Upload To MEGA Using The Desktop APP

 

If you are trading metal bootlegs online then chances are you have used MEGA at some point and time. Possibly the fastest & easiest way to upload to your MEGA account is the use the MEGA Desktop App. This quick little tutorial will go over the steps to easily upload your shows to share them with others.

NOTE: This tutorial can be used with Windows or Linux. The app was created for both operating systems. I do not know if it was created to work with a MAC, so if it is, please let us know in the comments.

Preparing Your Upload

Before you upload your show(s) to MEGA, its always a good idea to make sure that you have all the files, covers & info included.

Make It Even Easier

Here are some tips to make this process even easier and organized before you upload.

• Keep each show in its own folder.
• Create an "Upload" folder somewhere on your computer where you can find it easily.
• Put the shows into that "Upload" folder.
• If your upload is for a trade, put all the shows in a folder with the other trader's name/nickname on it.
• Make sure you know where to locate the folder on your computer before getting started.

STEP 1:

Once you have your files together you need to locate and open the MEGA Desktop App. You can easily do this if you are using Windows 10 by clicking on the "Show Hidden Icons" button on your far right hand side at the bottom of your screen.

STEP 2:

Find the MEGA Desktop App icon and click once on it.

STEP 3:

Once you have clicked on the icon it should open and look similar to the screen shot below. If you have downloaded or uploaded something previously on the app it will show in this box.

Click on the "Upload" button found at the top right of the App.

This will open a new window that you navigate to find your show to upload.

STEP 4:

Navigate to the folder you wish to upload. As you can see I have my folder on my desktop and its called "UPLOADS". Double Click to open the folder.

NOTE: I'm assuming that you put your shows in an "Upload" folder for this task. If not and the show is in its own folder on your desktop or elsewhere, navigate using this App to the show & highlight the folder.

STEP 5:

Inside my "UPLOADS" folder you see the folder that I wish to upload. For the purposes of this tutorial I'm just using a text file inside the folder so its goes quicker.

Highlight the folder you want to upload. Don't open the folder, just click it once to highlight. Click the "Choose" button at the bottom.

STEP 6:

Once you have clicked the "Choose" button from above a new small window will open for you to navigate inside your MEGA account. If the place you wish to upload your show(s) is not shown in the window click the "Choose" button on the far right side and move to the folder you wish to upload your show(s) .

STEP 7:

Once in your account you can create a new folder or you can navigate to the directory you wish to upload to. After you have found where you would like to upload click the "OK" button.

STEP 8:

In the next box you need to check to ensure that the show is being uploaded where you want it and then click the "OK" button at the bottom.

This will start your upload. You can view the progress by clicking the MEGA Desktop App icon in your tray.

STEP 9:

Once your file(s) are successfully uploaded you will see a small green check mark next to each file on the right hand side in your App.

What my upload looks like in my MEGA account...

If you have any questions please feel free to post a comment here! I'll do my best to answer!

Easily Make Your Bootleg List In FilelistCreator

 

FilelistCreator Information

If you find your self struggling to create a metal bootleg list and maintain it easily, this tutorial might be for you. For this tutorial we are using a great little program called "FilelistCreator" by sttmedia. Since this is for a hobby and not a business, it is free to use. This handy program can be used with Windows, Linux or a MAC.

FilelistCreator is a super easy program to use and has several things to offer. There are many options for saving your list and it even has an import/export feature. You can save your list in text, xlsx, html or csv formats! For this tutorial we will be working with a text file.

Reasons To Make A Bootleg List

There are actually numerous reasons to make a list and maintain it. Here are the ones that I can think of off hand.

• It makes it easier to trade. When you send an actual list to other traders its much easier for them to see what they want and choose shows.
• You can cut down on duplicates. Having a list helps you keep up with what shows you have ensuring that you do not duplicate shows.
• It's easier for you to select wants. If you maintain a list you can easily select wants from other traders and know that you will not be getting something you already have.
• Other traders can copy and paste. Keeping a list makes it easy for other traders to copy and paste from your list the show(s) they are interested in.
• Lists answer questions about shows. If you put various types of info on your directory name for a show it will answer some questions and make the trade go much more smoothly.

