SIZE MATTERS - Don't Make Your Download So BIG!

[Gary Killops]

If you are seling a downloadable product be it an eBook, PLR product, video, or whatever size does matter when it comes to downloading.

Break it up, split that one BIG zip file into smaller files!

I am posting this out of frustration I guess. I am a customer of a PLR membership where this months download zip file is 250 MEG. Problem is that I am having a hell of a time downloading that file and have made many unsuccessful attempts over the past 24 hours. I begin the download, and somewhere between 150 - 180 megs into the download the server decides to not respond and I have to start the download over.

Yes I have tried a download manager but when the file stops downloading for some reason the server will not pick up the download where it left off.

There is an easy solution here. Break that 250 meg zip up into smaller zip files. It's that simple.

Please keep this in mind if you have a large downloadable product.

There ... rant over.

Gary Killops

[globalpro]

Gary,

Excellent suggestion. People also forget, as hard as it may be to believe, that some are still on dial-up. Makes it even worse.

Also, with the download manager/accelarators, I get people complaining on some of the sites I manage that they get corrupted zip files after download. Not sure why.

Thanks,

John

[FifthDimension5]

Download manager can work only if the server side supports resumable download feature, I guess. In any case, this is a good suggestion, because any sufficiently large file needs to be broken into several smaller chunks for ease of downloading.

[Gary Killops]

Originally Posted by FifthDimension5

Download manager can work only if the server side supports resumable download feature, I guess. In any case, this is a good suggestion, because any sufficiently large file needs to be broken into several smaller chunks for ease of downloading.

That may be why the resume download feature didn't work for me.

So frustrating getting done 3/4 of the download only to have to start all over again.

Argh!!!

Gary

[Paul Hancox]

One of my products is nearly a 2 GIG download! I have already broken it down into smaller units of (only... lol) a couple of hundred MEGS each... but I haven't broken it down further because I didn't want my customers to get bored of the whole downloading process in the first place.

But I appreciate exactly what you're saying. I may have to provide a couple of options... ONE for people who don't mind and prefer downloading bigger files, and ANOTHER for people who want smaller files.

[charlesburke]

I agree wholeheartedly. And it's not only collections of files.

Recently I was downloading one single MP3 file that was about 250 Mbytes. I live in Thailand, where the broadband is not only surprisingly narrow, but the connections often randomly disconnect a few times an hour. After several tries, I finally managed to get the file downloaded, only to discover that it had been saved at 128 kilobits per second. Folks that's near-CD quality, which is certainly not needed for recording a phone interview.

For the heck of it I re-saved that file at 40 kbps, which dropped it down to about 16 Mbytes. And since the recording was of a phone conversation, I honestly couldn't hear much difference.

So if you're posting sound files, please consider reducing that file size down. Why burn up your site's bandwidth unnecessarily? And why make the folks who are on slower lines struggle to get your product, your giveaway, or your video. After all, you make it too hard, we might just say to heck with you and go elsewhere - someplace where they're a little more considerate of us slow pokes.

Cheers from warm and smiling Thailand,
Charles

[xwishmasterx]

I see the problem when a download fails, and you have to start all over. But personally I hate having to download and extract/unzip several files. I guess it depends on the connection stability and speed.

[Gary Killops]

Originally Posted by xwishmasterx

I see the problem when a download fails, and you have to start all over. But personally I hate having to download and extract/unzip several files. I guess it depends on the connection stability and speed.

Doesn't need to be an issue.

You can create one big zip file and then break it down into smaller parts so that only 1 click is needed to open all of the files.

Kind of like this:

part1.zip
part2.zip
part3.zip
part4.zip

All you need to do is to click on part1.zip to begin the extraction, once that is done it automatically moves onto part2.zip and continues with each file until all files are unzipped.

Gary

[Shana_Adam]

I absolutely agree. It is very very frustrating for anyone to be spending time on a download that crashes.

Also not every one has super high speed internet connection. A customer from maybe a remote village will have limited access.

Breaking it up is also great for people who are doing mobile computing on the go. they can download bits at a time.

Also having multiple download locations is great to. Sometimes the file storage location may experience heavy traffic.