If you’re an old-timer like me, you may not have noticed the Get Started tab when you log into your Dropbox web account. Click it and walk through the basic usage tutorial that it presents. When you’ve finished, you may receive a free 250 MB storage upgrade. It worked for me. More storage space is always appreciated.

If you don’t have a Dropbox account yet, you can receive two gigabytes of storage for free plus an extra 250 MB by using this signup link.

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Get a Free 250 MB Upgrade by Clicking the “Get Started” Tab in Dropbox

Think of tunesBag as an online version of iTunes that grants you access to your full audio library from any computer with an Internet connection. Since it’s entirely web based, it lacks features such as CD ripping and iPod syncing, but that’s not really the point. What it does offer is the ability to sit down at any computer and immediately have your full music library at your disposal.

Here’s the main window. Hard to believe this is all running in a browser, huh?

Uploading Your Music

tunesBag offers several ways to upload your music files, including a browser-based uploader, an installable Desktop Uploader (currently Windows only), via e-mail, and directly from elsewhere on the Web.

There’s currently no hard limit on how much you can upload, though they do ask that you contact them if you plan to upload more than 5-7 GB of files. tunesBag supports MP3, M4A, WMA, and OGG. Audio files laden with DRM are not supported, sorry.

The browser uploader allows for multiple-file uploads, plus creating a playlist for the uploaded files.

The Desktop Uploader (Windows only) has some more advanced features. Those of you with existing iTunes or Winamp libraries will appreciate the ability to upload your existing library (or just selected playlists). No such love yet for us MediaMonkey fans, but perhaps the developers could consider it for future releases.

Another cool feature of the Desktop Uploader is that you can use it to completely restore your original audio files back to your computer in case of catastrophic hard disk failure. In this sense, tunesBag functions as a backup for your original files.

General Usage

After you have uploaded audio files, tunesBag will analyze them for you and create acoustic fingerprints to help you fix any missing or incorrect elements, such as the album name or cover art. This is a pretty handy feature, and tunesBag will present to you multiple options in case there’s a potential conflict.

While playing a song, you have control over playback using the transport bar at the bottom of the page, including options for volume, repeat, and randomize.

Just like with most media players, you can search and sort your music library by genre, artist, or album. You can also create any number of playlists that you like.

Whenever you hover over each Title, you can bring up a menu for each song by clicking the arrow. This presents a number of options, such as adding that song to a playlist, commenting, sharing, editing Meta information, and deleting. You can also download the original audio file.

Only the original owner can actually download the original audio file, but this brings up the issue of file sharing.

Sharing

Since tunesBag runs completely online, it seems only natural that the ability to share files should be inherent to the way it works. It is… to an extent.

You can share individual files or full playlists in just about any way imaginable: by e-mail, via social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, or through a direct link to a sharing page. You can also add friends and view their music directly within tunesBag.

The important aspect here is that friends can only stream your music (and vice-versa) – they cannot download and keep the original files. While I am definitely not a lawyer, the streaming-only nature of tunesBag should keep it protected from the likes of the RIAA. tunesBag is a legal service in Austria, the country in which it operates.

See for yourself – Want to listen to that Apocalyptica album that I uploaded in one of the above screenshots? Sure, just click here.

Invitations

While in beta, tunesBag is completely free. While they may eventually offer premium services, hopefully a free version will always exist.

The private beta requires an invitation to join. We have 18 invitations available for TipsFor.us readers. To receive an invitation, just ask for an invite in the comments below. Be sure to leave your valid e-mail address in the e-mail field. We’ll contact you as soon as possible. As always, first come, first serve!

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TunesBag Stores and Shares Your Music Online – Free Invites

Essentially, Who.hasfiles offers 100 MB of free online storage. No, that’s not a whopping amount of space by any means, but what sets them apart is the manner in which you access it. Who.hasfiles allows for remote drive mapping from your operating system, all without installing anything. Your 100 MB of storage simply shows up as another disk or as a remote folder.

They have instructions for mapping the drive in Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Web Sharing

The new feature that they are rolling out is the ability to share and hotlink files over the Web. Setting it up couldn’t be simpler. All you have to do is create a folder called web in the root of your storage space.

