lindsay50
asked on
Newsgroups: "binaries" - What the..?
I am completely baffled by binaries newsgroups. I am trying to access some MP3s which have been posted...
Can anyone direct me to a clearly written, easy to follow explanation of how these work?
Any webpages I've found are as clear as mud. Surely it can't be THAT difficult?!!??!!!
Using OE.
Previously tried to do it on Free Agent but huge files, supposedly of several songs,produced 39 seconds of MP3.
In the newsgroup, I typically see "part 1 0f 5", "part 2 of 5", "part 3 of 5" but they never seem to have the full numerical sequence. Sometimes even "part 0 of 5"!!! (Since when did we count with zero?)
Can anyone direct me to a clearly written, easy to follow explanation of how these work?
Any webpages I've found are as clear as mud. Surely it can't be THAT difficult?!!??!!!
Using OE.
Previously tried to do it on Free Agent but huge files, supposedly of several songs,produced 39 seconds of MP3.
In the newsgroup, I typically see "part 1 0f 5", "part 2 of 5", "part 3 of 5" but they never seem to have the full numerical sequence. Sometimes even "part 0 of 5"!!! (Since when did we count with zero?)
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Thank you for your clarity.
Glad to be of help!
OE can automatically decode these files. If the file has only one part, simply clicking on it will cause OE to decode it. If it's an MP3, then in the preview pane (bottom half of the screen), you will see a paperclip in the top right. Click on it and it will show you the name of the file. Click on the file name and it will open.
If there are multiple parts, you can click on the first part, hold down shift, and click on the last part. This will highlight them all. Then click Message, Combine and Decode. When done, an Outlook message pane will open, showing you the attachment, which you can double click to open. You can save too.
Part 0 of 5 is usually a text description of what is to follow in the ensuing 5 files.
If you never see the full numerical sequence, you can't properly get the whole file. The reason the full sequence isn't there is the fault of your news server (most likely). Sure, sometimes people neglect to post all parts, but news servers typically expire binary messages quickly, becuase they are so large and take up so much space. Also, newsgroups flow in a stream from news server to news server, and parts tend to get lost along the way. If you've ever tried to get MP3s from AOL, for example, it's a nightmare. They'll have 4 out of 5 or 15 out of 16 but never all parts. As long as part 1 is there, you can still decode it with OE, but there will be a gap in the song for every missing part.
Hope this is a start for you.
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