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Ask OnSoftware: Store your files on the Web

Elena Santos

Elena Santos

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The Web provides you with lots to do: you can follow the news worldwide in real time, listen to your favorite music, enjoy online videos, chat with people on the other side of the globe and learn about hundreds of different subjects, among other things. But there is more to the Internet than just using it for fun. You can, for example, use it as a hard drive to store your files, either for private use or to share them with other people. This is precisely what Nelson asked us about in his email to ask@onsoftware.com:

Dear Sir,

I’d like to know if there is any way (I’m sure there is) to create a free online space where I can store my files (books, videos, audiobooks, pictures, music, etc.) so that I can share them with other people and let my family and friends on the other side of the pond download them with just a couple of clicks – perfect for people without extensive technical skills. Is there anything similar to that? If so, what’s its name, and where can I find it?

Thanks in advance,

Nelson Tobon L.

There are actually dozens of websites that offer storage services for your files. In fact we’ve already written a couple of posts about them. You can find free hosting services with basic functionality, fee-based services with advanced tools, and even storage solutions specializing in a certain kind of content, such as music files or documents. Let’s take a deeper look:

Multipurpose hosting services

First of all, we have a bunch of websites that allow you to upload any kind of file and download it by using an encrypted URL. Rapidshare, Megaupload and Hotshare are just some of the most popular ones. Most of these services offer both a free, slightly crippled version and a paid, full-featured version.

Store your files on the Web

Here at Softonic we also have software tools that have been especially developed to upload files to those file storing services, such as File & Image Uploader.

Image hosting

If what you need to store online is photos, the best option is probably to upload them to Flickr or Picasa, where you can create personal photo galleries and share them with other people. Both services require free registration.

Store your files on the Web

There are also some photo storing services that work great for single images, such as ImageShack or ImageFlux, as well as special software tools that help you upload images to the Web and create custom online image galleries, like Picasa and Jalbum.

Hosting for music and video files

Want to store and share music online? There are several specialized services such as goear, Boomp3, Muziboo and MusicUploader. For the creative crowd, Jamendo is the right place to start your musical career, as well as a great source of music with Creative Commons license.

Store your files on the Web

As for video, YouTube is obviously the number one option, though there are also other popular video hosting services like  Megavideo and Vimeo.

Storing documents, books and presentations

Finally, for those who need to store documents online, Scribd provides them with a handy highly-functional platform to share PDF files, presentations and all sorts of text files. Plus it features a structured menu which you can browse according to topics. Online suites like Zoho and Google Docs also let us create documents online and share them with other people.

Store your files on the Web

Keep on sending all your problems, questions and doubts to ask@onsoftware.com so that we can provide handy solutions for you and the rest of the OnSoftware readers.

Elena Santos

Elena Santos

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