What if you needed to share hundreds of Gigabytes (or even Terabytes) with a partner to finish a project, but you've reached the limits on the sharing service you already use? Well, that's where SoShare comes in. The new service is utilizing the power of BitTorrent to share an unlimited amount of data with as many users as you want -- up to 1 Terabyte per transfer -- and the best part of all: it's 100% completely free. Sound too good to be true? Read on for more about the service.
Here is the breakdown of how it works:
SoShare’s a public beta that evolved out of a simple need. As coders, designers, and content creators, we have to deliver large files on a daily basis. We’re not alone, by the way. 3.34 million Americans work in creative industries. And still: there’s no media delivery service for people who work in media. You can’t fit everything into an attachment. Syncing services have caps. Delivery services have limits.
SoShare doesn’t.
Send up to a terabyte of data in one transfer. Yep, a terabyte. Move any file. Of any size. To any number of recipients. Collaborate on projects with friends and co-workers. Ideas are free. And so is SoShare.
Here’s how you get started.
Sign up.
Create a free account, install the SoShare plug-in, and upload up your audio, film, or design projects. Enter your collaborator’s email address, and send your project bundle on its way.
Delivery!
Recipients get an email saying that the bundle is waiting for them. Don’t worry, they don’t need to create an account to access the file. You can also create a public link, if you want to share via chat, Twitter, or Facebook.
Bonus round.
Because SoShare is based on a BitTorrent browser plug-in, delivery is swift. Pause and resume transfers if you have to switch gears. SoShare will keep tabs on delivery status – letting you know once the goods have gotten there (and whether or your collaborator or client has opened the file). Files are live for 30 days, but you can expire them at any time.
So what's the catch? Well, the service is still in Beta at this time, so not everything may be working as it is supposed to. For example, at the moment, the email notification system seems to be down, so until that is fixed you must make a public link and then share that with whomever you are trying to send files to [Update: the email notification and receipt worked just fine for me in any case]. That seems to be a minor speed bump for the time being, since the upsides for SoShare are tremendous. While files are only available for 30 days, this has potential movie distribution benefits by allowing you to upload a pristine copy of your film (in whatever resolution you like), and then letting you send that link to specific people, or even make a public link that can be downloaded as many times as necessary. This is even something that film festivals could use to make incompatible DVDs or Blu Rays a thing of the past -- and also avoid using HDCAM tapes altogether.
It's unclear to me exactly how SoShare is working behind the scenes -- obviously these files are being stored somewhere. Either way, if you have to send huge files or groups of files freely, this is the easiest and cheapest way short of creating your own BitTorrent tracker. Of course, you will have to consult your ISP to see if you have specific data caps, and what the potential consequences for going over those caps might be. If you run a business, or you are collaborating over a long distance with massive files, it's probably worth your time to give SoShare a try.
I'm currently uploading a file now, but I'm not on the most reliable connection so it might be taking longer than normal. Either way, we'll see how quickly it downloads once that has finished. [Update: Seems to work fine, and the download was very fast. You'll need a good upload speed if you want to transfer huge files (hundreds of Gigabytes). While I have decent download -- 5-10 Mbps depending -- I only have 1 Mbps upload, so that also likely contributed to the slower upload speed.]
Head on over to the website below to try it out.
Link: SoShare -- Website
[via The Next Web & BitTorrent Blog]
