FAQ

1. What is www.flaminglipshub.com?
flaminglipshub.com is a web-site with information about The Flaming Lips Hub.

2. What is flaminglips.no-ip.org then?
Well, flaminglips.no-ip.org is the physical address of the Hub itself. It is not a website like www.flaminglipshub.com, but it's the address for connecting to The Flaming Lips Hub.

3. So, what is a Hub?
The answer is simple! If you are familiar with peer-to-peer (P2P) groups like Kaaza, or even older groups like Napster, you know that you need to download a program to connect to other people/peers that have the music you want. A "Hub" is no different. Our DC Hub is a secure place where fans can connect to other fans and download recorded concerts, free! To do this, just download the program called DC++ found here. It's a free and legal download too! The benefits of using hubs over these other services, are a fully operational chat feature, more ease in finding what you are looking for, and more control over the user friendly functions. The best part is that the FLAMING LIPS even support trading of their live shows!!!

4. Then How do I connect?
Download DC++
Step1: Before you install DC++, set up your share and download directories. A recommended setup would be to start with two directories - something like C:\SHN\shareshows and C:\SHN\download. A third directory is recommended, and that is C:\SHN\download\unfinished. These will be the directories you use to make files available to other users and to put your downloaded files into. These are the directory names I will use later in this FAQ.
Step 2: Install DC++ on your system and run it. There are a few settings you will need to make before you can connect successfully to the hub.
First, click on the "Settings" button near the top-left of the DC++ Window (second from the right). In the "General" tab, enter a name for yourself - E-mail and Description are optional - Connection is recommended. At the bottom of the Settings window, you have the option of choosing Active or Passive mode. Choose Active mode unless you are behind a firewall. If you are behind a firewall, choose Passive.
Second, set your download and shared directories. Under the "Downloads" tab, set the Default download directory to C:\SHN\download and the Unfinished files temporary directory to C:\SHN\download\unfinished. The other settings on this tab are optional and can be left alone. Under the "Sharing" tab, click "Add folder" and choose your C:\SHN\shared directory. Anything in this directory (including subdirectories) will be what you are sharing on the hub. You can select more than one folder to share, if you wish. Do not share your download directory. Finally, set your number of upload slots. This is the number of people who will be able to download from you at one time. It has to be at least one, but if you have a decent connection, should be higher - something in the range of 2-5. Everything else is optional/advanced. You may want to go to the "Advanced" tab and check on "Automatically search for alternative download locations." With this checked, DC++ will automatically look for other people that have the files in your download cue and will download them from wherever it can. This should make your downloads go faster. You should now be ready to connect to the hub.
Step 3: To actually connect to the hub, click on the "Public Hubs" button (first button on the top-left - it looks like a computer). Near the bottom-right, type into the "manual connect address" box, type The Flaming Lips Hub address: flaminglips.no-ip.org and click "Connect" (or hit enter). You may also want to add The Flaming Lips Hub to your favorite hubs and set it to auto-connect. Click on the "Favorite Hubs" button (it looks like a Star). In there, click "New..." and enter in the Name (The Flaming Lips Hub), Address (flaminglips.no-ip.org), and a Description. You don't need to enter a nick or a Password. If left blank, your nick will be whatever you entered as your default in the "Settings." If you wish to have a different nick for this hub, enter that nick here (still no password necessary).

5. What should I expect at flmainglips.no-ip.org?
CD quality audio for one thing. Access to many, many live Flaming Lips shows, old and new. A friendly community, for another! And SHN & FLAC files!

6. What is FLAC and/or SHN?
Remember MP3 files? Well, SHN & FLAC files are much better in that they do not lose sound quality when you take CD audio and convert them to smaller/compressed files. Smaller files means easier to download, less time, etc... SHN & FLAC are not as small as MP3, but they are much better in terms of sound quality... AND, unlike MP3s you can trade them in trading circles outside of The Flaming Lips Hub, because they are recognized the world over as being a "lossless" source of music.

7. How do I play SHN files?
Well, that would be through Winamp, SHNamp, in fact. And that can be found on etree.org. And you will be good to grab MKWact, which is also found on etree.org.

8. How do I play FLAC files?
Donwload the FLAC frontend. You can then play them in WinAmp or decode them to WAV.

7. Is there an all in one software suite that can play, decode, and encode these SHN and FLAC files?
There sure is!!! dBPowerAmp can do it all in one!!!. However, you will need to download and install 4 individual pieces of dBPowerAmp. Once installed it is very easy. First, you will need the Player software, to listen. Next you'll need to download and install the FLAC Codec and SHN Codec. This helps the program know what to do with SHN and FLAC files. Then just get the dBPower Amp DMC Digital Music Converter (encoding/decoding) add-on. Whammo, there you go... one easy solution.