Anything you put inside the web folder is directly accessible on the Internet. Whoever access the link to your web folder will see a list of all your shared files. Speaking of which, the link to your web folder is as follows:

http://your-user-name.hasfies.com/web

People who access the link to your web folder will see a list of all your shared files. It’s great for quick-and-dirty file sharing.

File/Web Hosting

Another use for the Who.hasfiles web folder is direct linking (hotlinking) to files. For starters, you can upload your own index.html file if you don’t want people to see everything in your web folder. Heck, you can even build a small website with only static files (sorry, no PHP here).

A much more powerful use, though, is embedding files directly in blogs or forums. One area where this can be greatly useful is if you have a Blogger account or WordPress.com blog. Neither of those sites allow you to upload audio files, so this is another great way to get around Blogger’s upload limitations.

As you might expect, all you have to do to link directly to a file in your Who.hasfiles.com account is to first make sure that file is inside your web folder. Next, just type the full path to the file, like this:

http://your-user-name.hasfiles.com/web/name-of-file.pdf

In my case, I want to directly access that MP3 file in the picture above. For me to do so, all I have to do is type:

http://habibbijan.hasfiles.com/web/bondari-demo.mp3

Try it! In this manner, you can link to specific files from Blogger, WordPress.com, online forums, or from anywhere else you want. Hint: I suggest leaving all filenames lowercase and omitting spaces to avoid link frustrations.

I don’t know yet if Who.hasfiles imposes any bandwidth restrictions. I doubt it, especially considering that the free account only allows for 100 MB of storage. If someone from the company could comment, we all would appreciate it.

As we’ve mentioned before, you don’t get much space with Who.hasfiles, but we love how convenient it is to map a remote drive from any operating system. Just think of it like a remote USB flash drive from 2003. The addition of file hosting (and direct linking) is a welcome update.

Get 100 MB free at Who.hasfiles.com.

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Who.hasfiles Updates, Enables Web Sharing

• Dropboks
• Mozy
• Dropbox
• File Dropper
• Who.hasfiles
• myBloop

Note: In addition to the free plan, ADrive also offers paid plans with additional features and storage space. For this article, I’m using the free version.

For a free offering, ADrive is loaded with features. Here are a few of them:

• 50 GB storage (per account)
• Multiple folder upload (Nice!)
• File-sharing capabilities
• Remote file transfer
• Integration with Zoho Editor
• ADrive Backup Client (Windows only at the moment)

Upgrading to the cheapest paid version also adds SSL encryption and WebDAV access (mapping as a network drive). These two features alone are worth the upgrade price. Also, the free version is ad-supported.

Once you register for an account, you can start creating folders and uploading files. Here is what the main window looks like. I’ve already added a few folders.

Notice the buttons at the bottom of the window. They allow for file/folder manipulation (move, copy, create directory, share, and delete).

Uploading

There are several different ways to get files into ADrive, but the most common way is using the Java upload tool. If you don’t have Java installed already, you should do so. The first time you try to upload a file, Java will start to load. If you want, tell it to “Always trust….”

Once Java loads, you will have access to a Java uploader than can upload multiple files and folders simultaneously.

While loading Java can be sluggish, I absolutely LOVE the ability to upload a hierarchy of folders at once, keeping their original structure intact.

Except… there’s a big problem with using a browser-based Java uploader. Once Java comes to the forefront, it seizes control, and the rest of the browser is rendered absolutely useless. You can’t switch tabs or even minimize appropriately. The only browser I’ve found that gets around this annoying problem is Google Chrome (due to its multi-threaded approach).

If you want to avoid Java, a Basic Uploader is available, but it can only upload one file at a time.

Downloading

To download files, you can simply navigate the folder hierarchy and double-click the file you want to download. Easy enough…

Or, you can use the more advanced Java downloader. With it, you can select multiple files (control-click or shift-click), and the utility will automatically create folders on your computer, keeping the hierarchy intact. Brilliant!

Remote Transfer

Another one of my favorite features is the ability to remotely transfer a file from elsewhere on the Internet straight into ADrive. Considering that remote transfer is usually only available in paid accounts in other services, I’m glad to see that ADrive offers it for free.

