lossless media formats are tailored to compressing such files, and you will produce much smaller files that do not have to be treated in order to play back (aside from the metadata benefits). I just ran some tests on WAV files from this forum (using 7Zip and dbPowerAmp respectively):

WAV      RAR        FLAC
253        158         104
264        210         113
260        203         107

When you're paying by the GB for downloads these are substantial savings.

[MikeW]

There are more ways to split a file. Sometimes (f.i. at Rapishare) the extension is .001 .002 etc.
Here another method  has to be used. A program (free of course) like HJSplit restores those extensions. It can split them as well!.

If you use JDownloader to manage your downloads it will decompress and join up files split thus as soon as they're all ready. You can also use it to download directly from YouTube, Vimeo and such sites, even offering audio-only extracts. It's very useful when you're living in a low-bandwidth area and can't stream reliably.

[fr8nks]

I agree that flac (free lossless audio compression) is a better choice for compressing files. Flac files can be played without converting to another format and can always be converted back to a wave file without loss. Burrrrn will even make a CD from a flac file.

[jerfilm]

Observation from an old guy.  When I was in my 20s (back in the 19th century...... ) and really into "Hi-Fi" I would have accepted no less than lossless files.    I guess my hearing has deteriorated but frankly, a well recorded/reproduced MP3 sounds so near the same to me that it just isn't worth the extra HD space.  And I save everything even after burning CDs.   And I use Roxio Creator to convert non MP3s. 

Jerry