Technical Question -> Semi-Universal Anime Index

[VashTexan]

Well, there are likely millions of places to get free anime on the net, including anime to download, watch only, torrent, etc. Now I, and I'm sure plenty of other anime fans, have spent and continue to spend many hours, if not days searching for anime and anime sites to download from. I've found maybe a few hundred, and I'm sure others have found even more. It's a never-ending search for anime and it's hard to find what you want in any one place, even here (since most everything is hosted on megaupload or rapidshare, and, like most file hosting sites, delete files after a certain amount of time). Not to mention the extreme limitations without a premium account. It needs to be organized in some way to help anime fans.

So, now to the question: Can a shared index of anime be made, with links to anime download sites, and file hosting sites, available throughout the net, be made? It would technically be exactly like Wiki, except with an index of anime site/download links that can be added/modified/removed by all registered users with general approval. Everything could likely be organized in a data table (spreadsheet) that can be sorted first/second/third/etc. by what you want. Certainly not ALL the details would be submitted upfront, just the most sought for characteristics (dl vs. watch online, dl vs. torrent, etc.), with links for more details.

I'm sure it's possible to MAKE such a thing, but I"m really wondering how could it be safely distributed to anime fans. Were it made a site, just like almost any other site, it can be shutdown by authorities and reported by sticklers (ppl who stick to the rules, see Websters Dict.). Anime Stash is trying to do something like this with just user-submitted anime dl links, but the problem is not enough ppl look for all the anime at one time (>>files expire), and most ppl are leechers, leaving a small group of disgruntled, volunteer uploaders (forced to reupload hundreds of times) in their wake, especially because of sticklers clicking the "Report this file" link on the file hosting sites. "Anime That!" is trying to do the same thing with links only to online video hosting sites such as YouTube, Veoh, etc., but there are still sticklers reporting them and authorities finding the files.

The fact of the matter is that they're all way too public. The issue might come up that grouping all the contraband sites together will make it all the easier to be found and shutdown by authorities or be reported by sticklers. But then how do you host it? Distribute the data table/spreadsheet person to person (who could be a government agent)? I was thinking about making it a sort of private site (unlisted in searches anywhere) that only has links on one or two sites that seem secure enough, like this forum (although I know Arika doesn't seem to like links to any external sites). Maybe some sort of limitations as well, such as a certain number of valid posts (less than 1000) and/or a secret/coded password (which you have to figure out as an anime fan) that you need to access the site.

So could it work out in the end? Or should I just make a personal spreadsheet just for my lonesome self?

P.S. I know there have been several major P2P (Person to Person) [anime] file sharing operations before, but just about all of them have ended in disastrous failure, as far as I can tell from the wiki descriptions. This included virus, worm, and trojan breakouts throughout the network due to software security faults and the anonymity involved in the sharing, divulging private files (including police dossiers and personal medical files in some cases) onto the net. So P2P is not the best idea in that sense, although if the software and system were professionally designed (probably by a group of the best hackers and best non-windows/mac software designers in the world), it might just work.

[ElderKain]

lol, i'm not sure if this would count for what u mean, but Nihonomaru is already working on an Anime Index with DL links for the animes already up.

[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Arika is working hard on working on the list ^.^

As for the talk about P2P downloadin, just don't do it that way, use Megaupload, Rapidshare, Mediafire, etc... for downloading Anime Eps, and u won't have to worry bout Hack attampts and such.

When New anime eps are released, I usually go to the Subber's IRC channel , and download them via "XDCC Send"s. for me, that's the only P2P downlaoding I even do ^.^

Edit:
Also getfansub is a good source for Anime MU links, just search the anime, and there is bound to be DDL links.
It's in a Wiki format which make it more simple to me also ^.^
Note: If you don't know the link to getfansub, just search it on google. It should be the first result

:bingo2: :bingo2: :bingo2: :bingo2: :bingo2:

[VashTexan]

Well, that's quite a huge and nice-looking (which I didn't know about, although I do like that some are multi-hosted), but it's still not quite what I had in mind. I'm familiar with getFanSub (one of the hundreds of anime sites I've found), but they don't provide that much anime. Besides, my concern was more about the specificity of the the anime ppl are looking for. For instance, since I have a sucky connection and I'm just pretty much testing out random anime, I'd like small files, which would usually be 40-90 MB hosted on a relatively reliable site with a reasonable dl speed (56kB/s or greater). That would mean I would want rmvb/rm's or small .mkv's. I don't need to load up all my memory for an anime I don't need to see at maximum quality, not to mention that MU has a daily dl size limit, not number of dls. Sometimes I want to rewatch a great anime in high quality. Other people have much better connections and can spare the time and space, so it depends. All the formats should be in one place.

