How to Download from pz10.com

March 22, 2009 at 8:54 pm (tips and tricks)
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Yet another very good, but not very popular resource of hindustani classical music is pz10.com (the pz stands for Punjabi Zone). The reason it being not too well known in the classical music circuit is, it’s rather unfriendly interface and strange indexing system. But, once you get the real feel of the site it could prove to be a true bonanza to all music lovers. One good thing about this site is that it streams it’s music in both .wma and .mp3 formats. Moreover, the mp3s are of 128 Kbps (near CD) quality, which is good enough reason to download from this site.

To music lovers for whom retrieving music from the Internet Explorer Cache is becoming a habit, I recommend they install ExploreXP (click here to download), a very small and free alternative to Windows Explorer which is easy to setup and can be configured to view all hidden and system files. Moreover it lets you view the filesize in Bytes rather than KBs which is the standard view in Windows Explorer.

ExploreXP settings :

Before attempting to download, clean your Internet Explorer cache completely, by either using the standard method of Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup, or by using an utility like CCleaner or even Index.bat (a batch code written by me for those who know their way around with the Command Prompt and Safe Booting).

Visit the music section of pz10.com. Click on the Hindustani Instrumental Music (its more than just instrumental really), and then on the View / Browse All Hindustani Instrumental Music Albums (or simply click here).

Choose the album you want to download.

Choose Flash Player, Select All Songs and click on the Play button. Let the songs play to their full length.

Inside the IE Cache, the song file will start to grow as it plays on :

After the caching is complete :

Retrieve the songs from the Internet Explorer Cache. ExploreXP will help you to do it with ease.

Another way to download is to search for flash[1].htm file in the cache which is the playlist file (this is tricky because sometimes it could be a jumbled 8 character name like CAX8KNTH.htm). If you are using the Windows Media Player as your player option, the playlist file will be named playlist[1].htm.

Open the file in notepad and copy the song URL (highlighted part) which looks like this :

[http://media.cdn.pz10.com/mm6/files/40/17812/17812-1.mp3 ?voxtoken=9c7c035c20238f84ff7b85b7b882ce65d204e35f]

Use a downloader like Flashget to download the file.

Note: The voxtoken=(+ a combination of letters and numbers) is a part of secure webcasting code by Voxel meant to prevent the users from downloading the music. As the voxtoken code changes every time you load the player, so does the URL of the song, preventing people from posting the songs on their blogs or elsewhere. This means, the URL is good enough for single use only.

The pz10.com team has a sense of humor too. An attempt to open the flash.asx (seemingly a playlist file, the path is mentioned in flash[1].htm), will give you this mocking message :

NO SOUP FOR YOU SHAME SHAME!!!!

Well, here is a spoonful, (of soup ?) for everyone to savour.

Girija Devi – Humse Najariya Kahe Pheri – Thumri :  (Download)

Apart from a sizeable collection of hindustani classical music, pz10.com also has a good number of regional songs including Bhojpuri and Rajasthani folk.

Enjoy !!

indianraga

6 Comments

Protected: How to Download from ITC-SRA

February 8, 2009 at 5:36 pm (tips and tricks)
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How to Download from imeem.com

September 16, 2008 at 6:03 pm (tips and tricks)
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Imeem.com is one of the more popular sites among the music communities. One unique thing about imeem.com is that it converts all its .mp3 uploads into .flv format (flash video format minus the video) for streaming purpose.

It does another thing to the files : it gives them unusually long names and an extension that confuses the person who is figuring out a way to download a music file. In the Internet Explorer Cache the files are seen as .gif files which normally are graphic images. The long names allotted to the files is probably to prevent the users from copying the files from the Internet Explorer Cache. A typical Imeem song has a name like this :

jnqaSyDSXHO13HPqVv…YsqZOQR3BtEZZ3TMO_pj6s9w.gif

With almost 200 or so more alpha-numeric characters in place of … and in between.

Now a file name as long as this (it may even extend beyond your computer screen) usually freezes your computer when right clicked with the mouse (in your attempt to copy it) resulting into a system crash or forcing you to close the Windows Explorer. In other words downloading music from imeem.com is banned officially (or at a price).

So how to download from imeem.com ?? Follow some simple steps and you may be able to download from imeem.com :

As usual clean your Internet Explorer Cache thoroughly. For a detailed description of how to clean your Internet Explorer Cache read my previous post How to Download from musicindiaonline.com. Apart from the routine Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup, I would highly recommend to delete the mysterious index.dat files as well. Index.dat files are not easy to delete when Windows is running, and you will need a special tool for this. The best tool that is easily available and most importantly, a freeware is CCleaner (formerly known as Crap Cleaner).

A portable version of CCleaner is highly recommended which will spare you from the installation process. If you are comfortable enough with booting up your system into Safe Mode, then I have a little surprise for you : a nifty utility (only 3 KB) that I have devised for my personal use and which I am willing to share. Find the link in the sidebar of this blog or click here. Go through the Readme.txt file before using it.

Once the index.dat files are gotten rid of you are left with only 4 sub folders in the Temporary Internet Files folder making it easier to find the music files.

Now go to Imeem.com and start playing the file that you want to download. At the same time go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup. Click on the View Files button on the next window. You will find the file in one of the 4 folders, growing in size as it plays on.

Once it has played its full length or when it stops growing in size and has buffered fully, you may rename the file by a ‘delayed‘ double-click of the mouse (do not right click as it may freeze your computer), to a short name of your choice (e.g myfile.flv) with the .gif replaced with .flv as it’s extension.

