Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Bye-bye, Mediafire

I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later.  Mediafire has finally pulled the plug on me, as I learned while checking the comments to my last post.  I knew something was up when I received three emails from them yesterday, all sent at the same time, stating that a certain file, apparently selected at random, violated their Terms of Service, and had been removed, and a "strike" placed against my account.  But I didn't make the connection that "three strikes, you're out" applied until this morning.  (For what it's worth, the violating files were: the NGS Brahms Sextet FLAC, the NGS Brahms Sextet MP3, and the Budapest SQ Dvorak Sextet FLAC.)

I'm not sure what to do next, so any advice is welcome, especially from those who have dealt with this issue already.  Maybe best to send it to me privately, however, rather than through the comments section of this blog.  Obviously I don't wish to spell out my email address explicitly here, but that portion of it which precedes the "@" symbol is "bryan52063" , and my email service provider is, after all these years, Juno.com.

UPDATE (Jan. 31): New links are now operative for all of January 2013's uploads, and I hope to get more up and running over the next few days and weeks.  I have decided to go with three different hosts, one for orchestral 78s, one for all other 78s, and one for LPs.  Most likely I will use others as well, especially if these prove unsatisfactory, but it was important to me to have something up and running quickly!

I did actually have another Mediafire account that was untouched; I am now using that only for my discographic files and those of my own performances, which, presumably, won't be offensive to them!.

UPDATE #2 (Feb. 3): New links are now operational for November and December 2012's files.  But it's slow going.  One of the new hosts (Hotfile) is proving particularly unsatisfactory; more often than not, when I attempt to upload a file, it times out and then gets cancelled.  I now understand why Mediafire was so popular - it's by far the easiest service to use!

23 comments:

  1. Dear Bryan,
    Another victim of the Mediafire arbitrariness! Terrible, but please continue, there are alternatives. I sent you a private mail.

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  2. Amazing that they would pick on a blog devoted to 78s!! Downright bizarre, in fact. Meanwhile, many thanks for all the treasures you have offered and the meticulousness with which you have documented and offered them. I truly hope you find a way to continue.

    Best, Herb

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  3. Welcome to the club of bloggers killed by Mediafire :(
    Well: if could be usefull for you I started to use mega, and also use Hotfile and Zippyshared. Putlocker seems to work faster than the others but I don't know much about them. I hope you have backups of your wonderful transfer work, I'm sure that your passion for music will help you to find a way to continue with this great blog.
    Best, Pablo.

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  4. Terrible indeed !
    Hope not too damaging for you and that a solution can be founded.
    Thanks again for all your captivating posts.

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. NGS 105-108
    Brahms
    Sextet for Strings No. 2 in G, Op. 36
    The Spencer Dyke String Quartet;
    J. Lockyer, 2nd viola;
    E. J. Robertson, 2nd cello
    ............................................
    Dvořák: Sextet in A, Op. 48
    Budapest String Quartet with
    Watson Forbes (viola) and John Moore (cello)
    Recorded May 31, 1938
    Victor Musical Masterpiece set M-661,
    on four 78-rpm records
    Mediafire link (FLAC files, 70.58 MB)
    Mediafire link (MP3 files, 33.32 MB)
    .........................................................................
    Brahms: String Sextet No. 1 in B-Flat, Op. 18
    Spencer Dyke String Sextet
    Recorded May, 1925, by Parlophone
    National Gramophonic Society
    Z, AA, BB, CC, and DD (five 78-rpm records)
    Mediafire link (FLAC files, 83.87 MB)
    Mediafire link (MP3 files, 33.06 MB)
    ....................................................................

    COPYRIGHT was 1925 and 1938
    Recordings made prior to 1962
    are now in Public Domain in Europe.
    In USA M-661 will be in P.D on
    June 1, 2013. Why is Media.fire
    claiming that distributing a 1925
    recording is violating copyright????
    johnd012033

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  7. I may be wrong, but I'm not sure that the NGS records were ever in copyright - especially in the US. Who at MediaFire even has knowledge of these records?

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  8. Well, I'm glad the authorities have finally reacted, as your blog was positively wrecking the record industry.
    But seriously, I hope you find a solution and thank you for the work you've put into this blog so far - people like you make the internet a nobler place.
    Best, Przemek

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  9. Good luck finding an alternative! Your blog is fantastic! Hang in there!

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  10. Bryan,
    You can use http://www.78rpmcommunity.com/folders if you wish. I know that http://satyr78opera.blogspot.com/ uses them for his file hosting...

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    Replies
    1. Can you upload files to the 78rpm Community if you're not a member? I've been trying for the past 24 hours to obtain membership but with no luck.

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  11. Please read
    http://recordplayer78.blogspot.de/2012/09/mediafire-macht-mucken-mediafire-is.html

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  12. Bryan, it seems an all too familiar theme in the past 1-2 years, with hosts being abandoned or apprehended left and right. When you are settled with your new host/s, I would like to request a reupload of the Shostakovich Symphony No. 10 (Mitropoulos) here: http://shellackophile.blogspot.com/2012/07/shostakovich-tenth-symphony-mitropoulos.html Many thanks for all you do and are still willing to do!

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    Replies
    1. The Shostakovich Tenth is back online, accessible from the original post in July. Please let me know if you are able to get it!

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    2. Thank you for all your service to classical music lovers everywhere. Unfortunately, the new service for the Mitropoulos Shostakovich Tenth will not permit one to download the recording. Try it and you'll see what I mean.

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    3. Please keep trying; I was able to get it this morning. Mega (the host) is, optimized for Google Chrome so you might try obtaining that browser if you don't have it already. If all else fails I have a copy of it up on YouTube.

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  13. It's hard not to have some small amount of sympathy for those hosting sites that are trying (however awkwardly and inefficiently) to do the right thing.

    I, for one, am grateful that you've persevered to save performances that -- given their age, unavailability and (relative!) lack of popularity -- might otherwise be lost during my lifetime.

    Thanks for sticking with it to keep these performers and performances alive.

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  14. Hey Bryan,

    This really sucks! My heart goes out to you. Your work is consistently excellent and a true labor of love. Your joy in this is bringing a smile to someone's face and warming the heart by bringing back a cherished memory from long ago. I'm so saddened by the way mediafire goes about doing things.

    Fred

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  15. Might I hope that
    'Danny Kaye's First Album' will be reposted?

    Thanks for all your efforts.

    Matt

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    Replies
    1. Hi Matt, I re-uploaded the Danny Kaye this morning.

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    2. Faster than light-speed!
      A thousand thanks for sending some 'Georgia sun'
      to gloomy, snowbound Bavaria.

      Matt

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  16. Keep on my friend with great posts! And let these bastards drop dead!

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  17. Hi Bryan -

    I read with dismay your & Satyr's issues with mediafire. Your blog is a treasure - as in Satyrs - and I am glad that you have been able to reconstruct most of these important documents. (For mediafire to take issue with, of all things, your NGS transfers, what where they thinking??)

    At the end of December a couple of my mediafire files were blocked and -while I did not get a 'strike' - I proactively contacted mediafire stating that all my files were public domain and the downloads offered were in compliance with EU and US federal copyright requirements. A few days later I received a e-mail from mediafire reopening the files and an apology (!) stating that this will not happen to my account again. (time will tell)

    Since then, I have uploaded a couple of files and there have been no issues as of yet. Granted, I do not have the traffic that your site has, but, so far, so good.

    Good luck with you future provider(s)and keep these wonderful transfers coming...

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