Archive for November 22nd, 2007

How to Identify Tags on Pirated Releases

November 22, 07 by admin   1,543  views  

— “Where does all this free stuff come from, anyway?”

Well, that depends on what you are looking for. Generally when it comes to pirated movies, TV shows, software, games and even music, piracy “Release Groups” are the usual starting point for distribution.

Release Groups are at the top of the Illegal Distribution Pyramid, and it is through them that pirated copies are first created.

A typical release group will comprise of members that are very adept at certain tasks. Some members are suppliers; some will ‘crack’ software; some are packers and distributors. After all, groups perform better than even the best individuals at solving complex problems.

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Tags Found on Music Releases

November 22, 07 by admin   954  views  

Music/Audio Tags

Release Groups distribute music as well, usually in the form of complete albums, special compilations, sound tracks, etc. whereby the source was, is, or will be, found retail. There’s no sense in a release group downloading a bunch of songs from Limewire and packaging it up as a ‘release’. This just does not occur. So you can expect a “complete” CD from RGs. Sometimes proper releases will have ‘album art’ included, which includes digital pictures of the cover, CD or even inner jackets. Others may include a small playlist file (*.M3U) just for that album. But there will undoubtedly be ‘tags’ in the name of the folder in which the music is contained, and sometimes they will be in the filename of the file (song) also.

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Tags Found on Software-Games Releases

November 22, 07 by sharky   1,451  views  

Software Release Groups take their work just as seriously as movie releasers, if not more so. They have a protocol of ‘tags’ on their releases as well. Tags on software/games are becoming more erratic at the P2P level because much of what is found is not a genuine ’scene release’, or the release name has been changed so that it’s no longer identifiable as ‘proper’. An ever-updating list of proper software and game ’scene’ releases can always be found at www.nforce.nl (search their site or click the appropriate ’sections’ tabs on the left).

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