Let me begin by saying that I will still be using Google Drive as my main sharing source.
I know that File Factory is no one’s choice to download from. If you do not have an account their speeds are abominable and likely as not you’ll find your download dropped before it is finished making you start all over again. With a free account, you’ll still find that your download speeds are throttled, though you shouldn’t have nearly as many downloads that completely crap out before they are finished. As someone who has had a pro account, I can tell you that their download speeds still fluctuate. My speeds range from 2-4 mbs to 200-300 kps, sometimes within the same download.
I completely understand any and all complaints people make against File Factory.
However, for an uploader, they offer a pretty sweet deal. Pro accounts get unlimited storage. While technically pro accounts cost $100 per year the site regularly runs sales where you can get a 12-month membership for under $50. For comparison, I’m paying about $360 for 6TBs of storage on Amazon Drive. I already have a pro File Factory account that I use to download from.
One of the things I like about File Factory is that you can transfer files from other people’s accounts to yours. For example, a lot of people use File Factory over at Guitars101. Whenever someone posts something that I’m interested in, especially when they do those large mega posts, I can easily transfer all the files that I want to my account without having to download and then upload them.
I don’t know how you handle those big mega posts but I tend to download a few things from them, and then get distracted. Then I’ll need to restart my computer and lose the original link and forget about the whole thing. By transferring them to my account then I never forget about them and can download at my own pace.
Again, I will be using Google Drive as my main sharing source. My plan is still to post shows to Google about once a week, or maybe every other week. I still love the idea of sharing specific tours or shows played by an artist at a single venue, etc. That remains my main sharing concept for this site.
However, there is a realization that I will never be able to share all the shows I own (or will own in the future) through that method. I was uploading and posting shows every day for nearly a decade and got nowhere near sharing all the shows I own and this new method will be much slower than that. Also, this new method is going to lean towards my favorite artists to the detriment of artists I don’t collect, but still, own several shows from. Those artists aren’t likely to get shared by me via my new method. Miscellaneous shows from artists I do collect will also likely not be shared.
Additionally, Google Drive is relatively expensive. To upload all the shows I own would cost me about $100 a month.
That is a very long-winded way of saying I’m going to be using File Factory as a sort of backup hosting company.
That will look something like this. Every week (or whatever) I’ll do a post where I share Bob Dylan’s Fast Break Tour of 1990 or all the shows the Grateful Dead played at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, or whatever. I’ll do a big post with links to all of those shows and hopefully, have something to say about it. I’ll continue posting movie reviews, and links of the day and tell random stories.
At the same time, I’ll be backing up all of my shows to File Factory. Mainly I’ll be doing this as an online backup for my files and I’m using File Factory because it is much cheaper for the amount of storage I need. And since I’m backing them up to File Factory I might as well share those files with you.
I don’t know exactly how that will work. I definitely won’t be doing individual posts for individual shows. I won’t be laying out the details from text files or anything like that. It will just be a link to my File Factory files and you’ll have to figure out the details yourself. I probably won’t do it every day. Maybe once a week or once a month I’ll do a post where I share the shows that I’ve uploaded since the last time (if I can even figure out how to do that).
And with that here is a link to all the shows I’ve already uploaded to File Factory.
If you do choose to purchase a Pro account with File Factory I’d appreciate you using this link.
I’m definitely up for listening to a debate on this subject. If you have a better idea on how I can back up all my data and not pay a small fortune for it I’m all ears. I’m especially interested in cloud storage platforms that would allow me to share with you all. I’ve looked at a lot of them and none of them truly meet my needs. File Factory doesn’t really meet all my needs either, but the cheap price point smooths out a lot of those problems.
themidnightcafe.org 
Despite having a paid account with FF for over a decade I do know how much it must suck for those w/o one.
The one recommendation I would strongly suggest would be to use a download manager. Using your browser’s default will likely cause more broken download attempts than with a specific manager. I can understand the frustration caused by the additional limitation even more so because one must begin the d/l all over then have restrictions on when that attempt can even again be made.
