Using Pando To Send Huge Files Across The Web

I’m sure we’ve all come across the same problem time and time again. You need to send someone a huge file and your email service won’t accept it as an attachment. Gmail limits attachments to 10MB and most other email services are the same. So what are you to do?

Up until recently, I was uploading the files to my website and then providing the other person with the direct link. But to be honest, that was a pain in the neck because I then had to remember to go back and delete the files afterwards (and I have an atrocious memory!). So I started looking at Pando.

Pando is a Peer to Peer (P2P) software program that allows you to send large files to people who also have Pando installed on their computers. You can either send the files via email or instant message and Pando acts as the “middle man”. If you have a free account, you can send files of up to 1GB in size and pro accounts bumps the file size up to 2GB. I recently used the software with Jason when we worked on the Make Use Of podcast and it worked perfectly.

So say I wanted to send the Make Use Of podcast file back to Jason again. I would first open up Pando, click “share new”, and then choose how I want to transmit the file. For the purposes of this article, I will choose “email”.

I have used my mouse to “drag and drop” the mp3 file into the Pando interface and I have entered Jason’s Make Use Of email address. Since my email address is also in there, Jason will receive an email from me saying that the file is ready to download, but the email actually came from Pando.

Now how it works is this. When I click “send”, Pando then uploads the file to their servers. They will then notify Jason by email (but it will look as if the email came from me) that the file is there waiting for him and they will give him 7 days to click on the provided “Pando” attachment link and download the file to his own computer before it is purged from the Pando servers. If you upgrade to a pro account, the other person gets 14 days before it gets wiped from the Pando servers.

What I also particularly like is the integration with instant messaging, especially with Skype. I use Skype a great deal and the ability to transfer large files at high speeds to my contacts is a huge bonus. You can send multiple files to multiple contacts at the same time and again, the speed at which these files move is just unbelievable (but obviously a lot depends on your own internet connection).

The great thing about Pando is that people can leave files for you when you are offline and they can begin downloading when you come back online. So you can look upon Pando as your “digital dropbox” where people can leave text files, music, videos and anything else they want to send you. No longer do they have to clog up your email inbox with huge attachments. Now all they have to do is “Pando” it. And yes, before anyone asks, you can configure your Pando to scan all incoming files for viruses.

Does anyone else use Pando? If so, what do you think of it? If you don’t use Pando, has this article made you want to give it a go?

(By) Mark O’Neill is a blogger and professional freelance writer. Visit his blog at BetterThanTherapy.net

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