File / Web Hosting that doesn't suck!

[Kazrog]

Having posted on this forum for a while, I've noticed that a lot of you guys are using YouSendIt, MySpace and other crappy sites to host your music. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that I actually avoid listening to a lot of you guys' music lately because you host it on sites like these.

I've been using DreamHost for a couple of years now and they've been amazing. For $9.95 USD a month (less than most of you guys' beer budget I'd assume) you get:

• 1 FREE domain registration (yourname.com)
• UNLIMITED domains hosted
• UNLIMITED subdomains
• 20 GB Disk, 1 TB Transfer
• 3000 EMail boxes, 75 Shell/FTP Users

I use them to host Backmask.com and a bunch of other sites I'm involved with. DreamHost has rocked for me, with fast transfer rates to people all over the world, on sites that get 10,000+ hits a day. All of my friends who I've recommended DreamHost to are extremely happy.

Lots of other cool benefits:
If you want to have a forum, photo gallery, or a blog, etc., DreamHost lets you install these with one click. You've got PHP, MySQL, Ruby On Rails, Python, and other languages supported if you want to geek out hardcore, but you don't need to know them if you just want to get your site going.

If you're even semi-serious about your band, your recording studio, etc., it's time to step up to a real host:
DreamHost

 

[JeffTD]

Congrats on the new marketing position at Dreamhost, Shane!

But seriously, I agree - I won't listen to yousendit stuff. It's just a pain in the ass!

There are often coupons you can get for these kinds of hosting companies, I remember there being one for $9.99 for a whole year a bit a go.

 

[Carcass29]

I've been using acidplanet.com for years but I just switched to ************* for free...and they give you 500MB of free space, I'm digging this.

"File Lodge is a free file hosting provider especially designed to look after you and your files.

We offer a huge 500MB of file storage and support almost all file extensions, such as jpg, gif, mpg, avi, wmv, doc, pdf, mp3 etc

Bandwidth is unlimited."

 

[dreamcatcher]

So did you set up that link to autorefer you?


Cuz I would have

I am on Dreamhost as well. I like it. I even have promo codes :zombie:

 

[SPLASTiK]

Fileden.com is pretty cool. Not a webhost for a homepage but just like Filelodge as mentioned above, 500mb free with files up to 50MB and unlimited bandwidth. Simple easy link directly to the file, no click a million things like YSI or Rapidshare. I use it for simple hosting like mp3's streaming on my MySpace's Flash player since I don't use their crappy one.
I think Fileden was faster when I did a speed comparison.

Apparently AOL is going to be giving away 5GB of file hosting space for free soon and also heard something about 2GB webpage space with free domains. Probably ads on your page though...and they own the domain so you can't transfer it to another host.

 

[JeffTD]

Ads on your page and will make what you host public knowledge.

 

[SPLASTiK]

Ads on your page and will make what you host public knowledge.

Those search records... oh man, some interesting stuff there.

 

[Kazrog]

"File Lodge is a free file hosting provider especially designed to look after you and your files.

Full of ads though - the main reason I (and others) hate the other "free" file hosting sites.

 

[JeffTD]

I could care less about ads if it's a free service that works, and there's no popups. I just tried out Filelodge, I'm hooked! It just directly links the person to your file, nothing for popups or ads at all.

 

[Razorjack]

So you get yourself $97 for each person that signs up, not a bad deal.

 

[JeffTD]

To be honest, that's kind of sleazy, posting the add up here for referal money

 

[farside]

To be honest, that's kind of sleazy, posting the add up here for referal money

Eh, it's not so bad. This is a legit service that many people in our field use every day.

I use yousendit to send bands refrence mixes 2 or 3 times a week. I just like it cause its free. Theres no difference in sound quality or anything right?

 

[JeffTD]

I mean - it's not so bad, because it's something people could use, but it's basically that crap people post about free iPods and stuff, the difference being that Shane is a known and respected member of the forum. We all could use an iPod, hell yeah! But we don't need the advertising and whatnot, you know?

