7 ms·

Crate is to sharing files, what Dropbox is to storing them.

28 points by g0atbutt 16y ago

tjarratt 16y ago
It's fascinating to me that they're profitable already. I can't imagine it being easy to get users to pay for file sharing.
- eli 16y ago
  I suspect there are more people with largish files they need to send someone, and there's never really been a free/easy way to do that.
  - theli0nheart 16y ago
    Yep, you nailed it. A lot of our paid users use Crate as a replacement for FTP to send large files around the office or their friends.
- sahillavingia 16y ago
  We'll take that as a compliment :)
- Florin_Andrei 16y ago
  corporate accounts
- il 16y ago
  Rapidshare and many of it's clones are highly profitable.
forwardslash 16y ago
Can't you also share files with a url through Dropbox? And get 50GB for $9.99/month?
- pkulak 16y ago
  This seems like it would be easier to get a file from someone else though, since it's 100% web.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- j2d2j2d2 16y ago
  You can share files publicly via a URL or send a dir to someone. I think dropbox's popularity comes, in large part, from people's dissatisfaction in trying to use web services to share files.
- Florin_Andrei 16y ago
  Dropbox temporarily stops the downloads if a link becomes too "popular". I assume Crate would not do that.
  - TillE 16y ago
    I kinda doubt that, for $9/month, Crate wants to act as a CDN for your hugely popular feature-length HD film. I don't see anything about limits in their TOS, but the strong implication is that the service is for sharing with friends, and I don't see any guarantees either. Dropbox is pretty lenient about bandwidth, and I imagine Crate is too.
tfe 16y ago
How does this differ from http://getcloudapp.com/ http://getcloudapp.com/? Genuinely curious.
- zzzmarcus 16y ago
  This is my first time seeing either, but I can tell that if I sent someone a link to Crate and and a link to CloudApp and told them to share a file with me, I'd have to spend a few minutes explaining how Cloud works, how to install it etc. With Crate pretty much anyone should be able to figure it out without hand holding.
- drenei 16y ago
  I haven't tried Crate. I use Cloudapp. I prefer the idea of an app that sits on my menubar — for myself. But for a 1 time solution for someone else, Crate seems like a better solution. It also offers more storage and less limits for a free account.
bdclimber14 16y ago
I really don't understand any advantages of Crate over Dropbox, which also has file sharing through URLs and folder sharing. I asked this question the last time Crate was on HN and got a vague response.
- bdclimber14 16y ago
  I found the original response from the last comment to my question (the response is now dead): * Nothing to download. * Easy to use. * Its the next New Big Thing. Dropbox is incredibly easy to use, and "The next Big Thing" is not an advantage. Not having anything to download is nice, but the side-effect is that everything has to manually be uploaded instead of automated.
  - theli0nheart 16y ago
    The API should be done by the end of this weekend. When that's done you'll be able to upload your files however you'd like, provided that you are willing to write some code :)
    - bdclimber14 16y ago
      I'll be honest, I don't think I could possibly even think of a way to improve the Dropbox workflow. An API is great, but I can't think of what to code that would be better than what's available for free.
  - statictype 16y ago
    but the side-effect is that everything has to manually be uploaded instead of automated. What's the difference between dragging from one folder to another and dragging from one folder into the browser page? Same amount of effort. There's a definite use-case for this type of service. Even if you use Dropbox, there are times when you want to transfer files from someone else's machine and they don't use Dropbox.
    - bdclimber14 16y ago
weaksauce 16y ago
This is a great little site. I know that you are saying that the files will last forever but is there a imgur like deletion that the owner of the file can delete the file after they no longer want it up?
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- sahillavingia 16y ago
  Yup, there is.
pbhjpbhj 16y ago
Something slightly screwy in the workflow for me. I drag and drop and upload (in Kubuntu, from Dolphin to FF4.0b12pre) without a problem but then I'm presented with this page, http://lts.cr/i/7a78c5 http://lts.cr/i/7a78c5. The page shows me an address and a sign up form ... but aren't I trying to share the file, isn't that the raison d'etre? I was expecting the main action then to be emailing, tweeting, facebooking or otherwise sending the link on to whomever I'm sharing the file with. It even says underneath 1-visit, 2-upload, 3-share ... not 3-login. Just seems odd and disruptive to the flow. Apart from that I'm mighty impressed, despite initially thinking (as others have) it has nothing over Dropbox I think that it is something that I'll use. Not sure if I'd pay for it though ...
veidr 16y ago
I work with some nontechnical users who occasionally need help getting too-big-for-email files to somebody. Thinking of them, I tried this out. Dragged a 280MB file onto the big orange box, and got a Mac-style indeterminate progress indicator. OK. Make coffee, check the weather, type this post up to here, and still all I see is the same spinning indeterminate progress indicator. No actual indication of progress, what is happening, or when/if it will be done. I'm pretty sure those users I mentioned would by now have, a.) created another browser window and tried again, b.) clicked on the spinning wheel a few times to try to elicit some kind of feedback from the app, and then c.) closed the windows and given up.
jonpaul 16y ago
Cool. Did you do any kind customer development? Analyze any problems, etc?
trustfundbaby 16y ago
I went to their site at http://letscrate.com http://letscrate.com ... I don't like that I have to drag a file from my folder to the browser to upload it ... doesn't seem like normal workflow .. but it could catch on I guess. Would be really cool if I just clicked and my OS file selector opened up for me to select a file ...
trustfundbaby 16y ago
Do you get a custom url with a paid account?