Why A Screen Shot Of Your Files Turns Off Some Traders

If you are one that would rather not create a list or simply don't have the time for it then there are a few things you should know. Many traders are turned off by someone just grabbing a quick screen shot of the directory with their shows in it. Reasons for this may vary with each trader. Some traders, like me, view it as being lazy. The way I see it is if you are too lazy to create a list then how lazy are you with your shows and your trades?

• Do you check your shows to ensure they are complete and not lossy sourced?
• Do you have enough information about your shows to answer any questions I might have?
• How difficult will it be to complete a trade with you?
• Will trading with you be a hassle?
• Are your shows real and not fake?
• Are you a real trader or are you a ripoff?
• Do you pay attention to details?
• I cannot copy and paste from an image, this will take twice the time for me to come up with a wants list.

What If You Are Not Lazy, But Just Don't Have The Time?

Well, that is different isn't it? If you are not actually lazy but just have a lot of stuff on your plate then a quick, easy solution could be the best thing for maintaining a list. This solution could be some sort of automatic list generator like the FilelistCreator. With this tutorial I'll help you set up your list and it should be pretty easy to maintain from that point on.

Easy Tips For Making Your List

• Put each show in a directory even if its a HD show.
• Name your directories in a similar format. This makes the list look a little more organized & neat.
• Include as much info as you wish in your original directory name. This will reflect on your list when we are done.
• Check out the program settings and set it up before getting started.

STEP 1:

Open FilelistCreator. You can do this by double clicking on the icon in the folder where you placed it after downloading and setting it up. For this tutorial I'm assuming that you have already downloaded the program & installed it.

The above screen shot reflects how I've set mine up. Yours maybe different from mine.

STEP 2:

To create a list with your pre-named directories follow these settings below.

1. Be sure to untick the "Files" options and tick the "Folder" option.
2. This is where you can toggle the columns. There are numerous options here that you can explore on your own. For the quickest list creation we are just going to work with the "General" & "Data Medium" filters.
3. In the "General" filter put what you prefer as your "Column Header". This will put a header at the top of your list so that other traders know information about your list. As you can see I have simply named mine "VIDEO BOOTLEGS".

STEP 3:

Now we will set up the "Data Medium" filter.

1. Toggle the button and find the "Data Medium" filter.
2. Tick the "Volume Name" box if its not ticked. Then in the "Column Header" space give it an appropriate name. I put "HDD" because I'm generating my list from an external hard drive. This helps me know what hard drive the show is stored on. This is optional as some of you may not need this column on your list.

STEP 4:

Click the "Search Folder" button.

STEP 5:

After you click the button it will open a new window for you to choose the hard drive or directory that holds your shows.

Since I have my shows on an external drive I can click on the D Drive to open and navigate to the folder I want to create a list from. If you have your shows on an external/internal drive with no folder hierarchy, then choose the hard drive instead of a folder.

STEP 6:

After locating the directory you want to create your list from click the "OK" button. There is no need to open the directory. Just click it to highlight and choose it.

STEP 7:

After clicking the "OK" button your list will generate. This may or may not take some time. It will depend on how many directories are in your hard drive/folder. The result after it has scanned the area will be similar to the below screen shot.

Now click the "Save" button found on the bottom right of your screen.

STEP 8:

A new box will pop up. Give your list a name in the "Filename" box and then click the "Save" button. If you prefer not to save your list in text format, you can choose another format in your settings by going to "Settings > Save or Load Settings...".

You are done! If you have any questions or issues please comment below!

Easily Create Your Trade List With Windows CMD

 

A few days ago I had posted a new tutorial on how to easily create your trade list when you don't have much time or feel like maintaining a website. The tutorial featured a great little program called FileListCreator. A couple of days ago another trader, TheMetalist contacted me on Discord and said, "There is an easier way..."! Big thanks to "TheMetalist" for taking his time to create some screens shots and a quick guide on creating your list using CMD in Windows.