Here is a remote transfer in progress:

Other Features

If you’re a Zoho user, you will be pleased to know that you can directly open and edit files from within ADrive. Just right-click on any compatible file and look for the Edit in Zoho button.

I admit, I’m disappointed that OpenOffice documents are not yet supported. This is a shame considering that Zoho can handle OpenOffice files. Hopefully ADrive will correct this soon.

On the other hand, the ADrive Backup Client is slick tool that’s available for Windows users. This small utility allows you to set up scheduled backups, restores, and synchronizations.

Though the Backup Client used to be limited to a 30-day trial, it is now free for all accounts. While I certainly applaud ADrive for making it free, I also wish to see a client for Mac/Linux.

Sharing

As with most other online storage services, ADrive allows for public sharing of files. Simply select a file and click the Share button.

You can then view a direct link to the file, and choose to download or e-mail it to a friend.

If you can’t tell, I like ADrive. I have been using it for many months, but it took a while to grow on me. The interface is functional, but not as slick as other services, and I was turned off by the 30-day trial of the Backup Client (now free).

Mainly, the sheer amount of space and special features – such as the Remote Transfer option – have propelled ADrive near the top of my favorites list for online storage. I can see myself paying the $69.50 per year for the addition of SLL, WebDAV, and file history recovery.

That said, I highly recommend the free edition, though I also suggest using it with Google Chrome to avoid the Java-seizing-the-browser issue.

Happy storage!

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ADrive – 50GB of Free Storage (Online Storage Series)

I am pleased to report that Dropbox has fully opened to the public, no more invitations needed! A few weeks ago I reviewed Dropbox (see review) and concluded that it was the online storage service of my dreams. I still hold to that claim.

Everyone who signs up receives 2 GB of storage space. Not only that, you can easily link multiple computers to your Dropbox account and effortlessly keep your files in sync. It’s like FolderShare, but with an online backup element. Yes, it’s a dream come true.

Clients are available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux (beta). There’s even an iPhone client. Here I am installing the Dropbox client on Ubuntu 8.04.

Freshly Installed

As of now, Dropbox is the free storage service that I recommend most to others. If they rollout a “Pro” version with more features and storage, I’d be tempted to upgrade. Still, the free service is excellent.

If you only use one online storage service, I heartily recommend Dropbox.

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Dropbox Goes Live – Free 2GB of Synchronized Storage for All!

Signup

If you wish to grab your free 250 GB online storage, use their special link. Though they claim that the offer is for bloggers and Digg users, anyone can register.

FileSavr.com was created as a fresh alternative to sites like MegaUpload and RapidShare. Unlike those sites, we do not reel the user in and make them wait for annoying countdown timers. We do not hide the download link with aggressively placed ads. Our goal is simple, to offer the most basic file hosting and image hosting service so you can share your stuff quickly.

As a thank you to the community we are offering free accounts on FileSavr.com to bloggers as well as members of Digg, Stumble, Reddit, Mixx, Del.icio.us. To get your free account fill out the form below to receive to get $10 monthly account (250 GB) absolutely free. Accounts created before September 15th will have lifetime membership for free. If you like the service we hope you will help us with small donations via paypal.

Offer expires September 15th. WARNING: The service is very slow due to extreme demand right now.

Signing up only requires a username, password, and e-mail address. Painless.

Usage

For all intents and purposes, File Savr is EXACTLY the same as File Dropper. The offer is the same. The interface is the same. The prices are the same. Heck, the only different between the two sites is the logo. It makes me wonder why the people behind File Dropper felt the need to create a re-badged version of their existing site. Let me show you what I mean:

FileSavr Manager

File Dropper Manager

Other than logo, there is no difference. Well, I should mention that File Savr supposedly offers an upload limit of 10 GB, whereas File Dropper limits upload size to 5 GB. So, yes, there is a slight difference.

Admittedly, I’ve had trouble with File Dropper. Every time I try to upload a file larger than 500 MB or so, I receive an error and the upload fails. Perhaps it’s my Internet connection? Perhaps it’s File Dropper? Nevertheless, the result is that I’ve hardly been able to use my account.

Still, between the two, I now have 500 GB of online storage at my disposal. I only hope I’ll be able to take advantage of it.

