senduit
January 13, 2009 in 4 out of 5 stars, A service, File uploading services Davidville, Inc. (the crew who created Tumblr) Last week I reviewed drop.io which was also clean and simple, but full-featured. If you don't need all those features, it'd be hard to beat senduit for uncompromised simplicity and elegance. It's another site I can (and will) use with my family and clients and won’t have to explain anything. Here’s the process: 1. To send a file: Browse for File – Click Upload Button – Copy Link – Paste Link (to email/IM). 2. For the recipient: Click Pasted Link – Save Download. The End. No login, short easy-to-share urls. You can set the expiration on a file for from 30 minutes up to 1 week. The download page couldn’t be simpler. It starts the download without any user action needed (while you look at an ad). It has 100% of what you need to share a file, and 0% of what you don’t. It does not get any tighter than this. It might be nice to also enter an email address to send the file to after its uploaded. This would be a compromise on the perfect simplicity of the beast though, so it’s a hard call. $0.00 Reviewed by Carson McComasWhat is it?
senduit: A beautifully spare and elegant file sharing tool.
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drop.io
January 7, 2009 in 5 out of 5 stars, A service, File uploading services drop.io: A gloriously clean and simple file-sharing tool. It's amazing that with all the solutions to this already out there, none have done it this well. If you need to share a too-big-to-email* file (or set of files) with someone, or share the same large-ish file(s) with multiple people, this is the best solution I've found. (Plus, knowledge of FTP soup: Not required.) *For easy emailing of files, also see usend.io, built on top of drop.io. drop.io (these guys) Because it's so simple all my clients and family can use it without a personal education session with me first. And it works. Well. No signup required, it takes literally a few seconds (plus upload time) to share a file. You can pick your own url suffix (provided it's available). So, drop.io/clientname or drop.io/yourname, for example. You can easily password protect the upload, and expire the upload as soon as 1 day later, up to as late as a year later. Once shared, you can track how many times the drop has been accessed. Somewhat helpfully, each “drop” comes with an email address you can send files to, which will make them available for download. Somewhat amusingly, each “drop” comes with a voice mail number you can call to add an mp3 of yourself to the drop (it also offers a full enclosures RSS feed of anything added - poor man’s podcasting tool?) plus, a private conference call number for meetings (I guess so you can share files, and chat about them). An extra nifty feature is the ability to set up a pay wall so you can sell downloads through drop.io. Selling art? Photos? Music? An ebook? This might be a good solution. It can be pay per use, or a subscription. Pretty killer. Premium users can send faxes with it. Anyone can receive faxes – but it’s clunky. And there’s a lot more too, all without an overwhelming UI. It’s impressive. They also have an API allowing brilliant solutions like usend.io. The premium code prominence on the upload page feels obtrusive and mildly confusing. 100MB limit per file (for free) might be a bit skimpy for some. The help disappoints. The faxing functionality is just too clunky, and while the help claimed it exists, I couldn’t see where or how. It utilizes the right-click in a few places, which no one expects in a web app. Free for 100MB per drop. Upgrade for $10 per year per extra GB. Reviewed by Carson McComasWhat is it?
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MediaFire
October 26, 2006 in 4 out of 5 stars, File uploading services, FreeMediaFire: Another service offering simple file uploading/downloading through a web site as an alternative to emailing large files (as well as essentially offering free bandwidth for file downloads). MediaFire There are several players in this space, these guys are the first to hit a home-run. The service is ad supported, so it's free but should still survive. The interface is near-perfect. No signups required, no maximum file size to worry about, and a host of simple delivery options when you're done uploading. It has a sexy upload meter showing you your progress. If you'd like an account to manage your uploaded files, it offers that too. All that, and it's free. These guys are a testament to the power of doing something right. They're getting oodles of press, attention, and business. I'd like them to do a slightly better job of selling the benefits of their service and facilitating their use for novices (e.g. the "don't email large files, use us" approach that DropSend has taken). This would make it easier to unceremoniously refer clients, family members, etc. without having to help them understand why or how. I must admit some slight nervousness about how they'll handle crushing bandwidth bills when this starts being used widely as free hosting/bandwidth for popular files. Will AdSense revenues be enough? Free Reviewed by Carson McComasWhat is it?
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DropSend
December 15, 2005 in 4 out of 5 stars, A service, File uploading services, FreeDropSend: This online application allows you to send files via email or store them online for later retrieval. Carson Systems The interface is really easy to use and it really seems to simplify the process of getting a large file to a recipient. I've found it great for giving design comps to clients without the headache of dealing with server issues. It could be expanded a bit more to allow for versioning, giving the user the ability to say that this file is version 1 and this file is version 2 and so on. Free up to 250 MB online storage and 5 email sends Reviewed by Daniel SchutzsmithWhat is it?
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YouSendIt
October 17, 2005 in 4 out of 5 stars, A service, File uploading services, Free YouSendIt: Similar to Dropload (send large files to anyone without using email), but you can send larger files (1GB), and you don't need to register. YouSendIt Inc. Easy to use. No need to register. Send files up to 1GB. You can also
send stuff securely (over SSL). SSL transfer is bound to have some
performance issues for huge files, but secure transfer is sometimes
needed and this does it. They also claim to virus scan every file
sent. Wired likes em (although how Wired thinks these guys are in the same camp as bit torrent is beyond me, that's just ridiculous). It also appears they keep the file around for 7 days, or a "limited
number of downloads" (they don't say how many) even after the recipient
has picked it up (unlike DropLoad which nukes it after right after the
recip picks it up). They also give the sender the link to download the file if they wish (DropLoad does not). They've got a few other services like a way to send "photo albums" and some website integration stuff where you can allow visitors to send you a file, and it links them to a YouSendIt page where when they send the file, it comes to you. It doesn't send the sender a confirmation email once the file is
picked up (like DropLoad does). This is a big omission in my mind. I'm always intrigued when outfits like this, without any discernible
revenue model (except a Google AdSense ad on the confirmation page
after an upload, and on the download page), are hiring,
offering something completely free, and seem to have a whole business
around what they do (YouSendIt Inc?). They claim they want to become
"the FedEx of Digital" and they must have some grandiose plans (and
funding) far beyond what this offers. They also have an open source piece of software that claims to help you resume broken downloads (I didn't try it). It doesn't allow secure (SSL) downloads however. Free Reviewed by Carson McComasWhat is it?
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Dropload
June 27, 2005 in 4 out of 5 stars, A service, File uploading services, FreeDropload: A service where you can send big files to others, without having to email it to them. Because it's flat simple to do something that everyone struggles with -- getting large files to someone else. Typically people email them. Have you ever waited for a 10MB email? It's not fun, Dropload solves this problem.
It works by allowing you to upload a file, which then triggers an email to your recipient, they click a link and download at their leisure (as long as it's within 7 days). You get an email when they've picked it up. It's a tad spare in features, but honestly, it only does what it purports to do. Performance can be weak when it's slammed. I love it. Free as a bumblebee. Reviewed by Carson McComasWhat is it?
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