Plus, I'd rather see Shane come out and say "I get a referal bonus if you sign up via this link" than have RJ tell us a day later .

 

[sorceron]

I mean - it's not so bad, because it's something people could use, but it's basically that crap people post about free iPods and stuff, the difference being that Shane is a known and respected member of the forum. We all could use an iPod, hell yeah! But we don't need the advertising and whatnot, you know?

Plus, I'd rather see Shane come out and say "I get a referal bonus if you sign up via this link" than have RJ tell us a day later .

dude you got 666 posts


i dont think yousendit is that bad really

 

[Benny H]

Cheers Kazrog.

 

[MKS]

Be aware that Dreamhost is an "overseller" hosting service. Basically they write checks their servers can't cash. Granted, you might get lucky and have your site on a light load server.

They really don't have 20GB of space and 1TB of bandwidth to give each client. So, if you're on a server and someone decides to host a 4GB porn rip you'll see your bandwidth suffer. In many cases, Dreamhost will redistribute users to other servers to balance the load without their clients knowledge.

Do a search at webhostingtalk.com for more details. That's a great place to get info about any hosting service.

I ran a webhosting business for about 6 years and got to the point that I couldn't compete with the oversellers. Regardless, I still had customers that came crawling back from dreamhost, canaca and hostrocket because of their overselling tactics.

My advice for picking a hosting provider:
1. Call their support - If they don't answer, you get the point
2. Do a whois search (whois.sc) If the domain is less than 3 years old, avoid.
3. Ask to download a test file.
4. Do a trace route to the server from multiple locations.
5. Always search newsgroups/forums before jumping for customer feedback
6. Always look for 5 9's uptime policy and read the fine print.
7. Be aware of the 95th percentile rule

 

[Kazrog]

I wouldn't recommend DreamHost to you guys if it wasn't what I used. I've been extremely happy with them. What MKS says is all true (except DreamHost answers their phones - with humans), but it hasn't hurt my sites at all. I get amazing transfer rates from my sites (500 KBps on cable, 1000 KBps + on T3 - and yes that's kilobytes.)

Yes, I get $97 for each referall, but not until after each one is a DreamHost customer for 3 months. It's not instant cash by any means. I would recommend them to you guys even if I didn't get any commission out of it. There's a lot more benefits to their service besides the good price.

I welcome an open discussion of hosting providers, if there's something better out there for the money, go for it.

 

[MKS]

I do know two people that are amazingly thrilled with dreamhost. I just asked them today and they are still very happy with thier service.

Kazrog, What stops people from referring themselves?

Edit: I figured it out. The $49 setup fee.

 

[James Murphy]

DSS3, this referral fee is just part of Dreamhost's policy and applies to all their customers, i't not some special arrangement he made with them, jeez... give Shane a break for X's sake

 

[Kazrog]

I mean - it's not so bad, because it's something people could use, but it's basically that crap people post about free iPods and stuff, the difference being that Shane is a known and respected member of the forum. We all could use an iPod, hell yeah! But we don't need the advertising and whatnot, you know?

Plus, I'd rather see Shane come out and say "I get a referal bonus if you sign up via this link" than have RJ tell us a day later .

It's not advertising. I brought it up because I thought it would be of value to some of you. Just because I happen to use the affiliate link that I'm entitled to use as a paying customer doesn't make it advertising. I don't think I'm being dishonest by omitting that from my initial post; I wanted to avoid having you guys think I was just trying to make money. My motives here are first and foremost to tell you about cool stuff that I've found extremely useful. But if I can do that and make $97 bucks at the same time, what's the harm in that?

And as I said previously - if you find something better for the money, go for it!

I could recommend Robert Keeley Electronics, who just modded my TS808 (it sounds amazing now!) and you wouldn't get pissed off about it, even if I was somehow magically earning commission (which I'm not.) Everyone is constantly recommending products and services here, including Andy & James, so why am I suddenly evil for doing it?