How to find anime mp3s online

[Jongleur]




OK, this is going to be in steps, because when I'm looking for a particular song this is how I do it. They start off easy/non-technical and get more complicated.

I'm going to search for a particular song, by way of an example: I've picked 'Karenai Hana', the ending song from Full Metal Panic.


Step 1: Web searching

I always use Google. No other search engine that I've ever seen is even faintly useful for anime mp3s.

Now, look at your song.
Full Metal Panic - Karenai Hana

The anime name is in English, it's easy to spell, no problem. The song name is in Japanese; Hana is easy to spell, but Karenai looks like it could be spelt wrong. There's no point your spelling it right in the search engine if the person who's put it up for download has spelt it wrong on their page. This happens really often - as a matter of fact, this song name is often seen written as 'Karanai Hana', which will really screw your search.

So, my search string in Google is going to be "full metal panic" hana mp3 download


Putting both 'mp3' and 'download' in your search ought to weed out most of the mp3 listings (why do people do that when they aren't putting them up for request or download, anyway? Showoffs.) and the wallpaper/winamp skin pages (other 'downloads').


Try about the first ten results. If there's nothing in any of those it's not worth keeping going.

If you're hardly getting any results, then try removing either 'mp3' or 'download' and trying again.



Step 2: Peer-to-peer

OK, that hasn't worked. That's not unusual, especially if your song is not an opening or ending song. OP and ED songs are a thousand times more likely to be on websites for download than some song from the middle of a soundtrack CD. Also, older songs are rarer, even if they're big famous classics.

So, at this point I try a peer-to-peer file sharing program. These are programs like Napster which allow you to search for songs on other people's computers and (hopefully) download them. The one I use is Kazaa Lite but there's also WinMX, Grokster, and many others. You can even use Kazaa proper if you must (the official version - Kazaa Lite is a cut-down one without the adverts ^_^).

Do a search in Kazaa (or P2P prog of your choice) for your song. Don't overload the Kazaa search engine with words, it's not good at multiple search terms. Instead, try a number of different searches, one after another. Search for full metal panic or karenai hana or karanai hana.

Trying during US evening is best because the largest number of people are on the P2P networks and sharing songs. Don't waste time if your searches find nothing, persistence rarely pays off in P2P. Move on to the next step.



Step 3: IRC - the Holy Grail

Firstly, let me explain. Every anime song, ever, is on IRC and easily accessible. As is every recent anime episode and quite a lot of old ones too. You can get manga scans, artbook scans, and anything else anime-related you ever wanted, plus all the new stuff goes there first. Once you are on IRC you will never waste your time trying to get anime mp3s any other way.

What's the downside, I hear you ask? It's an absolute complicated bugger to learn to use, I answer. However, it is my last port of call, and the reason why I can find all these weird obscure songs while you poor people have to request them from nutcases like me. ^_^

IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a huge system of giant networks. It's divided into servers, and on each server are hundreds or thousands of 'channels', which are basically chatrooms. In order to use it you need a client program - use mIRC, because it's by far the best one and also the most common, plus free.

If you want to use IRC, I recommend you go find yourself an mIRC tutorial, because if I started trying to write one of those we'd be here all night. However, the following bits of advice will come in handy for the IRC newbie:
1. IRC is a place where a lot of hackers hang out. A firewall is not necessary, but I'd definitely recommend it. I don't want to scare you off, IRC is a great place - you won't get attacked unless you're incredibly unlucky, but if you have obvious vulnerabilities they are likely to be exploited.
2. IRC old hands can often be really, really rude to newbies too. Make sure you've read any channel rules before you start trying to download stuff, and you'll be fine. (Channel rules will come up as you join a channel, so don't worry about that).

Finally, you need to know where to go. As of now (Aug 2003) the place I go for anime mp3s is the server irc.mircx.com. Doing a '/list anime' command on this server will get you a zillion anime-related channels, but the one you want is #anime-ost.

Oh, and if you ever see a 'Jongleur' in any anime-related channel, it's probably me. Feel free to buzz me. ^_^ (Clue: if they respond by swearing at you, make spelling mistakes or try to persuade you to alter your basic computer settings, it's not me. ^_^)


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Right, that's it. As a matter of fact, I successfully found downloadable copies of 'Karenai Hana' with every one of these steps, so I promise they work. Just use a little sense and it's easy - I can't emphasise enough that spelling stuff wrong will wipe out any chance you have of finding your song. If you're not sure, leave out the words you aren't sure about (as above, leaving out 'karenai'). I am not liable for acts of random stupidity resulting from this guide. ^_^



Not satisfied? Email me. I don't bite. Hard.




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