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
---

Version six delayed - 84% of voters with significant or extreme problems with Mediamax

There is a posting on the last blog entry here from John Hood of Mediamax, stating:

---quote begins
We've had a huge uptick in uploading recently which has taxed our resources. This situation will be alleviated with v6.
beta testing has been delayed until the UI is finished. we want to create a quality product and think that's more important than rushing something out which is what happened with v5. I think we can all agree that was an unfortunate decision as we've said before. Having said that, we should be releasing the api shortly.

Thanks for your patience.
---quote ends

I've missed updating the voting figures.

The response to the question "How do you rate the Mediamax service in December 2007?" was:

A: No problems : 4 votes (10.5%)

B: Rare problems : 6 votes (15.8%)
(within tolerable levels)

C: Significant problems : 10 votes (26.3%)
(difficult to tolerate)

D: Extreme problems : 18 votes (47.4%)
(causing severe difficulties)

There were just 39 votes in this round and I didn't manage to set things up for January voting.

It seems we are all a bit tired of the situation with Mediamax.

If anyone would like posting rights for this blog to keep people informed of experiences with version 6, please let me know.

75% of users who voted had significant or extreme problems - things are improving!

Things have been going a bit quieter here recently.

The poll on how you found the service in November 2007 received only 48 votes.

The breakdown was:

A: No problems : 5 votes (10.4%)

B: Rare problems : 7 votes (14.6%)
(within tolerable levels)

C: Significant problems : 12 votes (25.0%)
(difficult to tolerate)

D: Extreme problems : 24 votes (50.0%)
(causing severe difficulties)


So how is the service performing in December? Polling is now open and will run for a week into January.

Over 70% of Mediamax users who voted here had extreme problems with the service in October 2007

The poll of Mediamax users on this blog for system performance in October 2007 found 70% saying they experienced extreme problems, with just 5% saying they experienced no problems.

The Mediamax website continues to advertise it as a reliable back up service. Beware.

Here are the figures (total votes 121):

A: No problems : 6 vote (4.96%)

B: Rare problems : 5 votes (4.13%)
(within tolerable levels)

C: Significant problems : 25 votes (20.66%)
(difficult to tolerate)

D: Extreme problems : 85 votes (70.25%)
(causing severe difficulties)

As a graph:


So how is the service performing in November? Polling is now open and will run for a week into December.

There is now a Mediamax users club on the Yuwie social networking site. Yuwie has the functionality of other social networking sites, but users get a cut of advertising revenue - so sharing information with other Mediamax users will pay you!

Click here to join Yuwie if you are not already a member and find the club there.

Poll shows Mediamax had severe problems in September 2007

The results of the poll of Mediamax users on the service in September 2007 has now closed (it ran a week into October).

They show that over half of the 58 voters find severe problems with the service. As Mediamax has not responded to the request for service status information on the site, I guess this provides us with a good indication (also see the file availability postings).

Here are the figures (bloggers rounding calculation means the percentages don't add up to 100%):

A: No problems : 1 vote (1%)

B: Rare problems : 6 votes (10%)
(within tolerable levels)

C: Significant problems : 20 votes (34%)
(difficult to tolerate)

D: Extreme problems : 31 votes (53%)
(causing severe difficulties)

As a graph:


Now it would be cycnical to assume that John Hood is resonsible for the 1 vote for 'no problems' (votes are anonymous). But if there is one satisfied customer out there, I hope it does not make Mediamax complacent!

Voting for the service in October is now open - this is posted a week into October. The poll will run for a week into November.