Reasons You Should Have A List

There are numerous reasons you should have a list, many which I covered in the previous tutorial. The main reason most traders maintain a list is so that others can easily pick what they want for the trade & you know what you have and don't have.

Creating Your List Using Windows CMD

Technically this should work for Windows 10. The code maybe different for other versions of Windows.

QUICK TIPS:

1. For this to work it helps if you have renamed your directories in a similar format although you don't have to. Renaming just makes your list appear neater and more easy to read.
2. Each bootleg should be in its own directory with its own name.

STEP 1:

Open the folder with your collection.

STEP 2:

Left click in the "address" field (in the empty spot after the folder name).

STEP 3:

Write 'cmd' and press Enter. A command window will appear.

STEP 4:

Paste "dir /b > dirlist.txt" in the cmd window (exclude the "), press Enter.

STEP 5:

A text file called 'dirlist.txt' will be created in the folder. Rename it to whatever you want.

STEP 6:

In the text file is your collection as a list based on the folder names.

Don't forget to the delete the line 'dirlist.txt' in your list.

There you have it! Easy peasy! A big thanks to TheMetalist for providing this tutorial & the screenies!

How To Easily Create Your Trade List In Linux

 

If you find that you do not have lots of free time to create & maintain a list there are many quick and easy ways to make a list using your current directory structure. Apart from creating your list using Windows CMD or using "FilelistCreator" there is also a way to create your list in Linux. This tutorial will teach you how to create your trade list in Linux if you happen to be using it  instead of Windows.

Which Distro Will This Guide Work With?

If you use Linux often then you know there are numerous distros or distributions offered. Each distro may have unique codes used in the terminal. For this tutorial the method I'll show you should work with ANY Linux distribution out of the box.

What Do I Need To Create My Trade List In Linux?

You will need the following things:

• Knowledge of how to use a terminal in Linux
• Your shows ordered in a directory of your choice. For this tutorial your shows can be on a external hard drive.
• Each show in its own directory named how you prefer.

STEP 1:

Find the pathway to your folder with your shows. This is actually easier than you think. If you are unsure of the pathway then navigate to the folder that has your shows right click on it and choose "Open Terminal".

STEP 2:

When the terminal opens type in "pwd" and then hit enter. Then you will see your pathway results. As you can see I'm using an external hard drive to generate my list. Make a note of your pathway and move to the next step.

STEP 3:

If your terminal is not opened already from finding your pathway, open your terminal. If you are not sure where it is you can usually find it in the Applications. If not ask at the developers web page or forum. I'm using Manjaro Linux so my terminal may vary from yours.

STEP 4:

I'm going to break down the code so you can somewhat understand what its asking the PC to do. The generic code is shows below.

find /run/PATH/TO/YOUR/FILES -maxdepth 1 -type d -printf '%f\n' | sort > /PATH/TO/YOUR/OUTPUT/FILE/NAME.txt

Take the pathway to your shows that you found above and replace the first bold red "PATH/TO/YOUR/FILES" with your actual pathway. So as you can see from the terminal screen shot above my shows are on an external hard drive so my pathway in this code would look like this:

find /run/media/herzeleidmeister/HD1/2.VIDEO -maxdepth 1 -type d -printf '%f\n' | sort > /PATH/TO/YOUR/OUTPUT/FILE/NAME.txt

Now replace "/PATH/TO/YOUR/OUTPUT/FILE/NAME" with the directory you wish the generated file to be placed and choose a name for your file. So in my case I'll name my file "VIDEO-BOOTLEGS-LIST-UPDATED-2022-07-11.txt". And I wish to place my file in my delegated "-=TRADES=-" folder.

EDIT #1: If you find that your list did not sort properly or was in one long drawn out paragraph, take a look at the code you pasted and make sure to redo the apostrophe's in this part of the code:

‘%f\n’

QUICK NOTE: You can find your pathway for your output folder the same way you found the directory that held your shows!

