Hotfile.com filesharing site shut down

All Hotfile download links are gone

Well, it was only a matter of time, I guess, but now Hotfile.com has been completely shutdown for 'violation of copyright laws', and thus all the files stored there went with it. Actually, I've been somewhat expecting this for awhile, it is surprising that it has lasted this long, but I had kept my files there just because I did not have a good alternative. What this means for the blog is that, for the most part, all the mp3 file download links are dead and gone (around 300 or so files). So, for the third time in the blog's history (first-megaupload, second-mediafire, now-hotfile), most of the file links have gone dead again. And probably not surprisingly, it seemed to happen (once again) after I had finally fully restored all the links from previous shutdowns. However, this time, it is not ALL of the links, as virtually all of the FLAC links (which are mostly on Mega and some on Depositfiles) are still active and working, as well as some mp3 files that are on Depositfiles. So, fortunately, it is not everything that is gone. Now, however, comes the burdensome task of re-uploading, or deciding what will or won't be re-upped to a new filesharing site. Compounding this is the problem that there are no really desirable (or stable) alternatives for filesharing any more. But, I do plan on continuing the blog, adding new posts, and probably restoring as much as possible of the old links, if possible, but it will be a slow process, a little at a time. As I said, I'm actually surprised things have lasted this long. It has been almost 2 years since the first big megaupload shutdown, and about a year and half since the mediafire suspension. So, actually, we've had a pretty good run since then with no real problems. So, I will carry on as best I can from here. I will try to get some of the most recent posts back up very soon (probably on depositfiles or mega), and then will slowly update older posts as I can.

Biggest problem now is that I am not happy with any of the (free) hosting services. Mega has worked fine so far, but I cannot get any data regarding # of downloads, which I need to see just what is being downloaded or not (a measure of whether people are getting anything out of this blog). Depositfiles is a bit slow and has waiting periods between downloads. I have been impressed so far with zippyshare from other sites that use it, but it has a 200 MB size limit (and I would need to divide-up most of my already prepared rar files). But I will probably start using zippyshare for smaller shows and files. I refuse to even consider rapidshare or filefactory, as they have been notoriously awful to their users. Most of the others I have experienced (rapidgator, turbobit, uploaded, etc.) all have some serious problems, ranging from outrageous ad gauntlets, download limits, or speed or connection problems. So, any suggestions for or good experiences with filesharing services would be appreciated as I move forward.

UPDATED UPDATE (12/10/2013): I have now just about completed fixing the hotfile links for all of the 2013 posts (updated/replaced with new working links using Depositfiles and Zippyshare), as well as the Christmas-related posts, and some of the most popular posts from earlier. I will continue to update others as I have time. Thanks for your patience, consideration, and continued support of the blog.

UPDATING THE UPDATED UPDATE (12/24/2013): Have now gotten virtually all of the 2013, 2012, and 2011 posts updated and resurrected. From here on, I'll probably get to them them more on a band by band basis, rather than chronoliogiaclly, but we'll see how it goes. Overall, it has been much easier this time, because I now have all (well most) of the rar files prepared and ready to go on an archived external hard. So, the re-upping has gone much smoother so far (still a pain to go through this all over again, though). So, have patience and I just might get through this by 2014. Thanks.