Friday, April 18, 2008

BEWARE of Thelinkup file storage service - it was previously known as MediaMax and Streamload

Thelinkup.com file storage service is the latest incarnation of MediaMax, previously known as Streamload.

In the transition from Streamload to MediaMax there were many problems. MediaMax lost many files from its supposedly secure servers.

Non-paying users of MediaMax are being told with about a week's notice that if they do not upgrade their accounts to Linkup accounts, they will be deleted and their files will be lost!

If you are thinking of signing up to Thelinkup as a new customer, my advice is DON'T.

Check out first whether it works by coming to this blog. In the meantime, check out the MediaMax users blog. Many customers have so much material archived on MediaMax they
can't easily switch.

To be fair, when MediaMax works it has good features. When it doesn't work it causes heartbreak (seriously - imagine losing the family photos you had entrusted to a file BACKUP service).

MediaMax customer service sucks too.

So be warned. Take a look at:
http://mediamaxusers.blogspot.com/

In the last poll on that blog in January 2008:

  • 70% of voters had extreme problems with MediaMax,
  • 16% significant problems,
  • 9% rare problems and
  • 5% no problems.

However, if everything works out fine and The Linkup changes resolve all the problems, you will read it here first!

2 comments:

AnthonyG said...

I can't work out if they are going to move shared links from Mediamax. I have thousands of links to files that others have uploaded, and have spent a lot of time in organising them. The latest on the linkup blog is apologetic about the move but vague about links. Do you have any ideas?

Martin said...

My reading of the information released is that existing Mediamax shard links will be redirected to the new TLU links until at least December 2008, with the implication that there will be a further crisis date by which time all existing links will need to be recast into the new TLU format.

This redirection of links was promised with the the botched migration from Streamload to MediaMax and was not delivered, so I have little confidence that this time will be any different.

Of course, TLU does not yet have Shared Links of the MediaMax style where a file will be downloaded directly from the link. The current TLU links come complete with a page of advertising bumph and are in no way equivalent to the MediaMax Shared Links.

This means that anyone who relies on Shared Links to support an existing web site will no longer be able to maintain existing links or add any new links now that MediaMax has been shutdown.

I've said several times already that this move is premature because TLU does not yet deliver at least the functionality of MediaMax, but regretably MediaMax has decided to shoot itself in its one remaining foot and alienate most of its remaining users by forging ahead with yet another poorly executed move to yet another (currently)inferior file sharing system.