File Sharing Facilitation: Mediafire

For individuals working on a collaborative project from remote locations, solving the problem of file-sharing is not an easy one. For large organizations with high-level security needs,owth of online applications challenging the paradigm of local networks and desktop applications has us rethinking the necessity of investing in expensive hosting solutions that tax limited resources.

For smaller organization with less rigorous security demands and limited resources to invest in expensive hosting solutions, free online hosting services (e.g. Rapidshare, MediaFire, Sendspace, etc...) provide adequate filesharing services with varying degrees of accessibility.

For our purposes, we focused on MediaFire, as it arguably provides the most intuitive user interface. Unlike some other services, MediaFire allows users to share files with or without setting up a free user account. Setting up an account allows the user to create a persistent archive of files for the user from any computer. Anonymous posting without an account still supports file management, but only on the local computer and only as long as the user does not clear his/her web cache.

Like other services, MediaFire supports file sizes up to 100mb -- an adequate amount for most file sharing. Additionally, unlike other services that only support a limited list of file types (e.g. .zip, .mp3, .rar) MediaFire supports any file type as long as it is under 100mb. Uploaded files may be marked public or private with password protection.

The user interface is probably the strongest element of MediaFire. From the front page users are invited to browse their local drive to upload files (up to 10 files at a time). Once the file(s) is/are selected, a user clicks the easily identifiable "Upload File(s) to MediaFire."
















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At this point, MediaFire shines. The interface provides immediate user feedback that identifies both the upload progress and then the verification process.











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Following a successful upload, the user is able to copy the persistent link directly to the local computer's clipboard, email the link to a friend, or save to a del.icio.us networked bookmarking account.












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I have used a number of filesharing services, and I have yet to identify any major drawbacks from an HCI perspective to the services MediaFire offers. Some individuals have reported problems with the files timing out at the verification stages, but these issues are likely more a result of internet connectivity issues and not the server-side technology.