A lot of web apps seem to be targeted at problems that nobody actually has. SoundCloud is smarter than that, focusing on a problem we have at least once a week: what's the best way to send a song to a friend? E-mail is a pain, you might not have ready access to an FTP server, and those weird Rapidshare-style upload sites can be more trouble than they're worth.
SoundCloud basically does two things: it sends music, and it receives music. It's the ideal setup for sending around demo copies of that new album you just finished mastering, or sharing the latest hit single (that you would never pirate because you're a law-abiding Internet citizen). There's great control over email notifications for new tracks sent to you and new comments on your songs, and you can play a song right from your SoundCloud account before you download it.
In terms of comments, the SoundCloud system is awesome. You can drop in a note at a specific point in a track -- Viddler users might be familiar with this feature for videos -- and follow your stats to see how many people are listening to your stuff. This just scratches the surface of SoundCloud's features, so be sure to check it out and apply for an invitation if it sounds interesting to you.
If it turns out that the Internet collapses under the weight of all our uploaded files, we will blame it all on the incredible, and seemingly unstoppable, growth of file upload services like File Dropper.
File Dropper is yet another file upload service that will host your files up to 5 GB. As far as file sharing services go, it couldn't be easier to use:
On the main File Dropper page, you click the upload button, browse to the file you wish to upload, and the file is automatically uploaded to the File Dropper servers. After the upload is complete, you will be taken to a page with a link to send to your friends or co-workers. All they have to do is follow the link and hit the download button, and the file is theirs.
As a free service, File Dropper meets the basic needs of file sharing: upload, share, and download. If you want more enhanced features, such as the ability to protect your files with a password, or the inclusion of a handy file manager, you'll have to pony up the dough, with plans starting at $0.99 a month.
When File Dropper first saw the light of day a few weeks ago, its Achilles heel was quickly discovered: the uploads and downloads were terminally slow. Some time has passed since its initial release, so we figured that we'd test it out again:
Before BitTorrent was all the rage in peer to peer file sharing, you may remember that the easiest way to illegally obtain music, movies, and other files was through file sharing programs like Lime Wire, BearShare, Morpheus. You know, the children of Napster.
Of course, now Napster's gone legit and sells music. It looks like Lime Wire is looking to follow suit. The company has announced plans to open a music download store.
The store will be web-based, although you'll be able to access the site from links in Lime Wire's file-sharing software. So far the company has signed up IRIS Distribution and Nettwerk Productions. Content will be available as MP3s, and customers will be able to buy individual songs and albums or pay a monthly fee for subscription plans.
Debbie Foster who recently went head to head with RIAA and then subsequently won a dismissal with prejudice in Capitol Records v. Fosteris also getting the last laugh since her attorney's fees of $68,685.23 must be paid by RIAA.
The saga began in November 2004 when Foster was sued by RIAA for copyright infringement. Rather than bowing down and taking it, Foster denied the allegations and began a legal fight with the music industry which just ended with her award for the attorney's fees.
The $68,685.23 award represents Foster's attorney's fees, and does not include the nice, big, fat attorney fees of RIAA's own counsel. You can make a fair assumption those fees are at least that of Ms. Foster's, if not more.
Let's see. Two years, hundreds of thousands of dollars, bad press, huge loss in court - not pretty. There's an old saying "He who laughs last, laughs best." As RIAA licks its wounds and hopefully figures out a new paradigm, we're laughing with Ms. Foster today.
With lots of competition in the market for online storage of images, text, audio, video, OneDump enters and tries to sneak in with a simplistic approach.
OneDump offers free unlimited storage for all types of files, from audio, images, and text, but what makes them different is their straightforward approach that makes it easier to upload and share files. OneDump not only lets users host files but it also lets you link to them to use on social networks, websites and blogs. The OneDump Quicksend method open to registered users allows them to directly upload images, audio and text files by sending them as email attachments, this also includes files sent from mobile devices.
Service drawbacks, you can only upload 10 files at once, with a 5MB cap on each. With a lot of competition out there, look at other image storing sites look to DivShare, PirateBay, AllYouCanUpload, Flickr, or this link that contains a list of 50 other services that host files from 10mb to 20mb, with no registration, no file size limit, and no download limit or file life.
How often have you come across a situation where you have had to compress images or digital files or burn cds to send content to friends?
Swapper is a tool that lets users share photos, videos and files with family and friends that might normally be too large in file size to send via email or IM. Swapper allows users to privately share files by dragging and dropping them onto a Start button in the application. From there you select who the recipients are, and they will be instantly notified with an email and instructions how to get the files.
Through its easy to use and well designed interface swapper claims to be 100 times faster on photo and video transfers. It is available for XP and Vista users as Freeware.
We covered Tubes before - it's a free PC+web application designed to let you instantly share photos, music, video and documents with everyone you know and have them share their stuff with you through the same tube. It has online backup and automatic syncing capabilities, and is getting some great reviews.
If you are interested in trying Tubes out, you may want to get a leg on, as they will be cutting back data storage from the current 2 GB size to 1GB sometime soon.
