Soulseek update

I recently treated myself to a new laptop, and over the last week I've pretty much got it knocked into shape, and now have everything where I want it, so the only thing left to do is to transfer all the albums from the site onto Soulseek on the new laptop. Unfortunately you can't upload multiple files, so every album will have to be uploaded individually, and also you can't have Soulseek open on two machines at the same time, so when I open it up on the new laptop the programme on the old one closes. This means that Soulseek will be unavailable for downloads at certain points over the next few weeks. If you try to download something and it doesn't work then try again the next day, as I'll only be updating for one day at a time, every few days (as I'm sure it will soon get pretty boring). Yandex will be unaffected, at least until my subscription runs out on Boxing Day, but I have a plan for that which will tide me over into the new year.  

Trying a little experiment.....

Following my post celebrating my 1,000th post, I did get a few suggestions about how to restore links to the blog, and one jumped out at me straight away, so we're going to experiment with that and see if it works. There is a Yandex link on the right, under the disclaimer, which will be a permanent link from now on. I'll just update it twice a week, but the link won't change. That will take you to a pdf with all the albums on it, with the last six months in reverse order of posting, and then after that there is an A-Z archive, which is now complete. I'll carry on posting to Soulseek for those who prefer that, but by avoiding hyperlinks I'm hoping to keep the blog alive for the foreseeable future.   

Well, the experiment is over. Guitars101 have closed my account again and so none of the links will work.

OK, here's the plan. People who can use Soulseek then carry on doing that, as it's quick and easy for the people that it works for. The blog now has it's own email address, which is in the About Me section at top right, and for anyone who can't get Soulseek to work, and didn't like leaving their email in the comments, then you can now contact me directly. I'll save the posts in batches under the date of the post, and hopefully that will make them quick and easy to forward. Let's give it a try and see how it works. 

Well, that didn't last long. Posts still on Soulseek while I find out what's happened.

It seems that possibly I was posting so much material that the site thought it was spam, and so banned me from it. I now have my account back but they seems to have deleted all my posts, so I'm going to have to start all over again, unless they can reinstate them. Talk Talk is back for now, until I hear what they are going to do. Eventually the plan will be for all of the posts on here to be mirrored on Guitars101 with links, for the people who just can't get Soulseek to work. We'll have to see how it goes, as it will be an extremely long job transferring them all over, and it could be that I can take requests about which ones to do first.   

LATEST UPDATE

My account with Guitars101 had been approved (again) and I've managed to upload four recent posts, as that was the maximum allowed until approved. I'll get stuck in over the weekend and re-post all the ones they deleted, as it's unlikely that they will re-instate them.   

You may notice that 'track listing' has changed colour. I'm saying no more........

Question for Soulseek-ers

I've noticed a spike in the downloads of the Elton John album 'The World Of Regimental Sgt. Zippo', and as hardly anyone seems to leave comments on the site any more, I'm curious as to what brought that particular album to so many people's attention at the same time. Anyone?

Soulseek update

For some reason the Kinks post has had the most issues with people being unable to download from Soulseek, and yet I've seen loads of downloads by people who have managed it. KINKS AIWE works perfectly well, so I have no idea why it works for some people and not others. As I have said before, carry on trying for at least 24 hours, as I do sometime turn off the laptop when I go to bed if no-one is downloading anything, so try it again 7 to 8 hours later. If you still have no luck then leave a request with your email address in the comments. I am emailed a notification for each comment, and so can delete your comment straight away to protect your privacy. No need to ask first, just add your email to the request. I would suggest that everyone keeps trying to use Soulseek, as there should really be no reason why it works for some people and not others, and if we can get it working for everyone then it is a much safer option than adding links to the posts, and getting the blog deleted again.   
One thing that I have noticed in monitoring the downloads, is that some people seem to have extremely slow internet connections, taking up to four or five hours to download a few songs, and this does mean that everyone behind them in the queue has to wait until they are finished before their downloads can commence. I know it's frustrating, but be patient, and you will eventually get your music.   