9. What is an MD5?
An MD5 is a way of verifying that the show/files that you got from another user is not only complete, but that all the information that you downloaded is still retained in the original file. This means that what you downloaded is an exact clone of what is shared around The Flaming Lips Hub. You would be surprised at how much information is lost when you use p2p groups like Soulseek & Kaaza. But, being that DC++ is more secure, and that The Flaming Lips Hub is on a more secure server, you don't have to worry about all that... and the MD5s are just another way to make sure you got all that you wanted & to ease your mind. So, this all might seem like a foreign language at first, but really it is quite simple; and it serves a really great purpose.

10. What is expected of me?
Download the shows, listen to the shows, share them on the Hub, trade them with others, do not sell them to anyone, have loads of fun, spread the word about The Flaming Lips Hub, and follow the very few, simple, rules.

11. How do I bring new shows to The Flaming Lips Hub?
If the show is already compressed in SHN/FLAC/or APE then all you have to do is move the show into your shared Direct Connect client's folder and restart your DC client or type '/refresh' (without the quotes) in DC++'s main chat window. This will cause your newly shared show to appear in your share list. Make sure that it also has a text file in the directory with all the tracks describing information pertinent to the show (artist, date played, tracklisting, etc - view the information text files of other shows and you will see a common format among them). If the show is pressed/burned on CD or CD-R there is a PREFERRED way of extracting the audio and sharing it in The Flaming Lips Hub. Please educate yourself on this procedure before sharing your show. If you need assistance with any of these steps please do not hesitate to ask an Op for assistance (that is what we are here for).

1. If your operating system is Windows-based please download and install EAC (Exact Audio Copy). It can be found here.
2. Setup EAC with your CD burner. Read and understand the documentation that comes with EAC.
3. Setup EAC to rip using 'Secure Mode'. Many CD ripping software packages do not verify that the audio ripped from the CD is identical to the audio on the CD while the ripping is in progress. In other words, EAC 'takes its time' and double checks that the extracted audio is identical to the audio on the CD (there is a good explanation of how this is accomplished in EAC's documentation). A CD in good condition usually extracts flawlessly and without any suspecious sectors reported. Don't be alarmed if you see a track with an Integrity rating below 100%. This normally means taht EAC decided to read a sector of the CD more than once to verify that the sector was good. EAC is your friend =].
4. Rip the tracks as WAV files and not MP3! We do not like MP3. MP3 is a form of lossy audio (audio integrity is being lost or thrown away to compensate for its format's smaller size). It is againt The Flaming Lips Hub's policy to be sharing ANY MP3-sourced audio.
5. Compress the audio into a lossless audio format. The official lossless audio formats that we share in Travis Hub are SHN, FLAC, and APE. We would prefer that you use FLAC or SHN over APE because of the difficulty in working with APE files on non- Windows systems. We will not turn you away if you do choose to use the APE format.
6. Create a information text file describing the show to accompany the tracks you have extracted and compressed.
7. EAC allows you to save a log file describing successful extraction of the audio from the CD. Please include this with your shared show.
If you suspect that the show you have to share was sourced from a lossy format (like MP3) please verify that this is not the case with a tool called AnalFreq and a good set of ears. If you are not comfortable verifying it yourself please ask one of the Ops to assist you.

Don't forget to announce your seed! If you are bringing a new show within the hub be sure to tell the folks in the main chat window that you are sharing it with a message like 'sharing new seed Travis / date of show / etc.'. It's also a good idea to private message an Op telling them of the new seed so that we can keep track of the new shows. Ops will never demand a slot from you. Thank you for contributing!

12. Why can't I share commercial material here, or MP3s?
We simply don't want those files cluttering up the Hub... and that goes for a few other things, as well (see the Rules section). A lot of people come into the Hub with other band's music to share, this we ENCOURAGE. But we are a "lossless" trading community. We trade only lossless files, so MP3's being lossy, won't cut it. Sharing the music that bands rely on sales for their income is not good, it is "lossy" too, in that they lose money and the ability to create better music for us in the future. Therefore, if we cut out ALL commercial material, there should be no offended parties (legal or otherwise). We want everyone's noses to be clean as a whistle here at The Flaming Lips hub.

13. How come my download speeds are so slow?
It is all a matter of bandwidth when you use a p2p group; and if you are using a 28.8K modem, then you probably experience this problem anywhere & everywhere go on the internet. We really hate this part, because it seems to be exclusionary; nevertheless, a 28.8K modem will not do you much good on The Flaming Lips Hub. With a 56K modem, you can probably get (and share) a show faster that you could mail one by regular post. With DSL & Cable, this is optimum for The Flaming Lips Hub... and you should have no problems whatsoever. In other words, you will be flying!