Sharing large music files via Internet.

[BigRedX]

39 minutes ago, Bassfinger said:

Google Drive.  Live dropbox, but more Googly.

And inaccessible to anyone without a Google account.

[pineweasel]

6 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

And inaccessible to anyone without a Google account.

You can share files with anyone by sending them a link, as far as I know

[GisserD]

11 hours ago, pineweasel said:

You're using a shared folder in Dropbox, so anything the owner copies into it gets copied to your Dropbox too. 

If your drummer just sends a link to the folder you can choose which individual files you want, and can download them or copy to your Dropbox selectively, and delete them when you want.

This. 

solves your problem entirely

[Maude]

34 minutes ago, GisserD said:

This. 

solves your problem entirely

So does ignoring Dropbox and using WeTransfer 😉

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, pineweasel said:

You can share files with anyone by sending them a link, as far as I know

IME it is very hit or miss whether the link will require you to sign in to Google or not. 

[BigRedX]

This whole thread highlights the fact that tablets and phones are still not fully functional computing devices when it come to doing anything that isn't Social Media, simple web browsing and email.

IME WeTransfer is a fantastic service - I use it multiple times a day for my work from my desktop computer - but the app is a nasty kludge that don't appear to work properly. The first time I used it it took 3 attempts to persuade the WeTransfer email link to open in the app, and then later in the day when I needed to access the files again it simply wouldn't let me, sending me in a never-ending loop between the web page that didn't work on the tablet and a link to download the app that I already had.

The same with DropBox. Works fine on my desktop computer - I use it for sharing files with my clients who prefer it over WeTransfer - but terribly convoluted on the iPad and only seems to work some of the time, and doesn't appear to have all the functionality of the desktop version when it comes to managing the files on DropBox.

Don't get me wrong, the phone and tablet are great devices in some respects, but they are mostly for passively consuming media rather than actively interacting with it. I've put off making this post until I was able to do it on my desktop computer which has a decent sized screen and a proper keyboard, rather than struggling to type it on my iPad.

[GisserD]

1 hour ago, Maude said:

So does ignoring Dropbox and using WeTransfer 😉

But the sender already uses dropbox. 

So this seems like the most convenient solution.

[Maude]

51 minutes ago, GisserD said:

But the sender already uses dropbox. 

So this seems like the most convenient solution.

He only started using it for this purpose and it cost him a tenner a month. It hasn't done what we wanted how we wanted so we're not using it. WeTransfer seems to be doing what we want how we want for free so we are using it. 

Granted I wasn't using Dropbox in the way it's meant, but there's enough free file sharing sites out there not to have to bother with one you don't like. 

I don't like Jazz basses, it doesn't mean they don't work or aren't any good, just that they don't seem to offer what I'm after so I don't use them. 

🙂

[paul_c2]

Eventually the upload speed will kill the idea; then if that's overcome, people's download speed (even in the era of fibre broadband). You're probably okay with audio files, though. Once you're into video files it will be an issue though.

Our band has a website, so if/when video files need to be shared, they are uploaded to a special area of the web server and a link provided to those to find/download them.

[GisserD]

30 minutes ago, Maude said:

He only started using it for this purpose and it cost him a tenner a month. It hasn't done what we wanted how we wanted so we're not using it. WeTransfer seems to be doing what we want how we want for free so we are using it. 

Granted I wasn't using Dropbox in the way it's meant, but there's enough free file sharing sites out there not to have to bother with one you don't like. 

I don't like Jazz basses, it doesn't mean they don't work or aren't any good, just that they don't seem to offer what I'm after so I don't use them. 

🙂

 

With wetransfer, you have to save the files locally. But you said you diddnt want to do that in your original post??

Wetransfer is not a hosting service. Your links will expire.

 

 

[Maude]

1 hour ago, GisserD said:

 

With wetransfer, you have to save the files locally. But you said you diddnt want to do that in your original post??

Wetransfer is not a hosting service. Your links will expire.

 

 

I know, that'll save me having to delete them 👍

[Dood]

If you like WeTransfer, but need to send even bigger files, FileMail can - and so far it has worked very well for me - I haven't seen any adverse comments about the service.

[Bassfinger]

9 hours ago, BigRedX said:

And inaccessible to anyone without a Google account.

And that's difficult to resolve because...?

[Twigman]

we use Dropbox

[mcnach]

7 hours ago, Maude said:

He only started using it for this purpose and it cost him a tenner a month.

 

I missed that earlier.

I guess he went for the Standard Business plan that gives you something like 2 or 5TB storage.

We've been using the Basic plan, which is free. You get 2Gb to start with which can grow up to 10Gb once you get a few referrals (I have 8Gb). 

