How to upload albums on Anarcho-Punk.net server (2023 edition)

Disclaimer: You need to have uploaded at least 10 albums on the forum through other means (third-party file sharing sites) before you get access to PunkDownload. This is just to prevent abuse and to see what kind of music you upload on the forum. After you have uploaded 10 albums, you will be automatically added to the "Uploader" user group which grants access to PunkDownload. If you need help getting started with that, click here.

This is a written guide to help beginners upload their albums to the APN server ("PunkDownload"). No prior experience or knowledge is needed, we'll cover every step to do a basic upload. In the comments below there's a video on the process as well. Feel free to ask any questions you might have, no matter how trivial they might seem. We all want you to succeed in your noble quest to provide the world with anarchist music.


Things you'll need:
* All the files! Make sure you have all the tracks, preferably in the mp3 format, and a good picture of the artwork for the release you want to upload. And of course, avoid uploading things that is at risk of having copyright issues on the server. Use third-party file sharing solutions for those cases.


(If you're not able to scan or photograph the artwork then it's most of the times available at Discogs.)

* A computer! While it's technically possible to do this on a smartphone, it's highly recommended to use a computer (the process is more or less the same on Windows, macOS or Linux).


Step 1 - Make the zip file
Select all the files you want to include in the zip file. Then follow these steps depending on which OS you're using:

Windows - Right click the files and select "Compress to ZIP-file" (may differ a bit in wording between Windows versions)
macOS - Right click the folder containing your files and select "Compress folder"
Linux - If you're using Linux you won't need a tutorial on creating a zip file.

The name of the zip file should be Band - Album (Year). For example "Subhumans - The Day The Country Died (1983).zip". If you're including multiple images you can name them alphabetically in the order you want them displayed in the final result.


Step 2 - Find the appropriate section
On the topics bar, hover over "Downloads" and you'll get a drop-down menu. Select the option that's relevant to your contribution (the first one is for punk bands from english-speaking parts of the world, the second is for punk bands in any other language and the last one is for non-punk. It's self explanatory really).



Step 3 - Upload the file
Now it's time to create the thread for your upload and upload the file to it. Click on "Post new thread". Next you'll see two buttons: "Share an album on the forum" in black and "Upload file" in red. First click on "Share an album on the forum" and select your zip file on your hard drive. After selecting the file a pop-up will confirm your file is "loaded" (which isn't the same as being uploaded, so we're not done yet). Click OK and then click "Upload file". Now you're uploading the file, which can take a few minutes depending on the file size and your internet speed. There's no clear indication on the site that anything is happening during this stage but believe me, it is. Have patience and wait a bit and things will eventually pop up, and the information will be filled out automatically. If anything is missing then fill in the blanks manually. Scroll down to the bottom and click "Post thread".

Thou, my brave hero, art done!

 

Here's a video of the process:


As stated in the beginning, this is the basic version to get you started with uploading. Information about ID3v2 tagging standards, converting file formats and so on will be covered in the future for those who want to go above and beyond.

 

If you have a vinyl record or an audio cassette that you want to digitalize (turn in to mp3 files) I've made a simple guide to do this as well. It's in swedish (the point of the video was to learn swedes who might struggle with english) but I've added english subtitles so it should be useful for everyone:

 

Also: A big thank you to @Spike one of many for providing a base layout of the tutorial and a few technical things to be aware of that I wasn't (for example the case-sensitivity in the file name extension).

 

Oh, that's right I didn't even think of that. I've added it to the top post!