Also, I'm not really looking for the newest releases. I'm looking for random anime, new and old. Now that's a difficult search because of its specificity (old, rare, small, on multi-dl per day hosting site, etc.). Plenty of anime sites already host a lot of anime specifically in a certain way, just it's hard to find which one does what, and which has at least that specific anime (sometimes regardless of the format and size if necessary).

P.S. I'm working on getting a MU lifetime premium...It'll take a while of course.

[ElderKain]

Well there is the Megaupload Free Premium Happyhour
If ur willing to wait, you can get at least 6 Free hours of premium every night!
That's when I download all my Anime eps ^.^

I made a Topic about it at
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
If u haven't heard about it.

:bingo2: :bingo2: :bingo2: :bingo2: :bingo2:

[VashTexan]

Well I'm very familiar with the Happy Hour Premium (you gotta study up on these things when you're a dler and uploader, lol). Anyway, it took me a while to remember why I decided quite a while ago not to mess with the toolbar:

First of all, for me (Not in the US or Canada right now, as required by Happy Hour), megaupload happy hour is between 4AM and 10AM, so between 4AM and 6AM I'm still sleeping usually, and between 6AM and 10AM I'm preparing for school, at school, or recovering from lack of sleep because of school (weekends, etc.), mind you this is medical school, not junior high. So, in otherwords, it's at a very inconvenient time.

And second of all, although I'm pretty sure the MU Toolbar will install and my proxies will work during those times, on Linux, I don't really wanna install the MU Toolbar because it's a form of trojan, or as somebody mentioned on another forum "Their toolbar has built in sniffing, and they can mess up u vieweing certain sites. " (If you want the site where they said that pm me or just search the topic for more info).

So thanks for the advice, but I think I might have to earn it the hard way... :monk: ...by gaining dl points (as I was in the US when I made the account so long ago, so it works even uploading from here). Oh, and you might wanna warn ppl about the trojan thing in your post, cause some people actually don't mind having trojans, but some care enough to avoid them.

P.S. I might consider working to improve GetFansub, as it seems closest to the right idea. Thnx again.

[ElderKain]

That's why I used the Firefox Tip on the Happyhour info topic ^.^
I don't use IE, so I use the toolbar on IE to activate the premium durring happyhour.
I close it, then Open up firefox, and download all I want from the Happyhour, with no risk of having a laggy toolbar.

And to, it does not have a Trojan. This was confirmed by Megaupload.
It comes up as a Trojan on Some Virus scanners, becasue The toolbar scans the sites you go to for the site rankings.
becasue it does that, Scanners think of it as a Trojan Spyware which it isn't.

:monk: :monk: :monk: :monk: :monk:

[VashTexan]

Well, that's disputable (I don't believe even the most official of sources many times, including Sony, and of course Microsoft), but I don't care to dispute it. I'm getting bored of discussing just about MU. Besides, it'll be slow for me either way because I'll have to use a proxy, that is if any proxies still work or are not being used for MU. I'm still looking for a Firefox add-on or something to auto-dl the proxy lists daily (using ProxySel add-on/extension).

Anyway, I was also wondering about the anime download section that you linked to. Arika's working hard on it right? So it will be improved gradually, where is it being improved from? Where are all the files coming from, as in are they the same files being posted by other people and Arika's just reorganizing them? Or is it being hosted directly by Arika's MU account (that's a damn lot of files for one person to manage single-handedly)? Also, can we submit files to those locations (such as higher quality files of the same), which leads back to the former questions?
Am I just asking senselessly here when everything is answered elsewhere in some post?

[ElderKain]

Most people that host MU links and such are mainly the .RM or .RMVB formats, becasue Smaller Size = The faster to download.

In my opinion, Quality doesn't matter as long as I can Watch the anime, and understand what's going on.

As for other versions, just use the search feature on the forum. Some people post higher quality versions now and then, but many people perfer the smaller file types becasue it's faster to download Full series that way.

Servers Cost money. There are DDL hosts out there, but the ones who host gobs usually require huge donations to keep the server up and such, and at their own risk, becasue Animes that get licensed are supose to be illegal to host online.
Nihonomaru isn't gonna post the episode individually from this site, if they did, the site would be super laggy, and always at the risk of being shut down.
Megaupload and such removes the DL links now and then, becasue of term violation of hosting licened material.

