Bittorrent got you down, afraid to install other p2p clients in fear of spyware? Don't fret, YouSendIt has an answer for you, but just how long will they last without being slapped with a lawsuit? How does it work you ask? Here's the word straight from YouSendIt.com:
- Choose who you want to send a file to. It can be anyone with an email address. You can specify multiple email addresses separated by commas.
- Select a file to send. You can send photos, audio, documents or anything else. Your file will be stored by YouSendIt without ever filling up your recipient's mailbox.
- Click on Send. YouSendIt will automatically email your recipient a link to your file stored on our server. Your file will be deleted after seven days.
Sounds pretty good, eh? I thought so too, but i had a few issues with the service. I didn't really enjoy the waiting game with the browser, I'd recommend doing this when you're not needing to use your browser to avoid accidentally closing the window, there is really no other way to know how far along you are unless you look at the status bar. This might be confusing for some at first. Another thing, isn't this just a really good way to farm a nice large email list? Since the address must be valid in order to be used, they could just be doing it for that, i don't see any advertisements do you? From YouSendIt.com:
We collect the e-mail addresses of YouSendIt Delivery recipients and senders for the purpose of logging and measuring usage. YouSendIt does not rent, sell, or share personal information about you with nonaffiliated companies.
Nonaffiliated I think is the key word there. So someone is getting the info, just who is the question. My advice? Use with caution, and register a dummy email address to use with this service, also ask your friends before you send them an email through YouSendIt. Although I did noticed that after I sent it using said dummy email it gave me a link anyways. So I would assume you could put in any old email for the transfer. I believe there is a restriction on how many people can download your file, so it's not for the masses to have a free-for-all on. I would also hope that you all refrain from sending copyrighted material through this service as, you never know how soon this company is to fold and hand over it's logs. Of course sharing copyrighted files is always a bad idea and can get you in worlds of trouble. So I guess the final verdict is use with caution.