Once again PC World publishes an article that is packed with tons of great freebies found all across the internet. We covered it last year, and the gang is back at it. From System Utilities, Communications, File Sharing, File Management, Productivity, Music, Photos, and Video its all here.
The 101 freebie list also includes a great People's Choice winners list that is an awesome place to check out what applications come highly rated by actual everyday users. Winners in this category include Ad-Aware SE, Google Gmail, Windows Live Messenger, Nullsoft Winamp, Google Desktop, YouTube and Picasa.
If you are in need of a free application, take a look here first to check out what the top rated ones are.
If you find yourself emailing large files frequently then you can save yourself tons of time with Tubes.
Tubes is a application designed to simply file sharing on the web that works similar to an IM program for your files. In order to share content with a friend or coworker you merely need to invite them to have access to your tube and drop the files you want to share in. Once you grant tube access to a particular person then an image of your Tube shows up on their desktop and files dropped from your desktop into the Tube are instantly be accessible to others who have Tube access.
This is awesome for those of that have work with others on projects and have to trade files constantly giving everyone an easy place to put the files where everyone else working on a project can have access to them. Tubes is a PC only application and can be downloaded for free from the Tube's website.
There are a host of companies on the interwebs providing file hosting services, and MediaFire is one of them. (A "host" of hosting companies... har!) Okay, anyway, all kidding aside, MediaFire is interesting in that they offer unlimited file sizes, unlimited file uploads, and all with no signup required. They will also allow you to upload multiple files at once, and the service can be used like many other large file emailing services - simply email a pointer to the file from within their interface, and the file has been shared.
In fact, once a file has been uploaded, MediaFire offers multiple ways to share the file; in addition to the email feature, they give you a straight download link to use as you please, HTML link code that can be copied and pasted into a blog or MySpace page (for people that don't know HTML), and even forum link code formatted for phpBB or vBulletin forums.
So how can they afford to provide unlimited uploads with unlimited file sizes? Well, they're using ads to support the service. And apparently it's lucrative enough to allow the service to continue, which is good news for those of us that need to share large files.
Pando was once known as an application that just let users email large video, photos and desktop files, and Instant Message high res image links. Thursday they introduced a web component. Users of the new free Pando application will be able to post HD video, high resolution photos, and podcasts to a website, or blog for download, or RSS subscriptions. All with the ability to password protect for download control. Pando is available for PC or Mac, and still not supported for Linux. If you feel the need to send full length videos, or a folder containing 500MB of photos to your relatives, fear not, Pando has you covered.
Zapr lets you create links to files on your PC, and then send them out to friends and contacts via email or IM. These links that are sent are a direct conduit to your computer. The recipient of the link can then view the files directly in their browser.
Sharing folders with friends and contacts sounds pretty simple. Simply drag and drop your folder into Zapr. Zapr then creates a special link you can send out to friends. Zapr file links are made by setting up your friends contact info, and dragging the file onto Zapr, which spits out a special link that your friend can open and view in a browser. The specific file is then downloaded through the browser window, with no file size or attachment restrictions. There is only one drawback. It's currently for users on Windows XP only. Zapr is currently in beta, and it's free to sign up.
The creators of the infamous Kazaa, and the now eBay-owned Skype, comes a new product that is sure to turn the industry up into a tizzy.
Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis are at it again, this time developing a new communications software venture aimed at TV. The product, code named "The Venice Project" is a means of distributing video over the internet. The pair has supposedly amassed a team of developers from around the world to work on this life changing software application. And life changing it should be, given the giant impact both Kazaa and Skype have had on the world.
It should be interesting to see how "The Venice Project" does in this hungry field. They do have a ton of investment capital to fund this in order to make it to the top. YouTube has this market in their palms already. However Google, along with Video Egg, Brightcove, and Bittorrent are close behind.
Just like iTunes did for file sharing music, Warner Bros. is going to start selling movies and TV online. While this is clearly an effort to legitimize the whole download yer entertainment thing, what's interesting is the use of BitTorrent as the tech behind the downloads. I don't think it's unusual though, as BitTorrent's technological solution to moving packets around is quite clever. It's a perfect tech for moving large files at high speeds, as would be needed. Besides, the prevailing theory has been if you offer a way for people to use BitTorrent (or any download system) legally, they'd use it. I'll admit I just don't bother looking for stuff on torrent sites just for the extra hassle it entails. Now what was that about the next version of OS X using BitTorrent? Hm...
I seem to remember
these guys sold a wireless, networkable, Linux-based zero-config hard-drive box back in the day. Martian drive.
No matter. Martian has released a software product called SlingShot, which keeps
folders in sync. You make three clicks, you start publishing a folder. Two more clicks on another machine, you
subscribe to the folder. Changes made on machine A or B get transmitted after a duration you control. Hey, it's like
photocasting for folders! I was just dying to use the word "photocasting" in a sentence. You can try it with
one folder on two machines for free, otherwise it's $29.99.
Just like iTunes did for file sharing music, 
I seem to remember
these guys sold a wireless, networkable, Linux-based zero-config hard-drive box 