Post updates

I've been playing some of the older albums that I put together over the last year (what else was there to do for the past 12 months?), and I've noticed that a few of them had little things wrong with them that detracted from a complete listening experience, so I've fixed them and the corrected files can now be downloaded to upgrade the original post.

Country Mike - Country Mike's Greatest Hits
Firstly, I've finally managed to source a stereo vinyl rip of 'Country Mike's Greatest Hits', which was the cause of some controversy when I first posted it. As every copy that I found online was a mono one, I was convinced that the album must have been issued like that, but after some heated discussions in the comments, I was assured that a stereo version must exist, and it's taken this long to find it. 

Other fixes are not as drastic as that, so if you have the following albums and want an upgraded version then you can download them now. 

Amy Winehouse - Procrastination - Long Day
Elton John - Young Man's Blues - Rock Me When He's Gone
I can't actually remember what was wrong with these two, possibly dodgy fadeouts or over-long/no gaps between the tracks, but they are now fixed.

Deep Purple - Coronarias Redig
Extra track added that was somehow missed from the original post.

Cerrone - Supernatural Paradise Of Love
I wasn't happy with a couple of the edits, so have redone the whole piece.

Misty In Roots - Salvation
Dub section of 'Rich Man' volume corrected to be the same as the vocal part.

Soulseek update

I know that there are a few people who can't seem to get Soulseek to work, but hopefully most of you are now using it regularly, and finding that it works pretty well. I've had a couple of days where my searches didn't seem to bring up any of my results, so I had to reboot and that seems to have fixed it. 
If you find that your searches don't bring up any results then do bear in mind that if no-one is downloading something when I go to bed then I do turn off the laptop, so try try again in six to seven hours and see if the searches work then. If not then leave a message and I'll try the reboot to see if that fixes it.  

I have to thank Paul over at Albums That Should Exist for turning me onto Soulseek, as not only has it been an ideal solution to sharing my music without leaving links, and risking the blog being deleted again, but I've also used it to find albums that I'd been after for a while that I hadn't been able to find online. I hope that everyone who started using it when I reinstated the blog is also using it to find other music that they want to hear from other uploaders.

If you find that you have absolutely no luck in getting Soulseek to work then leave a message in the comments with your email address and I'll send direct Yandex links, and then delete the comment to keep your email private. When I've sent the first link you will have my email address for future requests. 

Soulseek update

I've now completed uploading all the albums from the site onto Soulseek, but if there are any missing then let me know as I could easily have missed some. How are people finding it as a way of accessing the music? I know a couple of people seem to be having trouble finding the albums, and Paul has mentioned that some artists have their name blocked in the searches, so a search for The Beatles, for instance, will bring no results, but 'abbey road' will. I've added 'aiwe' to all of the folders so that it only brings up my albums and you don't have to look through hundreds of others to find them, so if 'eric clapton aiwe' doesn't work, then try 'eric aiwe' or 'clapton aiwe', and if you still have no success then try an unusual word from a song title. The 101ers, for instance, gives no results, but searching 'motor aiwe' finds them. If anyone has trouble finding the album they want then leave a comment on the post, and I'll add the album to a special folder I've added called 'help aiwe', which should be easier to find as it won't be restricted. At the moment it has a Kate Bush and Fleetwood Mac album in it for the two visitors who are having issues. 
Hopefully you will soon get used to getting the music this way, and if it stops the blog being deleted again then it will all be worth it.

For anyone who is new to Soulseek, as I was a couple of weeks ago, here is a little tutorial which hopefully will help you find the albums. 

For anyone still having problems, Gummo couldn't access the files at first, and so downloaded what looks like an earlier version called SoulseekNS from here https://soulseek.en.softonic.com/download , and I've just tested it and it seems to work OK, even though it looks a bit clunky. If you can't get anything with QT then try this NS version.  

pj