hosting audio files or limiting access to files - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 05, 2011, 03:26:26 pm
content: I run a website for my local talking newspaper. We produce cassettes with news articles from the local paper read out on them for blind and partially sighted people.As our cassette machinery is failing we have decided to move to memory sticks with MP3 recordings. So naturally it becomes very easy now to upload the MP3 files to the website so that people (possibly blind) can access them and get the latest news or for prospective listeners to find out what we have to offer.Of course no sooner have i uploaded them and our old friend: Bandwidth usage rears it's ugly head. I usually use around 1 GB per month. Now I have used nearly 200MB in these first few (4) days of June. This does not looks good.I am set to move host and will have to place definite limits on this websites bandwidth. My guess is that most of the usage (I will check my stats later) is down to random usage by bots and things downloading the files. Is there anyway to stop this ?Or is there a way of hosting the files elsewhere on some free service ? My only thoughts at the moment are YouTube and embedding them into each weeks post

author: copiertalk
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2011, 03:36:13 pm
content: if its just the search engines place a robots.txt file in that directory with a do not crawl line. Most will follow the dirrective and leave the information alone.you can password them but with members being blind that may cause problems for your members.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 05, 2011, 03:42:11 pm
content: I'll try the text file thing, well the files have been downloaded a number of times, the first of the 6 23 times, but the last only 7. Unfortunately I have only just got statcounter code installed and have either missed the visitors or they are illuding the tracking code. I'll see what i get over the next week.Yes passwording them is a problem, the idea is that they can be played from the website and I can't make them login only accessible as that deters my audience although it is more about showing friends/relative of potential listeners what we do although some of the blind people have web access and can use it.

author: Polossatik
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2011, 04:36:10 pm
content: Have a look at things like dropbox :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_hosting_services(or ubuntu onehttps://one.ubuntu.com/basic/)Some have a free option (check for the ones who allow direct linking) or cost peanuts, so you can then for example set all the "new files" there for a month or so until the big download is overI assume the total amount of diskspace will not that be big, for spoken word 22KHz 32kbps mono mp3 should be more than enough and that will give quite small files or use a codec likehttp://www.speex.org/(but that loses MP3 players of course),you can then (if needed) "archive" them to another hostOr get one of the numerous cheap webhosting plans, for around 10 usd /month you get some good stuff (= not very fast but nice disk space and bandwith = perfect for ftp serving of files)

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 05, 2011, 04:52:41 pm
content: why does the speex codec "loose MP3 players" ?Yes i used 32 Kbps but I'm sure i can take it down to 16 Kbps.The another hosting account solution might not wash longterm. I think most hosts that give "unlimited" bandwidth don't accept "download" websites so I'd get banned soon or be paying hard cash for a high bandwidth usage.In 32Kbps each session is about 18 MB, so yes it soon racks up

author: copiertalk
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2011, 05:23:21 pm
content: Are these on a forum or wordpress or ?Are they just links people can follow or are they embeded in some other way?Is there a way to have the software do a 'nofollow=' or someting with the links if they are links or embeded?Just a couple of things to look at as well as the above suggestions.Good luck with your project !

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 05, 2011, 05:26:16 pm
content: it is a self hosted wordpress website. I upload the files, put link to them in the post and a plugin allows you to play them there and then or download them.www.wdtn.org.uk

author: Bloch
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 05, 2011, 07:48:05 pm
content: Quote from: Simon on June 05, 2011, 04:52:41 pmMy guess is that small handheld MP3 players as in Ipod cant play all codec´s. As an PC can if the prober codec is installed.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 05, 2011, 07:57:31 pm
content: Quote from: Bloch on June 05, 2011, 07:48:05 pmyea I misunderstood and thought it was a specialized mp3 encoder

author: Zad
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2011, 08:25:34 pm
content: If the server supports it, how about putting a .htaccess password file in the folder?http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/htaccess/3

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2011, 09:15:04 pm
content: Could you put them on youtube?

