Research Tools

TODAY IN COMEDY file: Rapidshare  password:research  04/13/2012
Compress/decompress files www.winrar.com and www.winzip.com

Reference material: use www.wikipedia.org 

Random tips:

www.picasa.com	Blogger stores your images here. If/when you reach the album limit (something like 900 images,) make a minor change to the name of your blog on the SETTINGS page and that will start a new album AND preserve your old albums (which means your images will not disappear on your blog.)
Where to find albums	Yard sales, Vinyl stores, Friends, family, eBay, Salvation army, Pawn shops
Where to find files	Pay emusic sites (i.e. itunes), other blogs, Forums and USENET, rental videos, torrents, youtube.com.  Adobe audition will rip audio from rental videos, there are several capture applications to get sound from youtube videos. ALWAYS start with a list of what you want, for example, an artist's discography from Wikipedia. Your search will be more fruitful.
Ripping audio	when ripping only audio from an album/video, consider 128 bit since most albums have limited range (i.e. voice only) to make your files smaller.
Permanent Blog address	Vector your blog address!  In Blogger, Setup your own domain for $10 (e.g. www.jims-music-com) and associate your blog with that domain name. SO - if your blog is deleted by Blogger you can create a new blog WITH THE SAME domain name so everyone can still find your blog. SETTINGS/PUBLISHING
Google alerts	Looking for an album but don't want to google every day? Set up a Google alert and Google will email you when your search criteria are met.
Backup your blog template	DESIGN/EDIT HTML/DOWNLOAD FULL TEMPLATE (to your hard drive) DESIGN/EDIT HTML/Upload a template... (upload to the web)
Backup your blog contents / restore	SETTINGS/BASIC/LOG TOOLS Export blog (save to your hard drive) SETTINGS/BASIC/LOG TOOLS import blog to restore (upload to the web)
Upload manager	Use FILE and IMAGE UPLOADER to upload to many file storage facilities. It will upload to your accounts, keep track of what you uploaded where, purge information, etc. http://z-o-o-m.eu/
Schedule posts	Blogger allows you to create new posts which will be immediately published or published at a later date. I prefer to create many posts and publish them over several days. NEW POST/POST OPTIONS/SCHEDULE

Find and download files:

Google Blogspot	Album and track downloads
Filetube	Album and track downloads
Skafunkrastapunk	Album and track downloads
RapidDog	Album and track downloads
Rapidfind	Album and track downloads
"Redd Foxx" rapidshare or megaupload or sharebee -ebay -allmusic	A Google search example which excludes ebay and allmusic.com hits
Megaupload	Album and track downloads

Find images: covers, labels and track lists

BSNPubs	Discographies. Labels, titles, tracks, covers. Large catalog.
Rate Your Music	Discographies. Labels, titles, tracks, covers. Large catalog
GEMM	Discographies. Labels, titles, tracks, covers. Large catalog
Acoustic Sounds	Discographies. Labels, titles, tracks, covers.
Discogs	Discographies. Labels, titles, tracks, covers. Large catalog
Recording Labels	Record label information, A to Z
eBay	Comedy Albums. Covers, Labels, Tracks (click image for back covers)
Bongo's	Covers, Labels, Tracks. Small site.
Rare Vinyl	Covers, Labels.
Demented Records	Track names and Label inscriptions, one of a kind site
When Radio Was King	Old Time Radio Broadcasts
Dootunes	Discography
Laff	Discography
Standup! Records	Discography
Scepter	Discography
Dore	Discography
Roulette Records	Discography
Fax	Discography
Gross Records	Discography
Image Search	Covers
Flicker	Covers
Picasa	Covers
Tineye	Reverse Photo lookup (Input your photo, searches for images like it on web)