Act now, and you too can claim 250 GB of space. Just be sure to use their special link. I only hope you’ll have better luck with uploading than I’ve had.

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File Savr – Another Free 250 GB Storage Account?

While anyone can log into the web interface at any time, it’s also possible to access your storage space through WebDAV. Here’s how to do it on Ubuntu Linux, though any GNOME-based distro should work the same way.

First, go to the Places menu → click Connect to Server. In the window that spawns, change the Service Type to WebDAV (HTTP).

Enter the following information:

• Server: box.net
• Folder: /dav
• Check the Add bookmark box (so you don’t have to go through this process later)
• User Name: (optional) enter your Box.net e-mail address
• Bookmark name: anything you prefer

Click the Connect button, then enter your login credentials in the next window.

I suggest choosing the Remember forever option, unless you are on a shared computer. Voila! You should now have read/write access to your Box.net storage space from within Nautilus. Go ahead and try adding or deleting files.

Quick tip: You can also directly edit files on the Box.net server. In the screenshot below, I’m using OpenOffice on Ubuntu to open a document stored in my Box account.

The only quirk is that OpenOffice spawned a window asking me to provide login credentials again, but after that, it’s just like editing a document directly on your computer (albeit slower).

Tested on Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy Heron.”

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Get Access to Box.net Storage from Ubuntu in Seconds

Along comes MyBloop, a free online service that offers supposedly unlimited file storage. According to their FAQ, there are absolutely no limits on storage, bandwidth, or the number of files you can store. Eat your heart out, XDrive.

Let’s take a look at some of MyBloop’s features:

• Unlimited Storage
• File upload limit – one gigabyte
• Multiple file uploading and downloading
• Nothing required to install
• File organization – create your own folder hierarchy
• Ability to delete, rename, and mark files as private
• Ability to stream certain file types (MP3, FLV, WMA, WMV)
• File sharing, searching, social networking, and more!
• All for FREE

Uploading

MyBloop currently offers two ways to upload files – either through their web-based interface or via their open-source Blooploader utility. Uploaded files are limited to one gigabyte, though supposedly this limit will be removed if you purchase one of their upcoming Pro accounts.

I’ve stuck to the Flash interface, which is really slick.

Even within the web interface, you can queue multiple files for upload. You can also select to send each file to a specified directory.

All uploaded files are shared publicly by default. However, you may opt to make a file private either upon upload or at any other point by editing its attributes from within the file manager. Note: I found that I was only able to change sharing attributes through their older HTML interface. Since the MyBloop team is still developing features, perhaps this is an issue they will address soon. Or maybe I just missed something!

Downloading

MyBloop also aims to be one of the premiere sources for finding shared content on the Web. To that extent, they have implemented searching and social networking within the site. You don’t even have to be a member of MyBloop to search their stockpile of amassed content. Try it now: go to the MyBloop homepage and search for whatever you like. Downloading, streaming, and linking are all encouraged, even for non-members. Which brings me to my next point….

Not ALL file types are allowed for direct download (by other users). At present, music files can only be streamed, not downloaded (for legal reasons). Still, the MyBloop Player is pretty capable, including playback controls, shuffle, repeat, and volume manipulation. It even handles playlists. Here I am listening to some streaming Mozart:

Just for the record, I’ll quietly observe that lesser-known audio formats (such as OGG) are not recognized as music, and are thus available for direct download.

MyBloop aims to be a one-stop shop for all your file hosting and sharing needs. I must say, they do a pretty fine job. Since I started using their service, I’ve begun to rely on them more and more. I only hope that they withstand the test of time.

Considering that they’ve been around since 2005 (BETA), and had their initial release in 2007, I’d say they’re off to a good start. The future is still uncertain, and no one knows what features will be added (or removed) by the upcoming Pro accounts.

Interested in more about MyBloop? Check out this video. It should tell you everything you need to know in 5 minutes.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Good luck, and happy uploading!

Note: MyBloop is currently only available in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. More countries should be granted access soon.

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MyBloop.com – Unlimited Storage and Bandwidth (Online Storage Series)

At long last, I have found the online storage solution of my dreams. Dropbox is a service (currently in public beta) that not only seamlessly backs up your data, but can also sync it across multiple computers. Best of all, it all happens without you having to lift a finger.