My final code will look like this:

find /run/media/herzeleidmeister/HD1/2.VIDEO -maxdepth 1 -type d -printf '%f\n' | sort > /home/herzeleidmeister/Documents/-=TRADES=-/VIDEO-BOOTLEGS-LIST-UPDATED-2022-07-11.txt

CODE BREAKDOWN:

find /run/PATH/TO/YOUR/FILES -maxdepth 1 -type d -printf '%f\n' | sort > /PATH/TO/YOUR/OUTPUT/FILE/NAME.txt

1. find /run = This tells the terminal to find this info & run the code.
2. /PATH/TO/YOUR/FILES = Is the pathway to your bootleg shows.
3. -maxdepth 1 = This indicates that you only want to grab the top level directory names. I use this so I don't end up with some shows split up into CD1, CD2 or DVD1, DVD2 etc. If you want to get directories past the top level then change the "1" to "2", "3" or whatever level you want.
4. -type d -printf '%f\n' | = This bit of code tells your terminal what type & that the result should be printed. Its best not to mess with this bit as it works how it is unless you have greater knowledge of using the Linux terminal.
5. sort > = This bit of code will sort the list in alphabetical order.
6. /PATH/TO/YOUR/OUTPUT/FILE/NAME.txt = This is the pathway and file output name you wish to have.

STEP 5:

Once you get this code sorted, copy and paste it into the terminal and hit enter.This should generate your list for you.

You can see by the little check mark on the far right side that my list is done generating. Your terminal may look different.

STEP 6:

And here is the result. Don't forget to remove any portions from the list generation that do not belong. In my case I would remove the "2.VIDEO" at the top of the list.

And there you have it! If you should run into problems or have any questions please post them as comments. I'll do my best to answer them.

Free Burning Software For CD'S, DVD'S & Blu-Ray's

 

Some metal traders may tell you that you need to purchase certain pieces of software in order to properly burn data to disc. That is not the case! There are plenty of awesome FREE applications that you can use for bootleg trading on any operating system.

Why Burn Shows At All?

There are several reasons trader's burn shows. It used to be many years ago most traders would burn shows for Snail Mail trades. Now most trader's have fast enough connections to trade online, but burning the data to disc may still have some advantages. Besides the occasional postal mail trader who has a shitty internet connection, many traders choose to store their shows on either a data disc or burn the show out properly to listen to or watch offline. Bootleg traders that store their shows this way sometimes also collect covers and print them out for the jewel cases. It all boils down to personal preference.

Free Burning Software

Here is a quick list of free burning software for Windows, MAC & Linux. I have not personally tested all of these, so I cannot vouch for how well they work. In the future I will post some reviews and tutorials dealing with some of these applications. Download & try them out!

• CDBurnerXP (Windows)
• Ashampoo (Windows)
• IMGBurn (Windows/Linux)
• Burn (MAC)
• LiquidCD (MAC)
• SimplyBurns (MAC)
• Brasero (Linux)
• K3B (Linux)
• GnomeBaker (Linux)
• XfBurn (Linux)

If you know of any free (not trials) burning tools please feel free to comment below!

 

Free Software For Checking MD5 Checksum Files

 

No matter what operating system you use there are ways to check the .md5 files that accompany many bootlegs. There are several free applications that work really well and make this process really easy.

Free Software For Checking Files

If you are verifying an audio show in FLAC format you may not get a checksum file, instead the trader may have included a FLAC Fingerprint. Sometimes traders include both types of files to check your audio show.

*Please note I have not tried all of these tools. It’s up to you to test and see what works best for you.

• Trader’s Little Helper (Windows/Linux [With Wine]) [RECOMMENDED]
• Hub Audio Tools (Windows/Linux [With Wine]) [RECOMMENDED / DOWNLOAD] (Right click the .exe file and choose "Run As Administrator" to have full access to all the tools HAT offers.)
• WinMD5 (Windows)
• Checksum+ (MAC)
• MD5 2.0 (MAC)
• Jacksum (Windows, Linux & MAC)

How To’s For Checking Sums In Linux

Linux is a bit different. If you use a Linux operating system you are no doubt already used to this. In order to check files you will most likely need to use the terminal. Below you will find some links to helpful information for checking files in a Linux operating system.

