February 02, 2008 by sharky
« Part 4 of a 7-part series on Advanced Searching for Copyrighted Content »
Part 4. Searching ‘Warez’ / DDL websites.
We’ve already covered this topic on Direct Download Link (aka ‘Warez’ websites) - read it in it’s entirety here. So instead of rehashing what we’ve already done, we’ll elaborate on the searching implementations. And we’ve found a few DDL sites that really stick out from the rest (especially this one), plus we found some good tips for downloading multiple files at the same time. But first, a little more info on DDL websites:
One thing that we like about DDL sites is that they are essentially anonymous. The only site that knows what links you’ve clicked is the warez hosting site themselves, and certainly rapidshare.com isn’t about to start logging everyone’s activities and passing it on to the authorities.
DDL sites are getting smarter - to compensate for content that’s being deleted, some will offer multiple ‘mirrors’ to different hosting sites. Assuredly at least one of the links should be working. If you ever come across a file that has been deleted by rapidshare.com, this is the nasty error message that you’ll receive:
These ‘warez’ sites are also getting faster at offering releases that are found the same day as BitTorrent websites. One example - we found “Alvin And the Chipmunks” on PhaseDLL.com the same day it was released to The Pirate Bay and Mininova.
NOTE: Only moderate success can be gained from applying the proper release tips from NFO websites. Many DDL sites remove the proper tags and release group names from their listings.
‘DDL Search’ Websites:
These websites act as a ‘metasearch’ for other DDL sites. Users simply enter in a keyword into the search and they’ll report back links from different DDL sites that match the criteria.
http://ddlsearch.free.fr/ 
Recommended! Excellent site for searching for illegal content on popular file hosting sites! Incorporates seven different search engines (Google, MSN, Yahoo, Ask…) that can be cross-searched with 85 different file hosting sites (rapidshare, megaupload, filefactory.com, depositfiles.com, etc…). DDLSearch offers a torrent search tool, as well.
www.rapidsharelinks.info 
This site only searches for files hosted on rapidshare.com. In our tests, search results were scarce for exact matches (but valid, and recent).
www.freshwap.net 
Freshwap does it right! Not only do they pump out the latest releases, but they offer the original link (i.e. imdb.com or gamespot.com review page) but they also offer the NFO file link (under ‘Install Notes‘ - see below). Well done!
RapidshareKing.com
This is another site that only hosts content from Rapidshare.com, but it does it well. Content is fresh and easy to find - even has some High-Def movies. The links are clickable - no need to do silly cut/paste from webpages - just click and download!
rapid-search-engine.com 
HIGHLY Recommended! Tired of having to cut/paste those links into your browser URL window? We have found the solution! This site offers clickable links to rapidshare files without the hassle of cut/paste. Not only that, but they also offer excellent external searches, as well - and all outside links are clickable without having to view the external site. And the best feature? They incorporate a “link checker” that verifies if the link still exists at rapidshare.com before you try to download it. We like this site so much that it requires our extensive explanation:
Visit rapid-search-engine.com. Users have essentially two choices - either search “The Web” or search “The Database”.
Option 1. “our database” Search.
Enter a keyword to search, and click the “our database” radio button (as shown above), then click search. Because most releases are split into many parts, they’ll be grouped together:
Option 2. “the web” Search. - Follow these instructions to validate the links and access the links as clickable.
1. Again, enter a keyword to search, and this time click “the web” radio button, then click search.
2. The results will appear as shown below. When you’ve found something you want to download, click the “Get RS links” link.
3. Now, click the “Check Links” button at the bottom. Not only will this check the links at rapidshare.com (and validate if they are still there), it will also make the links clickable.
4. The links will now begin the validation process. After successful validation, they will be clickable and launch to rapidshare.com for downloading:
OUR NOTES about Rapid-search-engine.com: While we found that it works great for finding software and other specific items, we found that many of the search results for movies had been deleted by rapidshare, and thus didn’t “validate” in the link-checker. This is because: When you search for a movie, you’ll get results that match the movie title, and these filenames are painfully obvious to rapidshare and become easy candidates for deletion. That is why when you visit a good DDL website such as http://allulook4.com you’ll notice that they offer links to a movie, but the file names do not match up with that movie title - this technique is used to avoid detection by rapidshare, and the files stay alive much longer.
Other Very Good DDL Websites:
No crap, no popups - just a great-looking site with a ton of categories for browsing. All ‘rapidshare’ download links are shown on-site without the redirects offered by others! Some links are even clickable, and launch right to the file hosting site. AllULook4 has extremely fresh content - “same day” releases; comparable to popular BitTorrent websites.
XshareX is more of a forum-oriented site for DDL links, and users must first register before conducting any searches. Just an infinitismal amount of stuff here! We like their forum motto:
Area51warez is a great DDL site for finding “niche wares” - expensive, hard-to-find stuff such as CAD programs. Lists 55 DDL links just for AutoCAD (& related software) alone, plus another 450 for other graphics apps! If you’re into high-end software - this is the place to go. NOTE: This site requires registration before the links are accessible.
A Few Tips:
We’ve found a few tips for downloading multiple files at the popular hosting websites. Check out these articles:
— MyDigitalLife has a great article for multiple-downloading using the US Downloader. This apparently works with “non-premium” (Free) accounts, as well as premium ones.
— Tech-buzz.net also has an interesting article on rapidshare tricks & hacks.
— Here’s a Google Tip for searching for files on rapidshare.com: Use this ‘operator’ in Google’s search window (replace “alvin and the chipmunks” with YOUR desired search term).
“rapidshare.com/files/” intitle:alvin and the chipmunks
Truth be told, we tested a few things that support multiple downloads with Rapidshare, but we were unsuccessful in achieving simultaneous downloads while accessing the free service (i.e. “non-premium account”). In all circumstances, we were still placed in a queue sequence, and had to wait for one to finish downloading before the next one began. And even that was suspect…
RapGet for Rapidshare
We tested one application that supports this queue-style of multiple downloading - RapGet v1.40. Users can ‘paste’ an entire series of files into the program from a website (or drag ‘n drop them), and in theory it should download them one after another. But for us, it didn’t work. The reason? Rapidshare employs a small “captcha” screen where users must enter a 4-digit code before each download, thus cutting out the ‘bots’ from doing this. Having a premium RS account avoids this problem in RapGet (and the account details can be imported). However, RapGet supports many different file hosting services such as megaupload.com, getfile.biz and about 65 other ones, so test it out. Download RapGet v1.40 here.
Next up to bat: Advanced Searching with IRC.
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