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Friday, November 20, 2009

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Top 100 Searches

SEARCH TIPS

Artist / Description / Label / Genre - different listing styles.
Due to the fact that the netsoundsmusic.com database is a collective of many smaller databases from different sellers all over the world, the way in which listings are entered will vary.

For example, one seller may list the artist "BELINDA CARLISLE" as "BELINDA CARLISLE", another seller may list her as "CARLISLE, BELINDA", or even "CARLISLE/BELINDA".

This means that although search results are sorted alphabetically by artist then title, some listings may not appear where you would expect them to.

This also means that to make a succesful search (i.e. to find what you are actually looking for) you need to be aware of the following guidelines:

1) Do not be too specific when searching for a title. A search for "The Hours & the Times" is much more likely to display results than searching for "The Hours & the Times (UK 4-Trk CRESCD219)".

2) Search for the full name of an artist / group if possible as this will provide more accurate and complete results.

For example "BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN" will match listings beginning with "BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN", "SPRINGSTEEN, BRUCE", "SPRINGSTEEN/BRUCE", "SPRINGSTEEN~BRUCE", "SPRINGSTEEN, BRUCE" etc. Searching only for "SPRINGSTEEN" will only match on listings beginning with "SPRINGSTEEN"

3) Think of how else an artist may be listed. For example, although it is rare, some sellers may list all music by "FREDDIE MERCURY" under "QUEEN".

4) The search engine is case insensitive, so you can search for "DAVID BOWIE", "David Bowie", "david bowie", or even "DaViD BoWiE" and they will all produce the same results.

Search Types - different ways to find what you're looking for.
There are many ways to find what you are looking for in the netsoundsmusic.com database.

1) Search - Our standard search enables you to search on artist, title, label and genre fields. You can filter by media format (for example "All Cds") and choose to display listings from the entire netsoundsmusic.com database or just a single seller's items.

2) Power Search - Our power search is extremely powerful and can be used to perform complex searches that enable you to narrow down your results. You can search by artist, title, label or genre (or any combination of them), and then further match on any combination of 17 additional fields!

3) Browse Alphabetically - You can browse the entire netsoundsmusic.com database alphabetically by artist, title, label or genre. Once you find something that you are looking for, click on the link and you will be taken to results that match.

4) Top 100 Searches - Every day hundreds of thousands of visitors to the netsoundsmusic.com web site perform millions of searches. Our system compiles data from the searches that are performed and presents them in a "Top 100" listing - take a look and see what other people are looking for! Each link will take you to a specially prepared page that contains links to various types of search that can be executed (see below for details of our "IntelliSearch" system).

IntelliSearch system - what it is and how it works.
With over 14 million listings in our database we are aware that is is sometimes difficult when you are searching by artist to narrow down your search results to just include items that you are looking for. We therefore developed our "IntelliSearch" system to make it extremely easy to "drill down" into the potentially large result sets that are created when searching by artist.

There are two scenarios where you will encounter the IntelliSearch system:

1) If your search term(s) match one of the "Top 100 Searches", or you click on a link from the "Top 100 Searches" page. - In this case you will be presented with a specially prepared page that contains links to various types of search that can be executed:

Phrase Match Results
This link will match the exact phrase. For example a search for "Rolling Stones" will only show listings that exactly match "Rolling Stones". This is the fastest possible search that you can perform, but it will return the least amount of results.

Exact Match Results
This link will match variations of the exact phrase. For example a search for "Rolling Stones" will show listings that exactly match "Rolling Stones", "Stones Rolling", "Stones, Rolling" etc. This is a slower search to perform, but will produce more results then the previous search.

Partial Match Results
This link will match variations of the phrase, for example a search for "Rolling Stones" will show listings that match "Rolling Stones", "Stones Rolling", "Stones, Rolling", "Rolling Stones (Mick Jagger)", "Rolling Stones, Ron Wood" etc. This is the slowest search to perform, but it will produce the most results.

There are also direct links available that are based on the aforementioned "Power Search" facility (for example viewing listings added within the last 24 hours, viewing listings be seller country, or browsing a particular artist by title) and these give some excellent starter points for you to further develop your own power searches.

2) If the search term(s) that you have entered match more results than will display on one page - In this case you will be presented with a specially prepared page that contains direct links to results for all the possible variations of the artist name.

Each link will match the exact phrase given. For example a link for "Rolling Stones" will only show listings that exactly match "Rolling Stones", a link for "Rolling Stones (Mick Jagger)" will only show listings that exactly match "Rolling Stones (Mick Jagger)".

To see ALL listings that match the search term(s) that you have entered, you can click the link at the bottom of the list - this link will match variations of the phrase, for example a search for "Rolling Stones" will show listings that match "Rolling Stones", "Stones Rolling", "Stones, Rolling", "Rolling Stones (Mick Jagger)", "Rolling Stones, Ron Wood" etc. This is the slowest search to perform, but it will produce the most results.

The best advice that we can give is to experiment as much as you can in order to produce the results you are looking for!!

Should you require any further tips on searching please email us at searchtips@netsoundsmusic.com

please report any bugs with the netsoundsmusic.com web site to webmaster@netsoundsmusic.com.

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