Copy (or Cut and Paste) the file in the folder of your choice and play it in a Flv Player. You may convert this file into a mp3 file if you wish using a file converter. I use SUPER for most of my converting jobs.

Enjoy !!

Indian Raga Blogspot

6 Comments

How to Download from Smashits.com

July 8, 2008 at 5:22 pm (tips and tricks)
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I wonder how many Indian Classical Music enthusiasts know that ww.smashits.com (note the ww instead of www) has a few gems of hindustani classical music stored in it’s seemingly bollywood centric server. This portal is not very new and does not boast of a large classical music content but still I managed to download a few pieces of music not available anywhere else. My favourites are about 75-80 songs featured in it’s ‘Smashits Collection‘ (8 CDs). These are now an important part of my ‘indianraga.collection‘.

See the screenshot of the classical music collection in the category ‘Classical‘ :

And the collection in the category ‘North Indian Classical‘ :

However there is a catch. There is no way you can download a music file directly from this site (sorry, there is one but only by making a small payment). But for mortals like yours truly, who are forever downloading music and would go bankrupt in a few weeks if they continue paying for it, there is always a way out.

But first things first. I would like you folks to go through my earlier post :

How to Download from musicindiaonline.com

As we are going to retrieve the music files from the ‘Internet Explorer Cache‘ it is essential to clean it completely before going further. Firefox users will not be able to download using this method. There are a few tricks for diehard Firefox fans too, but let’s leave them for another time.

After you have cleaned your Internet Explorer Cache, follow the steps mentioned in the post : How to Download from musicindiaonline.com to view your downloading files.

Now unlike musicindiaonline.com which streams it’s music in Real Audio (.ra) or Windows Media Audio (.wma) format, smashits.com uses a Flash Player and streams it’s music in .mp3 format (usually 64 kbps) which is a big plus for those who want to download from this site. Moreover the sound quality of the files is much better than that on musicindiaonline.com (20-24 kbps).

Click on the album you want to download and select the files (you may select all, if you want).

Click on the ‘Play’ button. The Flash Player will open as a pop-up.

Open the Internet Cache folder and you will be able to view your file gradually growing in size as it plays on.

Let it buffer fully (you will see the ‘Bit Rate‘ and ‘Duration‘ of the file appear when it does). You don’t need to play the file to it’s full length but letting it buffer fully is very important.

Copy the file and paste it in the folder of your choice, rename it according to it’s original name and repeat the procedure to download another file. On a fast Broadband connection you may be able to download an album (5-6 songs) in 4-5 minutes.

Watch out for more downloading tips from other music streaming sites in my future posts.

Download and Enjoy Listening !!

Indian Raga Blogspot

28 Comments

How to Download from musicindiaonline.com

April 18, 2008 at 8:01 pm (tips and tricks)
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Almost everyone who has anything to do with music, both ‘hindustani classical‘ and ‘popular‘ must surely have visited www.musicindiaonline.com more than a few times. This site claims itself to be the largest Indian music resource on the internet. True of course, be it hindustani classical, indipop, bollywood, fusion or regional folk, you name it and it’s all there on this site.

The difference between this site and other file hosting sites is very basic. Whereas musicindiaonline.com has it’s own files on it’s servers and has full control over the streaming quality of the music and also what files to put or remove, other sites like mediafire.com, eSnips.com, 4shared.com and the rest have no such control.

Many of us must have encountered a much wanted song on musicindiaonline.com and wished fervently that there had been a download button on this site. Alas, there is none and no trick such as changing the URL (a’la eSnips) work here.

But for few of us who desperately want a particular music file and are ready to spend a little time, there’s a way out : a simple method by which you can download a file or even multiple files in one go.

Just follow a few simple steps. Remember this trick will work with Internet Explorer only.

Go to the Start Menu > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup. Clean all the mess that has been accumulating in the browser’s cache. Once the cache is empty you may go to the musicindiaonline.com site and search for your favourite song or album just as shown in the figure below.

Select the songs to be downloaded by ticking them or if you want them all, tick ‘Select All‘.

Click the ‘Play Selected Songs‘ button. If you have not been to this site recently it will ask you to choose between Real Player and Windows Media Player. Select Windows Media Player as in the pic below :

The player will open up and your playlist will begin to play.

As the file is playing repeat Step 1 (i.e Disk Cleanup). But this time don’t clear the cache but click on the ‘View Files‘ option :

This will open a directory of Internet Cache folders as seen below :

Explore each folder (if you have cleaned your Internet Explorer Cache thoroughly, there should be four of them). You will find your playing file in one of the folders, growing by size as it plays on. Wait for the ‘Duration‘ and ‘Bit Rate‘ details to appear and click on the ‘Play Next‘ button of the player to start playing the next song in the playlist.

You may now Copy or Cut & Paste the previous file to a folder of your choice. The files are in .wma format. Keep on exploring all the folders as the second file plays on and you will find it in one of the folders. Repeat the process.

You need not play each song to it’s full length. On a fast internet connection a 15 minute song may buffer fully in a couple of minutes. But it’s important that you wait for the ‘Duration‘ and ‘Bit Rate‘ details to appear before copying (or cut & paste) the file.

Keeping in mind that musicindiaonline.com has music streaming at a very low bitrate (20-24 kbps) an album consisting of 6-7 songs may be downloaded in 4 to 5 minutes.

Indian Raga Blogspot

170 Comments

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