author: orbiter
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2011, 09:34:16 pm
content: How about Mediafire Simon? Using it as a free user you do have an upload limit of 200MB per upload but storage and downloads are unlimited. Files can also be made private.http://www.mediafire.com/

author: DrGeoff
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2011, 10:42:05 pm
content: Quote from: Simon on June 05, 2011, 04:52:41 pmCheck here.www.siteground.com

author: joelby
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2011, 02:41:51 am
content: 50MB/day is *nothing*. If your host bans you over this tiny amount of traffic, change to any other reputable, inexpensive provider. While 'unlimited' hosting will inevitably have some acceptable use clause, it will take several orders of magnitude more than this to cause any problems.

author: PetrosA
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2011, 05:20:03 am
content: If this is just voice, 18 MB sounds huge for file size. I'd tweak the settings a little like mono, VBR vs. CBR, etc. I can get a full music CD in excellent quality into 65 or so megs, so just voice should be way easier to pack to a reasonable size.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 06, 2011, 05:44:05 am
content: Quote from: joelby on June 06, 2011, 02:41:51 amNo I'm not concerned by 50 MB/day. My concern is that after a month this will mount up and this is just one weeks session. I will be putting up a session every week and possibly another every 2 so up to 6 sessions a month. I could easily end up having a lot of usage. I'll look at my stat logs over the month and see who exactly is downloading the files (the area they are from) or if my logs match my bandwidth usage.I will try and drop the kbps. 32 kbps is the lowest the software that the talking newspaper use can achieve, but I'll use audacity and get it down to 8-16 kbps.I have found a new host and they specify that for downloads they will limit it at 25GB per month (but are not concerned about web browsing traffic) but they have pointed me to a free file host service

author: joelby
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2011, 06:10:45 am
content: Fair enough. In that case, my advice is to make sure that you're clear about exactly how much data transfer your host allows and to consider using a content delivery network (perhaps just for the newest/most popular files) once you start getting close to the limits.For example, Amazon S3 will give you 15 GB/month of data transfer, for free for one year. After that, 15 GB/month will cost $2.10/month. MaxCDN will give you 1TB to use within 12 months for $40. If you're just serving a few large static files, these services are very easy to use and because they can be switched on and off, less troublesome than migrating between hosts when forced by account suspension or poor performance.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 06, 2011, 06:43:46 am
content: My host HostMonster has a special on that I think ends today $3.95/month for unlimited bandwidth.http://www.hostmonster.com/As you know, I host TheAmpHour files and also used to host the blog video files directly without problem, and I do several TB/month (yes, TB, not GB) bandwith a month and they have never questioned it.Dave.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 06, 2011, 06:52:03 am
content: yes well I'm looking to go real cheap as this is a charity. I think there might be other services offered for free specifically for talking newspapers but I'll hae to see what they offer. Otherwise we may end up with a YouTube channel all to ourselves

author: Polossatik
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2011, 04:56:59 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on June 06, 2011, 06:43:46 amMost hosting company's have every day the same "one day special that ends today"

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2011, 08:46:02 pm
content: What about bittorrent?Can't you get some of the volunteers to seed every week's session

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 06, 2011, 09:34:33 pm
content: Quote from: Hero999 on June 06, 2011, 08:46:02 pmhow does that work ? bear in mind this needs to be easily accessible for those blind or partially sighted people that do use the internet.I have found a new host and they have suggested a free file hosting service which I'll look into.

author: Sionyn
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2011, 11:49:35 pm
content: amazon amazon cloud service are very cheep.dropbox is a free service and also lets you restrict access to the filesi use strato vps service find them reliable and cheep considering i push about 1TB a month

author: Zad
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2011, 06:51:47 pm
content: Depending on the nature of the load, you could host the files at home. Places like Be/O2 do 2.5Mbit upload uncapped, and I think BT FTTC does 10Mbit. They are fine if the load tends to be distributed, but not if lots of people jump on the download at one time.