• How To MD5SUM (Ubuntu)
• How To Verify Checksum In Linux

How To Create A Private Torrent For A Trade

 

Private Torrents Are Easier Than You Think!

Most bootleg traders elect to trade online. There are many options for trading online including file transfer sites such as FileMail, WeTransfer or MEGA. Numerous file transfer sites are out there but these are the most popular websites for sending files. Other possible ways to trade online are FTP, DC++ Hub & SoulSeek, but using a private torrent offers some definite benefits. This tutorial will walk you through how to trade through a private torrent.

Benefits to using a private torrent:

• You do not have to take hours and upload your shows: If the trade is small this is not such a big deal depending upon your ISP connection speeds, but if your trade is really large this can pose a problem even for someone who has awesome speeds. I know for myself I’ll go back and check the upload as its going along to make sure that it’s not stopped or there is an error. Sometimes when you check that upload has failed and its really annoying.
• You can resume a torrent: Some of the file transfer sites will not allow you to resume a transfer if you should get cut off. Even some of the sites that state you can resume your upload or download, don’t always allow you to.
• It takes less time: If you have a pretty decent connection speed it takes less time on your part. Once you have created the torrent and seed it you can go about other things and not worry about your upload failing or a file site locking you out for whatever reason. You really don’t have to go back and check it unless you just want to.
• It is actually quite easy to do: Forget trying to upload a torrent on a site like DIME or TTD. This really is not like that. Since you are not sharing for the world you don’t have to follow a bunch of rules & regulations just to get a show to someone else. The process is quite simple.

How do I get started?

To be able to use a private torrent for trades you will first need to have a bittorrent client installed and configured. For this tutorial we will use uTorrent, but there are many other ones out there that work just fine. Many of the steps in this process will be the same on just about any client you choose to use. Once you have a client installed follow the steps below.

Steps To Trade Through A Private Torrent:

STEP 1: Ensure that you have gathered all your shows together in one directory and place it somewhere on your computer hard drive where its not in your way so to speak. I have my main drive split into 2 drives. I place all my torrent uploads on my D drive. I use it pretty infrequently, so it works out really well. I place all the shows in one directory with the trader’s name on it as shown below. Obviously you can do what suits you best in this instance.

STEP 2: Once you have your files all together in one place open your bittorrent client. Here I am using uTorrent. You can see that I already have another trade seeding.

STEP 3: Create your torrent using your torrent client. For uTorrent you go to the top left and choose “File > Create New Torrent...”. If you are using something other than uTorrent it might differ.

STEP 4: A box will appear with some information you need to fill out in order for your torrent to work properly. In uTorrent you can use a built in system, but I have not tried it so I do not know completely how it works. For this tutorial we will use a public tracker. It is crucial that you have an announce URL or else your torrent will not work.

ANNOUNCE URLS I USE:

I place both of these URL'S in the box, just in case one of them is down.

udp://tracker.openbittorrent.com:80/announce

udp://tracker.publicbt.com:80/announce

PART 1: Choose the directory you created above or the directory your files are in. As you can see below mine is D:\JohnDoe.

PART 2: Erase any other trackers in the “Trackers” spot under “Torrent Properties” and add the announce URL for the public tracker(s) of your choice.

PART 3: Tick the “Start Seeding” & “Private Torrent” boxes.

PART 4: Click the “Create and save as…” button to create your torrent file.

STEP 5: Once your torrent is created save it to your hard drive in a place you will be able to find it. I suggest that you save it outside the directory that you have placed the files for your trade. In this case I would save my torrent files outside of the D:\JohnDoe directory. Once you have saved the torrent, close the “Create New Torrent” box.

STEP 6: Now send the torrent to your trade partner. They should be able to use it just like any other torrent file.

And that, folks is how you trade through a private torrent! If you have gotten a private torrent file from another trader and do not know how to get your shows check out THIS tutorial!

Got questions, issues or need help? Feel free to Comment Below!