Why am I so excited about Dropbox? First of all, I classify online storage into a few different categories:

• Simple online storage (such Box.net, xdrive, or the similarly-named Dropboks)
• Automated backup (such as Mozy)
• Remote Sync (such as Foldershare)

All three types of services have their uses, and Dropbox tickles my fancy (am I allowed to say that?) because it handles all three types with aplomb. To make it even better, Dropbox works on both Windows and Mac systems, and a Linux client is currently in alpha.

Usage

Get this – actually using Dropbox takes almost no effort on your part. Once you install the Dropbox client, it creates a My Dropbox folder inside your Documents. Any files or folders that you put inside the My Dropbox folder will first upload to the Dropbox service and then sync across to any other computers that you have linked. The green check mark next to a folder or file means that it has been successfully uploaded and synced.

Delete a file on one computer, and it will be deleted first on Dropbox and then on the other linked computers. This is an incredible way to not only make sure your files are continuously backed up, but to also make sure you always have the latest version of your files across multiple computers. Imagine taking your laptop to a coffee shop to get some work done, and when you return home, ALL the data you modified is available on your desktop computer. Nice! No more e-mailing files or dumping everything onto a flash drive.

Even if you only have a single-computer setup, Dropbox is still an effortless way to keep your data backed up.

For those worried about security, Dropbox currently uses the Amazon S3 service to store files. All files are encrypted with AES-256 and all communication occurs over SSL.

Other Features

In addition to being an all-encompassing storage and sync solution, Dropbox has other tricks up its sleeve. For starters, there’s a versioning system for keeping track of changes to a file (or grabbing an earlier version in case of an emergency). There’s also a nifty web interface, a photo gallery, file sharing capabilities, and more! Don’t just take my word for it – check out the screen cast below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you can’t tell, Dropbox is undoubtedly my favorite online storage service, not only for its features, but for its sheer simplicity. It’s a service that I have no trouble recommending to others.

Dropbox Invitations!

As I mentioned, Dropbox is currently in beta and requires an invitation. Their beta service provides 2 GB of free storage, and beta users will have slightly more storage capacity than the regular free amount once they drop beta status. So, act now!

TipsFor.us currently has 0 invitations available. Simply post a comment below and we will e-mail you an invitation. First come, first serve! All invitations are gone, folks. Sorry. You can always join the waiting list for the beta. If we receive more invitations, this post will be updated.

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Dropbox: Mini-Review and Invitations (Online Storage Series)

Remote Drive Mapping

Most online storage services are web based, meaning that you must access them through a browser. By contrast, who.hasfiles allows you to map your storage space as a remote drive from within your operating system. You don’t have to install anything. Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X are all supported.

There are specific instructions for each operating system on the who.hasfiles website. Since I run all three major operating systems in my household, I’ve been able to test accessing my storage space from all three platforms. It works.

Windows users can use a nifty instant mapper application to quickly set up access to your 100 MB. The application requires no install and can be deleted afterward.

Usage

Because who.hasfiles integrates directly into your desktop, it also offers the ability to edit and save files directly on the remote server. Need to do some quick editing to an OpenOffice document or spreadsheet? Open the file directly from your mapped storage space! There’s no need to copy the file(s) directly to your hard drive, edit, and then re-upload them. Nice!

Because only 100 MB is available for free, don’t expect to upload much of your MP3 and movie collection, though there are paid upgrades available ($1 per gigabyte per month)*. Here are a few uses that I’ve found for who.hasfiles:

• keep an updated copy of your bookmarks handy
• store a KeePass database that you can easily access from any computer
• backing up important documents
• quick-and-dirty file sharing between computers

While who.hasfiles focuses on simply storing files, not embedding them into blogs and sharing them with the world, they DO offer a basic sharing service between members.

Of course, I’d love to see who.hasfiles offer more than 100 MB for free, but considering the easy integration into the desktop from any major operating system, I can’t complain about the stingy amount of space. For now, I just treat it like a glorified floppy drive (remember those?), or maybe like a networked USB flash drive from 2001.

*Note: in addition to increased space, encrypted access to the storage space is part of the paid plan.

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Free 100 MB Remote Drive – Who.hasfiles (Online Storage Series)