Disney Downloads Disapearing due to Bombastic Bandwidth Blues?

[Club 33]

My website Carousel of Magic is currently alloted 20 Gigs of bandwidth a month. Until the site opens, I can't really be sure how much of that will be used. I am fully expecting the unexpected there though.

It seems lots of sites, particularly Disney themed sites, it seems, have had major bandwidth problems: The Disneyland Source (forced to close because of bandwidth issues; later reopened as Visions Fantastic), 1313 South Harbor Blvd (still open, but has been down for weeks at a time to due bandwidth problems), MiceChat (forced to move servers twice due to growing bandwidth usage and costs). And then there's the sites that have simply disappeared without a trace: Tower-of-Terror.com, D-Troops.com, SaveDisney.com (although they were forced to close due to their deal with Disney, and everybody knew this).

I guess my point is, it's tough for Disney sites out there. It's been my experience that most Disneys sites typically have on average one major redesign every one or two years, and I'm noticing that many sites are starting to shy away from downloadable content. The Disneyland Source closed due to bandwidth issues, and then reopened later as Visions Fantastic. After more bandwidth issues, the site went through a redesign and you now must register to view most of their content. They also recently discontinued all audio downloads on the site, now only live recordings of the park are offered.

UABMagic, which just opened, is an entire site centered around a Disney-themed radio station. The coolest part of this site is that it allows you to actually request songs to be played on the station, all automated. However, the site has had to sacrifice some in order to be DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) compliant. All requests are delayed at least one hour before being played, again in order to be DMCA compliant, and the site features many anti-piracy features so as to prevent any of the material from being downloaded.

I've got a project on the drawing board which I won't detail at the moment, it will be a Disney themed site which will offer lots of multimedia themed content. While none of the content will actually be available for download, I'm still woried to death about bandwidth.

Bandwidth, where art thou?

[HitchhikingGhost]

1313 South Harbor Blvd Is Not Down Due To Bandwidth Issues Now !

Gary

[drnilescrane]

http://www.1313southharborblvd.com/

Now it's down because somebody expected they would automaticaly get donations. That's not how the internet works... Either you make it so they have to pay or they wont.

[HitchhikingGhost]

well thats not the case ... there was a button and a suggestion ... it was always a free site and bills were small until i hit a bandwidth barrier that could not be facilitated and i was shut down by my isp several times ... so to cure this problem i moved to a dedicated server... with PROMISES of Support... that never happened ... from what i understand from MANY other site owners... it's not the cost itself... or the bandwidth ... its the freeloading ... i was told at one point by 2 owners of VERY LARGE Sites to charge for membership ... but going on peoples word I didnt... and this stuff was intended to be FREE... so its not just me... it is many other sites too ... if there were some good sponsors ... many of these sites would be able to stop REMINDING people to donate... If This Would Happen there wouldnt be a SHORTAGE OF BANDWIDTH... i am working to resolve this issue... on my own
so lets get the story straight... please ... also FORCING People to pay isnt cool... Not too Many of Us Are Doing that ... The Disney Community is supposed to be a HAPPY Place... I Am Trying to keep my site alive with out DISCORD!



Gary

[Morrigoon]

We know all about bandwidth issues.

Perhaps your solution is to offer just one or two "teaser" downloads a month for free, but request memberships for access to the rest of them? I know in order to offer additional, high-bandwidth content here, we had to make the new stuff part of MC gold, as it was the only way to cover the bandwidth usage.

Aside: Also, when discussing your own websites, please put the thread in Community Outpost (I'll move this one for ya )

[drnilescrane]

It's still here

I do that all the time on my site - Declare the thread is closed then leave it open.