If ur talking about Direct hosting Animes with all the different file formats. your talking about one huge monster of a DL system
only one website I know has that sort of Space, and that's
fansub.tv
but the DL speed there is so slow, becasue there is too many anime DDLs there, and soo many people trying to download at the same time.

:monk: :monk: :monk: :monk: :monk:

[VashTexan]

No way, I don't mean direct hosting the files (the avatars take enough space and bandwidth as it is). I mean that the option of higher quality versions being listed, hosted by MU. It is true that rmvb is one of the most preferred formats, and even I think it's ideal, but it does not offer any sub and dub options unless you're using a video player that supports loading external subtitles and audio (I dunno if Real Player supports that, but I know Xine does, MPlayer might (haven't tested it), and VLC might), assuming you ever manage to find external subs and audio. Often times there can even be subtitling errors or, as in the case of one of the Ranma 1/2 episodes, the subtitles can be gone altogether due to an error while being originally fansubbed.

Anyway, what I'm saying is that an alternate format should be optional, shouldn't it? Some people prefer dubbed, many prefer subbed, and some even prefer neither (they understand Japanese fine, just want free anime, lol). Really I prefer whichever is more sincerely emotional (= good [voice] acting), and sometimes it's the dubbed version. I've seen some mkv's that are 40-50 MB that are about the same quality as rmvb, and recently they've even come up with avi's that support multiple subtitles and audio.

Oh, and passwording all the files uploaded to MU would help in preventing snooping authorities from finding what the file is, wouldn't it? Not to mention naming the passworded files a little less conspicuously (the file inside the passworded zip or whatever could have the real name, just not the zip/etc. itself). Anyway, just a suggestion on my part. Really, I'm just glad that there's anime at all, and am really not that picky. Just to offer what other sites don't in order to attract people to this forum. :em096:

[ElderKain]

Hmmm. The Main reason why most people host RM, and RMVB on megaupload is because of the reward points. Files less than 100mb you get Points you can put toward getting premium accounts and such.
Other than that, there are people that post Episodes on MU that are nor RM, and RMVB, but for thoes are a pain to upload, because of the fact, it takes forever to upload sometimes. I only upload to MU at a MAX of 60kb/s, and I uspload AVI versions of some animes when they are released. like I upload "D.C.II Da Cappo II", "CLANNAD", "Major" Season 4", "Kodomo no Jikan [Uncensored]", and Promos as they come out subbed. and they take mo forever to Upload sometimes.

As For MU deleating Files, the feds don't do that, but the MU people themselves. they don't have to look at the descriptions and such. they have people in offices, who view the Upload content Daily, and if they find anything that breaks the terms/services, they remove it.
It's their own servers, they don't have to put a password on it to see what all was uploaded, lol.

:bingo2: :bingo2: :bingo2: :bingo2: :bingo2:

[VashTexan]

Hmmmm, but zip and other compressed files that have passwords on them are supposed to be inaccessible without the password, aren't they? Sure you can crack the password, but that takes time. Do they really have staff there cracking all the passwords for all the passworded files uploaded to MU?? :x15:

[ElderKain]

Hmmmm, but zip and other compressed files that have passwords on them are supposed to be inaccessible without the password, aren't they? Sure you can crack the password, but that takes time. Do they really have staff there cracking all the passwords for all the passworded files uploaded to MU?? :x15:

Zip passwords are implemented command in a Zip file. If some1 has the right programming expertiese, there is a way o extract files from ZIP, RAR, Etc... without the need of Passwords.
When I was in Highschool, some1 I knew made a program that acted like a virus to attack winzip, and it got rid of the password feature, and ZIPs that had passwords on them could be opened without the password.

The people at MU may have similar programs that could do the same thing.

:monk: :monk: :monk: :monk: :monk:

[VashTexan]

Well that's just great... :twitching: . Ugh, I guess I'll have to use one of the multi-upload systems to make sure nothing is taken off too soon. All the "All your base are belonging to us" policies of pretty much anything online (including everything from gmail, to all the file and video hosting locations) is a real pain. They just claim the right to access anything and everything you put up online, even if you're the absolutely only one who can access the information. Not only, but the policy says that they can do anything they want with your data, at any time, including just shutting down the whole service. Dangit, what the hell happened to privacy!? I also heard that it's illegal to encrypt files above a certain level, anywhere, because then the FBI or CIA can't decrypt it. Bakara! Anyway, thnx for all the info; It's really come in handy. :em001:

[daniel2]

Well, that's quite a huge and nice-looking.

Get over wanting eye candy... :1: and asking for free stuff is stupid. Look around, use some search engines, your post is tl;dr sorry but thats the truth.

Learn how to torrent as well... e$#f