[APP] File-copying Alternatives

If there is one thing we have noticed about sharing music, movies or TV Shows with friends, copying can be a real pain. Large amounts of data to be copied is quite a paramount task for the Windows default file copying system. It does pull it off but not as efficiently as it can or it should. So we have these two suggestions as alternatives to the Windows default file copying system.

1) TeraCopy

Typical Transfer Window

Open source copying software developed by Code Sector is an extremely efficient copying substitute for the in-built option in Windows. The application can completely substitute the default file copying system altogether, and also adds an option in the file and folder context menu which allows the user to directly invoke the transfer option using the TeraCopy client. TeraCopy also groups all the transfers whilst copying in the same copying window also giving their current status. TearCopy skips any bad files again speeding up the transfer process. TeraCopy also has a provision to pause the file transfer operation. It has a nifty interface with a two bar system displaying the total percentage of completion and one bar to show current file progress. The transfer window also expands to show individual file statuses.

                                                                                                           2)FastCopy

FastCopy Window

FastCopy is also an effective alternative for file transfer as well, but doesn't replace the Windows file copying system entirely because for any copying process the app needs to be opened explicitly and the files to be copied needs to be specified. But this being the only disadvantage FastCopy gives an incredibly fast copying option for both big files and complex folder hierarchies. And beats both the default Windows file transfer option and TeraCopy. The application itself is extremely simple with options for selecting the source file and the destination address and a speed of copying option. The application offers a whole bundle of choices to the experienced use, if you aren't the most experienced user we suggest you skip all the technical jargon and skip straight to the copying. Once the copying process has been completed it gives details of speed of copy of individual file copy rates and the final result of the attempt to copy. FastCopy works very effectively for copying massive amounts of data, but is not pragmatic for everyday copying needs and the Ctrl+C Ctrl+V user.


All in all the default Windows copying is not an effective copying mechanism, done intentionally or not, as a replacement we suggest you try one of the above copying software depending on your needs as they tap your computer config's potential to copy faster.

[APP]Sublight

I've been on the lookout for a a good way to get subtitles for my large collection of movies and TV Shows.

Normally, I'd go through the process of Googling the name of the video, then going through the results, filter to the ones that our in english, then look for the synced and corrected ones.

All in all, it is a tedious process.

Recently, I found this handly windows application called Sublight. It a basically does all the work for you, and throws up the highest rated subtitles. It also renames the file to that of the video so VLC picks it up automatically. There is a wait time of 10 seconds when you are downloading, but you can always pay for the premium instant download option. It even supports batch download, so you can download subtitles for an entire folder(Although I haven't been able to get this to work. It only finds a result for one of the videos).

A close competitor is SubDownloader but is a 30 day shareware for Windows. Mac and Linux users on the other hand have it for free.

Sublight

click for a larger view

Firefox - Addons - Extensions/Themes/Plugins

Mozilla Firefox.
 
As I mentioned in my essential programs article, Firefox is the most flexible and adaptable browser in the world. If you are an avid internet user, Firefox is a must. I recommend the following addons.

Download Status Bar - This allows you to keep unobtrusively be updated of your downloads by neatly arranging them in a status bar at the bottom. You can see ETA, Speed and even Pause/Resume it directly.

UnPlug - This allows you to download videos from websites(like YouTube, Dailymotion, etc) on to your computer without having to use thrid party sites(such as KeepVid). The format is normally .flv.

Gmail Redesigned - A freebie by the company Globex Designs, it completes themes Gmail, Google Calender and Google Docs. It has a few bugs here and there, but it's overshadowed by the sheer coolness of this theme.


Yet Another Smooth Scrolling - As the name suggests, it makes your web viewing silky smooth. If you've ever used an iPod touch/iPhone, you'll know how useful the 'bounce' of the webpages are when you overscroll them. This allows you to have the same effect on your computer if you scroll using the directional keys or the scroll wheel that is.

Ubiquity - It started off as a Mozilla Labs project, but I'm not sure why it did not take off. It's really REALLY useful, once you get the hang of it that is. It's basically like a command window for your browser. And the commands aren't like regular commands. It's regular English. I'm not sure how to explain it better. You see for yourself - Introducing Ubiquity.
I'll have a full on post on Ubiquity a little later, teaching you how to use it and teach it new commands.
I haven't tested this on Firefox 4. Incase it's incompatable, I'll show you a workaround. But more on that later.


You can visit the Firefox's Add-ons page and explore for your self.

Media Formats, Codecs and Transcoders

I'm sure you've seen it, wondered what it meant, and then forgot about it when you realized it didn't matter.
 
Information is stored in a file. A format is basically the way this information is stored. It is identified by the ".<format>"(hereon referred to as extension) after the name of the file. You'll probably know some of the popular formats out there like
".txt" - Text File,
".doc" - Microsoft Word Document,
".mp3" - MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer III(also known as 'that-really-small-music-file-thingy'), etc.

Now, the extension is only to identify the file format. Information can be stored in files in many different ways and for many different purposes. Ranging from just storing it as it is(For example, in a ".txt" file, the text is saved exactly as it is) to 'coding it' by using complex algorithms in order to reduce the file size(For example, a ".avi" video file)

Well, now I'm about to explain, in brief*, about the functions and differences of and between various popular media formats.
I'm broadly classifying them under the following headings.

