Hello. First of all, I want to thank you for making that wonderful tutorial on how to get Craving Explorer when niconicosound was down. After a few months of using it, the program somehow became more difficult for me to download things from nicovideo. Have you ever encountered a problem where you click on the purple icon and nothing comes out (like the options for downloading the video doesn't show up)?
I've never personally encountered this problem honestly! Are you using the latest version of the program? (1.6.1 when this is written)
(If anyone else knows what the problem is, send a message, please!)
The OTHER NicoSound Alternative (Besides NicoMimi)
Since NicoSound shut down, I've been scouring the interwebs for a new alternative that provides HQ. Most people seem to be using NicoMimi (though I'm not sure if it actually downloads in HQ) now, but the site doesn't always work for me and I dislike the waiting queue time that sometimes pops up when I want to convert a lot of songs at a time.
Instead, I found a nifty free program called Craving Explorer that lets you download mp3/wav/videos in HQ from NicoNico Douga and Youtube.
The only downside is that it's entirely in Japanese and you need to have a NND account, but there are English guides available online to help you get through that.
Part 1) For installing the program, I followed this useful guide. Be sure to mouse over the pictures for the extra information and instructions!
(I also found an another alternative guide here, but I haven't actually used it myself yet ^_^;; )
Part 2) Now to actually modify the program so it downloads automatically in HQ at 320 kbps! I used this guide here, but I will provide a step-by-step explanation reusing the images in English (with Japanese translation help by swmmm) for those who may have trouble following it:
First, go to the folder where you initially installed Craving Explorer, in my case it would be "C:\Program Files\CravingExplorer."
Then go to your "template" folder
And open the "convert.xml" file using either Notepad or Wordpad or Notepad++ (any editing code program is fine)
Finally (the most boring part, but is most definitely worth it!), for every line you see with "-acodec libmp3lame -ac 2 -ar 44100 -ab 128", change the "128" to "320."Use "Ctrl + F" or Find to get every line in the program. Afterwards, remember to Save the file when finished.
That's it! You're done! :D
Note: Seems as though you have to download when the video is NOT in Economy Mode for highest quality kbps.
Additional Note:
Just in case you ever get a window popping up asking this
It is asking you if you want to update to a newer version, however I'm not sure if it'll undo all the work you've done so I haven't actually updated mine yet (just letting you know in case you didn't download the newest version).
I personally use Craving Explorer because it can download .wav and .mp3 files AND videos from NND, as well as from Youtube. It is all in Japanese though, so I'll provide a tutorial for downloading and using it to download an MP3.
NOTE: You WILL need a NND account for this. Also, I'm not sure whether this works on Macs or not. Sorry!
So! The first thing: go to the Craving Explorer website I linked near the top of this post, above the read more.
You should end up here. Now hit the button that says "いますぐダウンロード！" on it, and you'll download the installer.
Find the installer and double click on it. You'll get this window:
I'm not taking pictures for every step of the installation; you might be able to figure it out on your own. I will give a short list of what to do:
Hit (N)
Hit (A)
Hit (N) 4 times
Uncheck all the boxes unless you want random crap installed.
Hit (N) one more time.
Hit (I)
Hit (F) (it's the only button there)
"But I don't want an installer!" you cry. No worries! There's a way to download a ZIP too. Just click the Download tab at the top of the page.
You'll end up on this page. Hit the button that says "ZIP 形式 ダウンロード" on the right. Tada! Just extract the archive and run Craving Explorer.
You should have Craving Explorer running now. If you don't, the default install path is C:\Program Files (x86)\CravingExplorer (for Windows 7. Windows XP is probably similar.)
"Holy crap! I can't read this!" you cry again. (Unless you can read Japanese, in which case you'ree probably good.) Don't worry about not understanding it. Since we're downloading an MP3 from NND, click on the NND icon. I've circled it (and put arrows and little yellow lines around it.)
Now, go to the video you want to download the MP3 from. I'm going to use Joudou Classic (a personal favorite) as an example.
Now that you're on the video page: see the icon I surrounded in obnoxious arrows and a circle? Click on it.
Options, options! The top box is for video, which we don't want right now. Bottom box is audio only. Click the bottom box, then MP3 (the one that's highlighted.)
I have no idea as to what this window says. Just hit (Y).
The MP3 you're trying to download will appear in the queue at the bottom. It'll disappear once the download's done.
And that's it! Almost.The MP3 (or any other file type) will be in C:\Users\(Your Name)\Documents\CravingExplorer\download\(File type: in theis case, it's "mp3")
There you go! Have a fun time downloading MP3s and video! ♥
