I asked a question about hosted links on the last entry here as follows:
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Okay, so having tried the mover I have some questions.
It asks me to set a date for when I want my files moved. Why?
My guess is all the old links to my MediaMax hosted files will die. Is that correct John Hood?
Do we have to trawl the internet changing the http://www.mediamax.com/ URL to the http://www.thelinkup.com/ URL?
If not, then why does the date matter?
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The response from John Hood was:
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it's just a date to schedule your transfer. that's it. your links will be fine. the exception would be imbedded links which we eventually won't support since we're discontinuing download limits.
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I wasn't sure what 'imbedded links' meant, but was pleased to hear the http://www.mediamax.com/ URLs would continue to work.
Except it seems they won't.
This is from a later posting from John Hood:
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Hosted Files. We will support existing MediaMax hosted links through Dec 31, 2008. For example, a file that is hosted at: [no link appears in John's comment, but I guess this means the mediamax.com URL]
If people need more time (beyond Dec 2008) to update links to the new "thelinkup.com" URL, we will consider extending this deadline near the end of the year. But please start using the new www.thelinkup.com URL as soon as possible.
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So my fear is justified. Hosted mediamax links WILL DIE at the end of the year. So if, like me, you subscribed to mediamax to link to hosted mp3s then beware.
Is that right John?
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Moving over to Linkup - watch out non-paying users you could lose your files
Thanks to everyone, and in particular WillTRiker, for keeping this blog going.
Great to see John Hood is a regular poster, responding to people's concerns here. Nice to get requests from you for adding links to help people using the blog, but may I suggest MediaMax looks to its own blog (comments still disabled) and poor communications at the same time.
Which is the issue that prompts me to come back today. I follow what's going on as comments are posted and hear that many people have not yet received a notification email from MediaMax. Mine has just arrived, so I'm posting it below. Like some people who have commented here, I am concerned that the switch over is to take place next week and I'm only being informed now.
It is an utter disgrace to read that free Mediamax subscribers need to upgrade by 25 April: "Otherwise, your account will be deleted and all your files will be lost."
Hasn't MediaMax learned a thing about the misery it causes when it loses people's files?
Anyway, the latest poll presents some other options, so give your view. For the record, the last poll showed that in January 70% of voters had extreme problems with MediaMax, 16% significant problems, 9% rare problems and 5% no problems.
This is the email I've just received. I'll join in with posting my comments on the switch over here later.
Luzo.
---MediaMax email received 18 April (ie one week before free subscribers will lose all their files)
We have some exciting news to share! We will be launching a major upgrade to MediaMax this month. With this release, we're going to be renaming our service to "The Linkup" (www.thelinkup.com). The Linkup supports all of the current functionality of MediaMax, but also has some exciting new features.
The basic info you need to know:
"The Linkup": MediaMax will be renamed to "The Linkup" on April 25. The new URL will be www.thelinkup.com and we're expecting that you'll love the new service and features. You can check out a preview now at:
http://www.thelinkup.com/
Current subscribers: If you are currently a paying subscriber to MediaMax, you don't need to do anything. Your account will automatically be moved from MediaMax to The Linkup before the end of the month. All files that you uploaded to MediaMax after July 1, 2007 will be automatically moved to The Linkup. If you'd like to move additional files, please select them here using the "mover" tool:
http://www.thelinkup.com/mover
We'll process requests made using this tool once per day through the end of this month. You can use this tool more than once if you forgot some files the first time.
Current non-paying users: If you are not currently a paying subscriber to MediaMax, you need to upgrade your account before April 25 to be included in the move. Otherwise, your account will be deleted and all your files will be lost. Click here to upgrade your MediaMax account:
Upgrade now:
http://www.mediamax.com/Brands/MediaMax/home/pricing_plan.aspx
The Linkup Prices: Effective April 25, we will be increasing the prices of all of our premium subscriptions, but, in addition to the increased stability and new features that The Linkup provides, we are also removing bandwidth limits on all accounts, so there will be no more bandwidth "overage" charges (for personal, non-commercial use only). For example: $4.95/mo subscribers will now be paying $5.95/mo; $9.95/mo subscribers will now be paying $11.95/mo. Your MediaMax subscription will be automatically moved to a The Linkup subscription that is closest to what you currently pay. Additional subscription details will be available on The Linkup web site.
That's it! If you're currently a paying subscriber, there is nothing for you to do (except for selecting extra files that you'd like to have moved). For additional information please visit our blog: http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/
Thanks for reading, and we're looking forward to having you at The Linkup!
