Before we play name that tune, you're going to have to tell me how to play you that tune

December 4, 2007 12:31 AM

How would I go about posting some files? I want to ask metafilter about the last 16 songs in my itunes library that I can't identify, but I don't know how to go about putting those files up so you all can get to them. What's the easiest way to do this?

I'm down to the final 16 files for whom I have neither artist OR album and I'd like to clear this in my lifetime. But that will involve all of YOU playing "Name that Tune" with said files. And that's where we do the question BEFORE the question. How do I put em up so you all can listen to em down?

For our purposes, let's assume I know very little about hosting, and FTPs and web...thingys. What's the simplest way to do this...other than me burning about 1000 cds and passing them out to metafilter members individually?

posted by rileyray3000 to computers & internet (15 comments total)

One way is to use an upload service such as senduit or divshare. Senduit is very simple to use, but files are available for download for a limited period of time only. Divshare is almost as easy to use, (although I think you may have to register as a user first) and allows more options, such as keeping files online indefinitely, and allowing files to be previewed prior to download.
posted by misteraitch at 12:49 AM on December 4, 2007

I don't host audio online very often, but the one time I did need to do so I used Boomp3, and was satisfied with it. It works like Imageshack -- just browse to the audio file you want and hit "Upload". It will create a custom page with a built-in Flash-based audio player, and you can dish out the URL to anyone you want.

Two caveats, though: It will only accept WMA and MP3 files, and I'm not sure about any bandwidth restrictions it may have.

Good luck!
posted by Rhaomi at 12:53 AM on December 4, 2007

1. Open up Windows Movie Maker
2. Insert a song
3. Save the file for web
4. Upload to YouTube
5. Add links to MeFi post

I, personally, would be much more inclined to help you if I could simply open a link and hear the song. I wouldn't download a file from a free service. Not because I'm afraid of viruses, but simply, because I'm too lazy to wait, enter a code, etc...
posted by 913 at 12:55 AM on December 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

zshare.com is another option
posted by rhizome at 1:14 AM on December 4, 2007

I was going to offer to help, but it sounds like Rhaoimi wins.
posted by wierdo at 1:23 AM on December 4, 2007

You might try to use MusicBrainz' Picard to figure out what music it is. If it came off a CD, it will probably fingerprint it decently.
posted by cmiller at 5:44 AM on December 4, 2007

you could create a google webpage (free) and post the files there. Pretty easy and quick to do.
posted by doorsfan at 6:12 AM on December 4, 2007

cmiller
"You might try to use MusicBrainz' Picard to figure out what music it is. If it came off a CD, it will probably fingerprint it decently."

I've been going through my (rather large) library using MusicBrainz' Picard,..and for the most part it does indeed do a great job identifying songs and fixing filenames to my liking.

However I have seen some instances where say the filename is just "01.mp3" and all of the ID3 info is blank.... it cant figure out the song by audio fingerprinting alone, even if it is a well known studio album (such as the one last night it choked on, Rage Againest The Machine - Battle of Los Angeles)

I had to run the album through the new Winamp 5.5 "auto tag" feature first (to get ID3 tags in there)... then run it back through MusicBrainz' Picard which then found it successfully.
posted by jmnugent at 8:23 AM on December 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

zshare.com is another option

Minor typo I make all the time too - it's zshare.net.

http://zshare.net
posted by cashman at 9:17 AM on December 4, 2007

Since no one has mentioned it: although it happens all the time and I'd be the last one to fault you for it, uploading songs to the Internet is most likely an illegal copyright violation. (I doubt that fair use covers distributing the song to thousands of people via Internet.)

IANAL, and I hate the RIAA. I'd just be remiss if I didn't make sure this was pointed out.
posted by fogster at 9:28 AM on December 4, 2007

Actually, at least with the MusicBrainz interface I used (Mac OS X, so iEatBrainz), audio fingerprinting managed to nail a good number of them. I think one of the things it examines is the length in milliseconds of the song in question.
posted by WCityMike at 9:52 AM on December 4, 2007

Audio fingerprinting alone, I should've said. With some of them, the ID3 tags were either entirely empty or completely wrong.
posted by WCityMike at 9:53 AM on December 4, 2007

I've often seen people on here posting a small section of a song that they want identified, to hopefully get around the copyright violation issues. To my legally-untrained mind it seems like 30 seconds of a track would be a lot more likely to be safe under fair use than if you posted the whole song.
posted by vytae at 10:53 AM on December 4, 2007

Get a free Vox blog and load them there. It's easy!
posted by goml at 11:46 AM on December 4, 2007

I've done the Picard thing before. Sadly someone, I believe, edited these tracks slightly so the ID'ing either doesn't work or I'm completely mistaken and what I think is bebop jazz must be Woodie Guthrie. So I'm going back to the idea of posting and letting your collective music brainz figure it out.

I think I'm going with the Vox blog idea. While I appreciate the idea of only posting a clip of the music, sometimes, for the person listening, you're cutting the one part of the song they need to ID it.

As far as copyright violations, seeing as how it's just listed as "unknown track 1" I don't think, in the short term, I need to be too worried about the authorities. Because I'll be taking the post down as soon as I some people ID it.

ANyway it's uploading now. I'll put the page up as soon asa question next week when I'm allowed.
posted by rileyray3000 at 12:36 PM on December 4, 2007