Using the manager I use my d/l speeds are consistently at a minimum of 20 mbs, not the 2-4 mbs Mat experiences.
That’s a very good point. I don’t tend to do bulk downloading because of my bandwidth limitations, but I know others do. What download manager do you use, if I may ask? I know a lot of folks like Real Debrid as well. I don’t know all the specifics but I believe it basically downloads files to their own servers and lets you download from them which cuts out a lot of the various restrictions from sites like FF, but again I don’t really know all the specifics.
A note on Bob Dylan shows
I used File Factory a lot I ntil I found about the A-Z recordings section of Expecting Rain
Register and you will find each and every circulating show there
Absolutely, Expecting Rain is an amazing resource for Dylan shows. All fans should check it out.
A note on Bob Dylan shows
All circulating shows can also be found on Expecting Rain
All you have to do is register
Before I knew about that, I used Guitars 101 a lot , extremely slow speeds and all
Hi Mat. I’m not a huge FF fan but if Google will still be the main sharing choice that’s good. Have you checked out Onedrive? Could be an option? I appreciate whatever you choose to keep the music going. Thank you.
I did look at One Drive. I can’t remember why I eliminated them as a choice, but there was some issue with them. Probably the pricing for multiple terabytes of storage. I’ve spend way too much time looking at different cloud storage solutions and nothing is perfect. But yes, my main sharing platform will be Google.
When I start really sharing again we’ll see how it goes. I may switch things up and make various changes as we go along to create the best solution for everybody.
Fascinating! I’ve been a pro user of File Factory for 8-9 years and it works like an absolute charm for me – zero problems, ever.
Part of that may be that we upgraded to broadband internet at our home. So every FF show I download takes a minute or so, no broken DLs – again, no hassles ever, really. It’s so worth the annual cost which I consider minimal ($99 for a year, or $249 for a lifetime) – to any who have resisted.
Thank you as always for thinking through these options and trying hard to share with us. I really appreciate it, as I know many do, including the many who don’t comment.
One last thing – funny you mention Grateful Dead at the Fox. I have just begun doing some writing projects for a branch of the Fox Theatre here in Atlanta and I’m stoked. It’s the most amazing venue.
The price for the amount of storage you get really is the best deal around. And they do offer sales pretty regularly. I actually haven’t paid for my pro account in years, because a buddy of mine gets enough points from his shares that he gets coupons for free pro accounts and he shares those with me every year.
I have cable internet and my speeds fluctuate with FF pretty regularly. Of course my regular internet speeds fluctuate all the time too. It really depends on what the neighborhood is doing. I sometimes can’t even watch Netflix at the peak hours in the evening.
Cool news about the Fox. I’ve never been but I know Deadheads always loved it when they played there.
Hey Mat,
Happy New year to you!
I thought I’d give you a quick report on how File Factory just worked for me. I downloaded the Gillian and Dave covers compilation as a test. It was as smooth as silk and the speeds were decent. Then I listened to it on my morning ski and it turned out to be a wonderful compilation. So I believe you’ve come up with a very viable option here. Thanks for all of the care you put into making this site so user friendly!
Thank you. I appreciate the feedback. File Factory isn’t nearly as bad as many of the other similar type sites. They are super slow if you don’t have an account, but with one they are usually reasonably fast. Not super fast, mind you, but they get the job done. And if you are willing to pay and possibly use a downloader then they are perfectly fine.
I don’t in anyway want to pressure my friends into purchasing an FF pro account. That’s why I’ll still use Google for my main shares, but I also like the ability to upload a lot more stuff than what I plan to officially share if that makes sense.
Just tested file factory and it runs quite fast
I’m still very happy with Dropbox and use it exclusively to share files at my music blog. Quick DL speeds even for those who don’t have a paid account…
Mat, Appreciate your dedication to sharing your files. FF, Google Drive, Amazon; they all work for me. Thanks!