*If you want to read further, you can always look it up on wiki.
Music Formats
On an Audio CD(Remember those circular music things you used to buy, before you knew how to download?), the songs are directly written onto the disc in a very high detail. The name and other details of the tracks are written in between the songs. If you were to extract the raw data from it, a regular audio cd needs about 9MB of data per minute. This translate to roughly around 80 minutes of music on a standard 700MB CD. If you want to copy this data onto your computer/music player/pendrive, this has to be converted into a different format. That is, ".mp3", ".wav", etc. This conversion is done by a transcoder, but more on that later.


Audio-related Terminologies
Sampling Rate:
In reality, when you hear sounds, it consists of a complete, continuous waveform. This sound when converted to electrical signal, is known as an analog signal.
If you want to store this wave, it isn't possible to save it as it is. It has to be broken down into what is known as samples.

This is an analog format. As you can see, the wave is continuous.

This is an digital format. Clearly, it is broken into small parts

A sample is one such part

Sample rate is the number of samples per second. The higher the sample rate the more accurate the audio is.

Bit Rate
A bit is the like the unit of data. All computer data are stored in bits. 8 bits make a byte and 1024 bytes make a kilobyte and 1024 kilobytes(KB) make a megabyte(MB) and so on.
Bit rate is the number of bits per second. In audio terms, it is the amount of space used by one second of audio

Lucky for you, music files aren't found in too many formats. So I shall just give you the basics.

MPEG-1 Audio Layer III(or MP3)
MPEG stands for Moving Picture Experts Group. Yup, you read right. They defined the standards for audio and video compression and transmission. For all practical purposes, I shall explain it this way. Back when VCDs(Remember those circular video things you used to buy, before you knew how to download?) were out, they had to fit a whole movie onto two such discs. As mentioned earlier, if they used an uncompressed format, 80 minutes of audio alone would use up an entire CD.They need a way of reducing the size of the audio to such an extent that they can add the video as well. This resulted in video format, MPEG-1. The audio compression is so significant that 700MB of audio could now be reduced to around 50MB.

How this was achieved is very simple.

• There are certain sounds that the human ear cannot hear.
• There are certain sounds that the human ear hears much better than others.
• If there are two sounds playing simultaneously, we hear the louder one but cannot hear the softer one.

Using facts like these, certain parts of a song can be eliminated without significantly hurting the quality of the song. Compressing the rest of the song with well-known compression techniques** shrinks the song considerably -- by a factor of 10 at least. When it's done, what you have is a "near-CD-quality" song. The MP3 version of the song does not sound exactly the same as the original CD song because some of it has been removed.

**'well-known compression techniques' basically means it's outside the scope of this site.
Free Lossless Audio Codec
In case you don't want any compression whatsoever, but would like to download/save audio cds, then this is where you head. This format is what is known as a 'lossless' format as the audio is completely uncompressed and, you guessed it, lossless. It's a ditto 1:1 copy of the audio cd.

FLAC files are popular among torrents.

Torrents for Dummies

If you've been around long enough, your sure to have come across the word "Torrents"(or "BitTorrents") and how it's really cool and got nothing to do with rain.

Now, what is a torrent? And why is it cool?

When you normally download something from the internet, you are actually downloading it from that website's computer(known as a 'server'). You are downloading it from one place.
Whereas, with torrents and things like Limewire(assuming you've used it at some point), it uses a concept called "Peer To Peer"(or P2P for short). Wherein, when you download something, in LimeWire for example, you are downloading it from not just one person(or server), but from a whole bunch of people. Other people who are online and who have that file on their computer. In this way, the file starts from one person and spreads to a whole bunch of people.

Like all things, it does have its pros and cons.

The major advantage with this type of file sharing is that pirated stuff flourishes. Anyone can make a file like a movie or game public and wait for a few people to get it, and soon it'll spread like wildfire.
On the flip-side, if not many people get want to download that file, chances of finding people to download it from are slim.

Torrents use the same concept. The only thing you need to download is this really small file with a ".torrent" extension and a Torrent program(known as a Torrent Client). The best one out there is µTorrent. Its small and simple.


Basically the ".torrent" file tells the Torrent program what file(s) to download. It communicates with something known as a tracker to know who all have the files and how to download it from them.


A tracker is a website which keeps track of all the various torrents out there and who all have them. It basically helps the Torrent Client to communicate with other torrent clients that have the file.

Where do you find this small ".torrent" files you ask?
Well they can be found by searching the sites, isoHunt, KickassTorrents and The Pirate Bay.


Note: Torrents are uploaded and downloaded only when the torrent client is running.


In the world of torrents, there are a few terminologies you ought to know.


Seeds - These are number people who have the file and have their torrent client running.
Seeding - This is the process of uploading torrents(this is, letting other people download it from your computer) that you have already downloaded.
Leechers - These are people who are in the process of downloading the file. They do not have the complete file.
Leeching - This is the process of uploading the partial file while you are downloading it.


Wikipedia has a nice article on the entire BitTorrent Vocabulary incase you don't believe me.
 
Now, to the actual downloading part.

1. Download µTorrent
2. Install it by following the onscreen instructions.
3. Download the ".torrent" file from your prefered torrent site.
4. Open the ".torrent" file using µTorrent.
5. Hit OK, select the folder to where you want to download it and it should start downloading.
6. Depending on your internet speed, it will calculate how long it will take to complete. (Look in the "ETA" column)
7. Once it has finished, go to the "Completed" tab on the left and Right-Click on the file. Then go to "Open"(Or something similar)
8. Enjoy

Now that you are no longer a torrent dummy, you can move on to the Torrent Basics