The following is from Ryan Harding's old faq.

I don't have real-time internet connection or my system doesn't support ftp. 
============================================================================
What can I do?
==============
You can get access via ftpmail.  This is basically an offline request version
of the interactive "ftp" command detailed earlier.  I know of the following
ftpmail services:

ftpmail@sunsite.unc.edu

ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com	

mailserver@informatik.tu-muenchen.de  (only for Munich mirror & MUSIC archive)

[Note: these are internet addresses - if you use a non-internet email service
like FIDOnet, compuserve or bitnet you may need to modify the address.  Email
me if you don't know how to do this.  I'd like to add this to the guide so if
anyone on these services would like to help (5 minutes of your time) email me]

Of these the ftpmail@sunsite.unc.edu service looks most user-friendly.

There is another ftpmail server which I only recommend using if you have
access to "uudecode", "uud" or "xxencode".  It does offer HELP in HOWTOFTP and
also for users of VMS.  It's address is bitftp@pucc.bitnet.

The server at mailserver@informatik.tu-muenchen.de provides simple access to
the Munich archives only.  It also requires that the user is able to "uudecode"
and "gunzip" the files which are returned in their email messages since it will
not decompress files "on-the-fly".  It must therefore use the file names listed
at the Munich site (usually those from INDEX and FLAT.INDEX but with a ".gz"
extension added.)  For more info ask for help as below.

To get further instructions, you should email the appropriate server with the
subject "HELP" and message body "help".  For example, to get more info from
all these services send the message between the === lines below.  If you
don't wish to use the mailserver@informatik.tu-muenchen.de service don't send
the carbon-copy to that address.
===
To: ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com,ftpmail@sunsite.unc.edu
Cc: mailserver@informatik.tu-muenchen.de
Subject: HELP

help
quit
===

A reply will automatically be despatched to you usually within minutes of the
server receiving the email (not necessarily within minutes of you sending it!).

Use the instructions and PLEASE let me know of any pitfalls or ambiguities you
encounter and tell me which servers you prefer.  To access the Nevada archive,
you should send a message of roughly the following form (this is in sunsite
syntax):

open ftp.uwp.edu
cd pub/music/guitar
get FLAT.INDEX
quit

This will obtain the index of the archive which should reach you in a day or so
if not a minute or less.  (If the file FLAT.INDEX can't be found, it may be
currently saved under another name so try again with this or try the command
"cd pub/music/guitar" then "ls" to find out what it's called).  You can search
FLAT.INDEX with an editor or word-processor or, in UNIX, the grep command.  For
example, in UNIX, to find any songs with "mystic" in them, I type:

grep mystic FLAT.INDEX

and the response is:

./c/camel/mystic_queen
./m/bob_marley/natural_mystic.crd
./m/van_morrison/into_the_mystic.crd

At other sites without an index file you'll need to use the "ls" command to get
directories.  If you move to the /pub/music/guitar or whatever the root
directory is using the "cd" command, you might find out the contents of all
subdirectories using a command like "ls -rf" then save the reply to a file.

To get a file such as into_the_mystic.crd, don't include any ".Z" extension
named in the index or listing unless you use BINARY mode and can "uncompress"
and "uudecode" files, just send the following sort of message body:

open ftp.uwp.edu
cd pub/music/guitar
get ./m/van_morrison/into_the_mystic.crd
quit

You'll be sent the file in a day or maybe a minute.  To get more than one
file, send more "get" commands on different lines of the message.  The "mget"
command is not available on most ftpmail servers.