send big files over the internet

I'll be honest: I probably have the world's greatest music tastes. Seriously, I'm pretty awesome. Because of this, I like to periodically take the time to share my gift with the less fortunate. I have a habit (welcome or otherwise) of sending my family, friends, and strangers emails with subject lines to the effect of "THIS IS THE BEST SONG EVER IN HISTORY" about four times a week.

Here's the problem, though: emailing song files is tough. Some services don't accept attachments over a couple of megabytes, and even the ones that do take a long time to download, slowing down your email and Internet. Even when emailing is possible, it's rarely the ideal way to send big files.

Thankfully, there are a few ways to send big files over the internet that have made uploading, sharing, downloading and managing large files possible. I've tried a bunch of them, and picked a few favorites.

Ignoring all the other features, many or few, here are my three favorite ways to send big over the net files to my friends- whether they like it or not. There are others like each of these, but I think they're the best at what they do within their respective categories.

For The Serial Uploader: Drop.io

send big files over net with drop.io

With Drop.io (no longer online), a service I've raved about before, you can add one file or many to what are known as "drops." You name the drop, and it gets a permanent URL in the format of http://drop.io/yourdropnamehere.

Adding files is easy, and drop.io does a great job with managing them. If you upload pictures, drop.io figures it out and creates a slideshow for you. If it's a video, it's embedded and watchable. If it's music, you can listen to it right there on the page.

There are viewers as well for a number of different document types, and many things don't need to be downloaded to be enjoyed.

I like drop.io because I can give people one link to go to for all the BEST SONGS EVER IN HISTORY, and keep them changing. It took any file type I threw at it, and sharing and downloading are as easy as clicking on the file and selecting "Download."

If all you're looking to do is share one file, though drop.io can do it, it's not designed for attachment-like sharing. Also, there's a 100MB limit in any given drop, though there's no limit to the number of drops you can have.

For the Uploading Machine: File Dropper

filedropper

File Dropper's simple, elegant, and the biggest of the bunch. 5GB! If you're uploading files bigger than 5GB, you're unfortunately out of luck. If you're a rational person, you'll never touch File Dropper's size limit.

Uploading a file is as easy as browsing for your file, and clicking "Upload." Every file gets a permanent link that you're free to share with your friends. There are no frills, no awesome features to speak of, but it's dead simple, practically limitless in size, and probably the one I use most.

If you're a heavy uploader, File Dropper's giving away free storage space for those who pledge to go green.

For the Email Lover: YouSendIt

yousendit

I like YouSendIt because it fits the most closely into peoples comfort zones. You upload a file, select an email address you want to send it to, and YouSendIt does the rest. Once your file is ready, YouSendIt will send an email to your recipient saying that you've sent them a file, and a link is given to go and download the file.

With YouSendIt, you can also track when your files are downloaded, and by whom- no more "I never got the memo!" excuses. This is the most attachment-like solution I came up with, because it still works mostly in your email inbox. Anyone can click a link in their email, but there are more steps involved with the other ones. It's only one step, but I digress.

Files can be up to 100MB in size for the free account, which means you can even send movies to your friends. If you need more, there are also paid account options for you.

With these applications, no longer do my friends have to suffer to attain the musical nirvana I offer them on a regular basis. Whether you want to send movies, music, or just any old big file (Powerpoints can get huge), there are a number of options out there that let you upload, download, share and interact with files of almost any size.

What do you do when you've got big, unwieldy files to share?

Photo Credit : FredR