MediaMax & The Linkup Support Team
support@mediamax.com
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Great to see John Hood is a regular poster, responding to people's concerns here. Nice to get requests from you for adding links to help people using the blog, but may I suggest MediaMax looks to its own blog (comments still disabled) and poor communications at the same time.
Which is the issue that prompts me to come back today. I follow what's going on as comments are posted and hear that many people have not yet received a notification email from MediaMax. Mine has just arrived, so I'm posting it below. Like some people who have commented here, I am concerned that the switch over is to take place next week and I'm only being informed now.
It is an utter disgrace to read that free Mediamax subscribers need to upgrade by 25 April: "Otherwise, your account will be deleted and all your files will be lost."
Hasn't MediaMax learned a thing about the misery it causes when it loses people's files?
Anyway, the latest poll presents some other options, so give your view. For the record, the last poll showed that in January 70% of voters had extreme problems with MediaMax, 16% significant problems, 9% rare problems and 5% no problems.
This is the email I've just received. I'll join in with posting my comments on the switch over here later.
Luzo.
---MediaMax email received 18 April (ie one week before free subscribers will lose all their files)
We have some exciting news to share! We will be launching a major upgrade to MediaMax this month. With this release, we're going to be renaming our service to "The Linkup" (www.thelinkup.com). The Linkup supports all of the current functionality of MediaMax, but also has some exciting new features.
The basic info you need to know:
"The Linkup": MediaMax will be renamed to "The Linkup" on April 25. The new URL will be www.thelinkup.com and we're expecting that you'll love the new service and features. You can check out a preview now at:
http://www.thelinkup.com/
Current subscribers: If you are currently a paying subscriber to MediaMax, you don't need to do anything. Your account will automatically be moved from MediaMax to The Linkup before the end of the month. All files that you uploaded to MediaMax after July 1, 2007 will be automatically moved to The Linkup. If you'd like to move additional files, please select them here using the "mover" tool:
http://www.thelinkup.com/mover
We'll process requests made using this tool once per day through the end of this month. You can use this tool more than once if you forgot some files the first time.
Current non-paying users: If you are not currently a paying subscriber to MediaMax, you need to upgrade your account before April 25 to be included in the move. Otherwise, your account will be deleted and all your files will be lost. Click here to upgrade your MediaMax account:
Upgrade now:
http://www.mediamax.com/Brands/MediaMax/home/pricing_plan.aspx
The Linkup Prices: Effective April 25, we will be increasing the prices of all of our premium subscriptions, but, in addition to the increased stability and new features that The Linkup provides, we are also removing bandwidth limits on all accounts, so there will be no more bandwidth "overage" charges (for personal, non-commercial use only). For example: $4.95/mo subscribers will now be paying $5.95/mo; $9.95/mo subscribers will now be paying $11.95/mo. Your MediaMax subscription will be automatically moved to a The Linkup subscription that is closest to what you currently pay. Additional subscription details will be available on The Linkup web site.
That's it! If you're currently a paying subscriber, there is nothing for you to do (except for selecting extra files that you'd like to have moved). For additional information please visit our blog: http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/
Thanks for reading, and we're looking forward to having you at The Linkup!
MediaMax & The Linkup Support Team
support@mediamax.com
---
Saturday, April 12, 2008
MediaMax is dead, long live TLU
Late to the party, but I'm probably not the only one that missed the announcement of MediaMax that V6, which is called The Link Up, will go live on april 25 at which time V5 will be discontinued and news like that deserves it's own topic.
I and others have been, and still are betatesting TLU and I will admit that, so far, it has been very stable. If it remains this way will become clear on 25 april I guess. Personally speaking, I'm a little worried and think we're a little to early. For one thing, a key element, the sharing part, isn't really working as it should at the moment, but I assume that can be fixed before the 25th. More dissapointing to me is that a couple of features that either we have even in V5 or that were talked about in the demo that was shown last year are not present (yet) in TLU. Now I know that it is not to be expected that every wish we had for the new system will be granted in the first release but that's not what I'm expecting. A few things though I had hoped to see in the first public release and frankly, if that takes another month of coding / betatesting, MM should have taken this month. After all, some people have been waiting for a fix since octobre 2006 so what's one more month and wouldn't it be better if you had your first release with a bit more bells and whistles?
There is also confusion about what kind of grandfathered rights we're going to take with us from V5 to TLU to which MM needs to make a clear and proper statement as to what kind of rights our accounts have after april 25.
