COLLECTING FOR BEGINNERS:
WHERE AND HOW TO CREATE A NIRVANA BOOTLEG LIST

Bootleg listings on web pages facilitate trading. It is your own personal corner of the web, where you can post your list for everyone to see, as well as information about yourself.

FINDING A FREE HOST
Since most of you don't want to dish out a few hundred dollars to get a domain off the ground, most traders choose to have there sites hosted for free. Here are some great free hosts that will help you get off the ground as far as creating your bootleg list:

These guys will give you a block of free webspace and help you get started.

BUT HOW DO I PROGRAM A WEB PAGE!
Making a web page isn't really complicated at all. There are easy home-page builders that come along with all of the aforementioned free hosts, or you could simply use Microsoft Word. Most recent versions enable you to save your work as an HTML file. After that just upload it to the web and you're off! You might also want to check out www.HtmlGoodies.com. Homepage builders also come with all major browsers (Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc...)

UPLOADING WEB PAGES
Many of the free hosts listed above allow you to access your page and upload files through HTML, in which case you can simply do it through whatever browser you have. If your host does not, then you will need an FTP Client. One that I have found to be easy to use and efficient is Coffee Cup's Free FTP. FTP, File Transfer Protocol, is another way to both upload and download binary and text files to servers all over the world. Although it is slightly more complicated than uploading files through your browser, it is usually faster and safer.


WHAT TO INCLUDE ON YOUR BOOTLEG PAGE
There are a few key things that should be included on EVERY bootleg page. They are the following:
  1. DATE OF SHOW: What date the show took place.
  2. LOCATION: Usually the city name, state name, country name, and venue name.
  3. LENGTH: Actually listen to the show and find out. Just because the owner of the NIRVANA Live Guide has a complete copy, doesn't necessarily mean you do.
  4. COMPLETE: Yes? No?
  5. GENERATION: How many times the tape has been copied. DON'T LIE ABOUT THIS. People will be able to tell, and you will be reported as a BAD TRADER. If you are unsure simply put a "?" in this category.
  6. QUALITY: Now...If what you have is a CD you should rate the quality on a scale of either A B C D, or 1 2 3 4, etc.... If what you have is a video, you should rate both the sound and picture quality of the recording. Also note any serious sound problems with the show (skips, clicks, hiss, 2 second gaps, etc...)
  7. SOURCE: (See Below)

HOW TO CORRECTLY LIST THE SOURCE
The source of a NIRVANA recording is simply what format the recording was created on, what format it is on today, and how it got there. The source of a recording listing the source can sometimes be a tricky thing to do. First one must learn several abbreviations that are important for this purpose.

ANA = Analog Cassette
CD = Compact Disc
CDR = Recordable Compact Disc
DAT = Digital Audio Tape
LP = Long Play Vinyl
M = Master Recording
MP3 = MPEG layer-3 file
RA = Real Audio file
VID = VHS Video Cassette

Now that we know these abbreviations it is easier to create valuable source information and to list it on your page. Here is an example of a source of a NIRVANA bootleg:

DAT2 -> ANA2 -> CDR1
(Basically means this: MASTERDAT -> DATCopy#1 -> DATCopy#2 -> CassetteCopy#1 -> CassetteCopy#2 -> CD-R) Since Digital sources experience NO generation loss... It would be fair to say this CD is sourced from a 2nd Gen. Analog.

ANA2 -> DAT1 -> ANA3 -> CDR1
(Basically this means: MASTERCassette -> CassetteCopy#1 -> CassetteCopy#2 -> DAT -> CassetteCopy#3 -> CD-R)
Notice the Generation of the Analog cassettes continued once it finished traveling through the digital medium. This is because there is no generation loss on DATs or CD-Rs. Note: This recording is 3rd Gen. It is NOT 2+3 = 5th gen.

ANA? -> CDR2 -> ANA2
(Basically this means: Cassette? -> CD-R#1 -> CD-R#2 > CassetteCopy#1 -> CassetteCopy#2)
Note: The question mark after the first "ANA" means that the generation of this recording IS NOT KNOWN. Even though the second "ANA" is second generation, there is of no concern for the trader, because this is still an unknown gen. recording. Also, notice that this recording traveled through 2 different CD-Rs. Since no quality is lost many traders choose not to keep track of this aspect... But it is a good habit to get into, for it may help to eliminate errors in the future. If there are errors in the process of copying CDs, they can also be more easily traced through this process.

ANA[M] -> CDR
(Basically this means: MASTERCassette -> CD-R). This is everybody's favorite. This is considered a MASTER recording, an exact digital clone of the original.

DAT3 -> CDR2
(Basically this means: MASTERDAT -> DATCopy#1 -> DATCopy#2 -> DATCopy#3 -> CD-RCopy#1 -> CD-RCopy#2)
This recording is also a MASTER. Since it went through all digital sources there is absolutely NO generation loss.

If the true generation of a recording is not known... DO NOT LIE ABOUT IT. This is considered one of the biggest sins of the NIRVANA trading community. People who knowingly lie about generations, are BAD TRADERs List material.

[For more reading on generations please read Kris Sproul and Shane Virone's Recommendations for Better Trading]

HOW DO I GET PEOPLE TO COME TO MY PAGE?
Well, don't expect your page to turn into yahoo.com over night, but there are a few things you can do to get your page noticed.

First of all, you should register yourself as a NIRVANA Trader at this site's NIRVANA Traders Database. Post the URL to alt.music.nirvana, alt.music.nirvana.bootlegs, alt.music.bootlegs, www.DigitalNirvana.net, www.NirvanaClub.com, etc...

Register your URL with search engines (Yahoo, Altavista, Lycos, HotBot, etc...)

There are some services that claim to list your page in all of these different places for free, but they usually sell all of your information to JunkMail companies. Over the course of a year you could literally receive thousands upon thousands of Junk-Emails as a result of dealing with those companies, so it is not highly recommended.

REDIRECT SERVICES
If you feel that your URL is too long, it is always logical to acquire a redirect URL (a shorter URL that is easier for people to remember). You can get these free ReDirect URLs at:

http://www.tsx.org/

http://welcome.to/

Usually these services will require that you place an ad-banner or a pop up window on your site in exchange for providing this free service.

OTHER SERVICES
If you are looking for other cool HTML Services I recommend you take a look at BraveNet, BraveNet provides a cornucopia of services ranging from counters and mailing lists, to polls and guest books. If you have a page check them out. You won't be sorry.

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