Hacking Google: Turning a Search Engine into an MP3 Downloader

Yes, that’s right. You can take everyone’s favorite all-purpose search engine and turn it into a web-crawling, MP3 ripping demon for you. The procedure itself isn’t as hard as you would think, either.

First, a little bit of a primer on Google. The Search Engine itself has a bunch of extra bells and whistles beyond “AND”, “OR”, and “NOT” in defining your search queries. We’re not going to go through all of them now (Although that may be a good follow up article soon.), but suffice to say that if you spend enough time using Google, there are other search strings you can use to further narrow down your searches. (Check Advanced Google Searching for more Information.)

Copy / Paste the code below into your Google search box:

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of” +”last modified” +”parent directory” +description +size +(wma|mp3) “”

Where is either the name of the band you’re searching for music for OR the name of the song you’re looking for.

That’s the hack in a nutshell, but if you’re interested to see how it works, keep reading. Let’s take a few moments to dismantle it and see what is happening in the search query.

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of”+”last modified” +”parent directory”

The first flag, -inurl restricts the Google queries without htm, html, and php pages, and has “index of” within the title. “Index Of” is a common flag that distinguishes website repositories; folder views of groupings of files on the internet. In a nutshell the first part of the query narrows down Google search results to pages you wouldn’t ordinarily see, but nonetheless are logged and tracked by Google as it parses the net for new content.

+description +size +(wma|mp3) “”

In particular, this search will narrow down these repositores to include only sites with wma and mp3 files related to the BANDNAME or SONG you are searching for.

It should be noted though, that we at Haywire Hacking do not condone the illegal download of music: under federal law, if you own a copy of the correlating CD or published work of the author, you are entitled to a digital copy of the music. That is what this hack is for.

How The Pirate Bay could save AllofMP3 and go Legit

The swash-buckling lads at the The Pirate Bay have started taking donations to buy a bankrupt, burnt-out, rusting hull in the North Sea off the coast of Britain called Sealand. The sheer audaciousness of the move is matched only by the opportunities it presents for the development and proliferation of new models in the sale and distribution of digital media, unfettered by the protectionist inclinations of dying industries. If the good folks at the Pirate Bay expand their plan and get the cash rich but time poor AllofMP3 involved it could usher in a new era of big media hand-wringing and headline worthy law suits.

Despite the grandiose sounding name and the lovely flag The Principality of Sealand is actually a part of an old British coastal defense system. It’s essentially a sunken oil rig, that was established as an independent country after several fist fights, a kidnapping and a few legal rulings which pretty much establish it as an independent nation. The US and German governments claim that Sealand is part of Britain, British courts on the other hand disagree and have ruled that Sealand lies outside of British jurisdiction. So for now, Sealand is probably as legit an independent country as your gonna get for around $120 million dollars.

In a little over a week The Pirate Bay has raised more then $17k for the purchase of “transfer fee” related to gaining control of Sealand. At this rate it would take the Pirate Bay more then 113 years to come up with the purchase price. Rather then depend on donations the Pirate Bay should open its arms to AllofMP3 and offer them a refuge from the onslaught of the RIAA’s puppet government in the US. For this consideration AllofMP3 could cover the cost of purchasing Sealand and establishing a legal government of “Pirates” in Sealand.

With AllofMP3 as a legitimate business, the Pirate Bay would gain a valuable source of taxes for its micro-nation and establish a working model of public/private partnership that would be the envy of America’s junior president. AllofMP3 would be a shining beacon attracting other quasi-legal businesses to Sealand; gambling sites, pay-day loan providers and cross-border pharmacist could all establish as base on Sealand.

One of the problems of being an independent nation is defending your territory. If the Pirate Bay ruled the micro-nation of Sealand there has to be enough brains between the RIAA and IFPI to plan and execute an invasion. Rather then depend on the courts and legal thuggery our friends at the RIAA and IFPI could hire some real goons, take a few boats over to Sealand and get medieval. Of course they could just wait for Sealand’s new owners to suffer from the same fate as the much ballyhooed Haven Co. either way the chances for the long-term nationhood of Sealand, under Pirate rule, doesnt seem that good.