Unrest also about MMs plan to convert only files that have been uploaded after july 1, 2007 and give people a tool so that they can decide which (if any) older files they also want to convert. I understand MM wants to take this opportunity to see if they can clear some dead weight from their database, but I'm a little worried on how well the auto conversion and this tool will work, because lets face it, MM and conversions haven't been exactly on good standing over the years. As Shamana in the previous thread already pointed out most people will have files and folders of mixed dates lumped together and usually in an organised structure. Will that structure be preserved or will we find one giant lump of files in our new TLU account for us take sort out from scratch again? Also what about certain structures that don't exist in TLU (for instance there is no more inbox and saved attachement folders). Files that currently reside there, often out of neccesity because of V5 bugs, what will happen to them?
I also understand people that use MediaMax as a backup / archive and just want to get all their files converted no matter if they are dormant or not. The purpose of an archive IS to provide backup in case you loose something so even when the tool that we are to get can still get every (working) file over to TLU it's still somewhat vexing that we have to be put through this. Like I said, I understand MM wanting to try and clear up their database, but I'd like to get some good answers on the questions above and sure hope MM really has this down to the numbers, because I see a huge potential for some major catastrophes here and like this is not something they can afford again.
I'm hoping John Hood / Steve Iverson will adress our concerns and will manage to amaze us with a conversion that does NOT look a traffic accident like we experienced in the past. Time will tell.
Speaking about telling. Since this is major news for all current MM account holders (freeloader or not) I'm somewhat amazed that a public notification hasn't been send to all accounts about this. Especially for people that have turned freeloader awaiting better times MMs upcoming conversion plan can have drastic and unwanted effects and some early warning for them probably is a good idea.
Constructive critism, thoughts and suggestions are welcomed.
I and others have been, and still are betatesting TLU and I will admit that, so far, it has been very stable. If it remains this way will become clear on 25 april I guess. Personally speaking, I'm a little worried and think we're a little to early. For one thing, a key element, the sharing part, isn't really working as it should at the moment, but I assume that can be fixed before the 25th. More dissapointing to me is that a couple of features that either we have even in V5 or that were talked about in the demo that was shown last year are not present (yet) in TLU. Now I know that it is not to be expected that every wish we had for the new system will be granted in the first release but that's not what I'm expecting. A few things though I had hoped to see in the first public release and frankly, if that takes another month of coding / betatesting, MM should have taken this month. After all, some people have been waiting for a fix since octobre 2006 so what's one more month and wouldn't it be better if you had your first release with a bit more bells and whistles?
There is also confusion about what kind of grandfathered rights we're going to take with us from V5 to TLU to which MM needs to make a clear and proper statement as to what kind of rights our accounts have after april 25.
Unrest also about MMs plan to convert only files that have been uploaded after july 1, 2007 and give people a tool so that they can decide which (if any) older files they also want to convert. I understand MM wants to take this opportunity to see if they can clear some dead weight from their database, but I'm a little worried on how well the auto conversion and this tool will work, because lets face it, MM and conversions haven't been exactly on good standing over the years. As Shamana in the previous thread already pointed out most people will have files and folders of mixed dates lumped together and usually in an organised structure. Will that structure be preserved or will we find one giant lump of files in our new TLU account for us take sort out from scratch again? Also what about certain structures that don't exist in TLU (for instance there is no more inbox and saved attachement folders). Files that currently reside there, often out of neccesity because of V5 bugs, what will happen to them?
I also understand people that use MediaMax as a backup / archive and just want to get all their files converted no matter if they are dormant or not. The purpose of an archive IS to provide backup in case you loose something so even when the tool that we are to get can still get every (working) file over to TLU it's still somewhat vexing that we have to be put through this. Like I said, I understand MM wanting to try and clear up their database, but I'd like to get some good answers on the questions above and sure hope MM really has this down to the numbers, because I see a huge potential for some major catastrophes here and like this is not something they can afford again.
I'm hoping John Hood / Steve Iverson will adress our concerns and will manage to amaze us with a conversion that does NOT look a traffic accident like we experienced in the past. Time will tell.
Speaking about telling. Since this is major news for all current MM account holders (freeloader or not) I'm somewhat amazed that a public notification hasn't been send to all accounts about this. Especially for people that have turned freeloader awaiting better times MMs upcoming conversion plan can have drastic and unwanted effects and some early warning for them probably is a good idea.
Constructive critism, thoughts and suggestions are welcomed.
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