How to find it
With google, finding things is really easy so long you have the right keywords. In this case, I found that having the right combination is the target name + forum name + share server name:
Target name - name of the music, movie, etc., including its format and publisher
forum name - popular blogs, discussions, wikis
share server names - rapidshare, megaupload, mediafire
Here are some sample search results:
How to batch in background
The information maybe free, however, without the right tool, to get them on your HD could be an expensive proposal, your time. There are two known solutions:
The bit torrents
The bit torrent is a peer to peer sharing network, such as http://www.vuze.com/. Once you joined the bit-torrent, your PC becomes a client as well as a server. It works, but most torrent seeds, are just like your PC, their upload speed (your download speed) are very slow, and the yields (% of successful download) are low. To download file from bit torrent requires to install the software.
The shared servers
The shared servers, such as rapidshare.com and megaupload.com, are becoming more popular. It is easier to find, downloads faster, and better description on the blogs/forums. Many of the shared servers limit the file size to be around 100MB (at the time of this writing). A movie file, even a highly compressed movie still takes up hundreds of mega bytes. The popular solution is to have winrar part the source into smaller (100 MB) zip files.
The share servers make their money by offering premium membership for continuous (batch) download with no waiting. However, the batch downloader allows us to continuous download and free us to do the download on the background. The JDownloader, http://jdownloader.org/, is the most popular batch downloader which enters file list, decrypts the cpatcha, restart the download after the server pause, and extracts files. If the zip file has a password, you may configure the password before start the job.
You may batch your job before going to bed or work. But I recommend use your extra (old) PC to jdownload. And make sure the PC has a huge HD. Once you are jdownload ready, we can then talk about where to go with our shopping list.
Good luck in setting up your own digital library.