Anyway, I'll shut up, you found what works for you and I know how annoying it gets when you find something you like and others keep telling you "oh, but you can do X and Y like me"

I just wanted to make clear that it doesn't need to be a paid service. A couple of Gb is a LOT of band rehearsal material in mp3 format.

[dannybuoy]

If you and your band mates just want a synchronised folder of music files, try this:

https://syncthing.net

Its free, open source, and doesn’t send your data to any third party servers, it just sets up an encrypted connection directly between the machines sharing the files.

[mcnach]

13 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

If you and your band mates just want a synchronised folder of music files, try this:

https://syncthing.net

Its free, open source, and doesn’t send your data to any third party servers, it just sets up an encrypted connection directly between the machines sharing the files.

 

That looks very interesting! Thank you, I'll have to check it out

 

[Rocker]

I can't understand why the OP does not use a computer.  When the files arrive at his device, how does he listen to them?  Very curious.

[paul_c2]

37 minutes ago, Rocker said:

I can't understand why the OP does not use a computer.  When the files arrive at his device, how does he listen to them?  Very curious.

AFAIK some files are "streamable", in that the browser/client never needs to take in and store the entire file. It is able to take it in chunks at a time, start playback, then take in more and more chunks as playback progresses. (It might or might not delete previous chunks of the file, depending on its internal storage - it may store the entire file in its internal cache if/when it reaches the end, too).

Its certainly true when a "normal" web browser hosts an MP4 video file, I think its true for MP3 too; and probably lots of other types of media files.

[Maude]

1 hour ago, Rocker said:

I can't understand why the OP does not use a computer.  When the files arrive at his device, how does he listen to them?  Very curious.

I have no use for a computer. 

Not really sure how to react to the question. People were consuming recorded music a long time before computers were common place. Say I open the files on my phone, is plugging headphones in not the easiest thing to do? I can then listen to it whilst sat on the sofa without disturbing anyone. Or I could plug my phone into, or bluetooth it to the Ashdown B Social I use for practice if I want to play it out loud. Other scenarios which I don't do could include the use of powered monitors, sending it to Sonos style speakers, connecting to home hifi, even plugging it into the PA at our rehearsal room so we can listen as a band. None of these need to be tethered to a computer, and surely a computer would need to send the audio to one of the sound reproduction systems listed above anyway. 

Technology should make life easier, if it doesn't I find no reason to use it, it's really that simple. 

Edited December 9, 2019 by Maude

[BigRedX]

13 hours ago, Maude said:

I have no use for a computer. 

Not really sure how to react to the question. People were consuming recorded music a long time before computers were common place. Say I open the files on my phone, is plugging headphones in not the easiest thing to do? I can then listen to it whilst sat on the sofa without disturbing anyone. Or I could plug my phone into, or bluetooth it to the Ashdown B Social I use for practice if I want to play it out loud. Other scenarios which I don't do could include the use of powered monitors, sending it to Sonos style speakers, connecting to home hifi, even plugging it into the PA at our rehearsal room so we can listen as a band. None of these need to be tethered to a computer, and surely a computer would need to send the audio to one of the sound reproduction systems listed above anyway. 

Technology should make life easier, if it doesn't I find no reason to use it, it's really that simple. 

The problem that you are having is that all these file transfer/sharing sites and systems are designed first and foremost for devices where you can actually download the file(s) onto the devices local storage.

Phone and Tablets tend not to do this as their storage is design mostly for the OS and and the apps that they run. Your data for these apps is usually stored "in the cloud" and to access it you connect to the relevant cloud server and stream the dat as you need it. Nothing is downloaded so if you need the data again you have to stream it again. Fine if you always have a connection, the data allowance and the bandwidth to do it, but generally not as convenient as having a locally stored version.

From my experience of using both WeTransfer and DropBox on the iPad you are always accessing a remote version of the file(s) and when you close the apps you also lose the connection to the data. For one-time access this isn't a problem, but if you need to access a file at lots of different time it tends not to be as convenient.

As I said in my previous post, phone and tablets are great for browsing data, but not so good for actually storing it locally, which is sometimes what is best.

[Maude]

4 hours ago, BigRedX said:

The problem that you are having.......... 

That's just it though, I'm not having a problem now. The first reply sorted my issue. Yes there are other ways to do what I want but I don't need to look any further. 

I don't need anything more than my phone for what I need, data's a non issue as most contracts give me more than I could possibly use and home is unlimited. 

I appreciate all the replies but I genuinely don't understand why so many people are trying to find a problem. If it works for me then it works for me, no? We don't all need, or want the same thing. 

I'm going to respectfully bow out of this thread at this point as it seems to be going in circles. 

Thanks everyone 🙂👍

 

 

Edited December 10, 2019 by Maude