28 points by g0atbutt 16y ago

It's fascinating to me that they're profitable already. I can't imagine it being easy to get users to pay for file sharing.

eli 16y ago
I suspect there are more people with largish files they need to send someone, and there's never really been a free/easy way to do that.
- theli0nheart 16y ago
  Yep, you nailed it. A lot of our paid users use Crate as a replacement for FTP to send large files around the office or their friends.
sahillavingia 16y ago
We'll take that as a compliment :)
Florin_Andrei 16y ago
corporate accounts
il 16y ago
Rapidshare and many of it's clones are highly profitable.

forwardslash 16y ago

Can't you also share files with a url through Dropbox? And get 50GB for $9.99/month?

pkulak 16y ago
This seems like it would be easier to get a file from someone else though, since it's 100% web.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
j2d2j2d2 16y ago
You can share files publicly via a URL or send a dir to someone. I think dropbox's popularity comes, in large part, from people's dissatisfaction in trying to use web services to share files.
Florin_Andrei 16y ago
Dropbox temporarily stops the downloads if a link becomes too "popular". I assume Crate would not do that.
- TillE 16y ago
  I kinda doubt that, for $9/month, Crate wants to act as a CDN for your hugely popular feature-length HD film. I don't see anything about limits in their TOS, but the strong implication is that the service is for sharing with friends, and I don't see any guarantees either. Dropbox is pretty lenient about bandwidth, and I imagine Crate is too.

tfe 16y ago

How does this differ from http://getcloudapp.com/ http://getcloudapp.com/? Genuinely curious.

zzzmarcus 16y ago
This is my first time seeing either, but I can tell that if I sent someone a link to Crate and and a link to CloudApp and told them to share a file with me, I'd have to spend a few minutes explaining how Cloud works, how to install it etc. With Crate pretty much anyone should be able to figure it out without hand holding.
drenei 16y ago
I haven't tried Crate. I use Cloudapp. I prefer the idea of an app that sits on my menubar — for myself. But for a 1 time solution for someone else, Crate seems like a better solution. It also offers more storage and less limits for a free account.

bdclimber14 16y ago

I really don't understand any advantages of Crate over Dropbox, which also has file sharing through URLs and folder sharing. I asked this question the last time Crate was on HN and got a vague response.

bdclimber14 16y ago
I found the original response from the last comment to my question (the response is now dead): * Nothing to download. * Easy to use. * Its the next New Big Thing. Dropbox is incredibly easy to use, and "The next Big Thing" is not an advantage. Not having anything to download is nice, but the side-effect is that everything has to manually be uploaded instead of automated.
- theli0nheart 16y ago
  The API should be done by the end of this weekend. When that's done you'll be able to upload your files however you'd like, provided that you are willing to write some code :)
  - bdclimber14 16y ago
    I'll be honest, I don't think I could possibly even think of a way to improve the Dropbox workflow. An API is great, but I can't think of what to code that would be better than what's available for free.
- statictype 16y ago
  but the side-effect is that everything has to manually be uploaded instead of automated. What's the difference between dragging from one folder to another and dragging from one folder into the browser page? Same amount of effort. There's a definite use-case for this type of service. Even if you use Dropbox, there are times when you want to transfer files from someone else's machine and they don't use Dropbox.
  - bdclimber14 16y ago

weaksauce 16y ago

This is a great little site. I know that you are saying that the files will last forever but is there a imgur like deletion that the owner of the file can delete the file after they no longer want it up?

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
sahillavingia 16y ago
Yup, there is.

pbhjpbhj 16y ago

Something slightly screwy in the workflow for me. I drag and drop and upload (in Kubuntu, from Dolphin to FF4.0b12pre) without a problem but then I'm presented with this page, http://lts.cr/i/7a78c5 http://lts.cr/i/7a78c5. The page shows me an address and a sign up form ... but aren't I trying to share the file, isn't that the raison d'etre? I was expecting the main action then to be emailing, tweeting, facebooking or otherwise sending the link on to whomever I'm sharing the file with. It even says underneath 1-visit, 2-upload, 3-share ... not 3-login. Just seems odd and disruptive to the flow. Apart from that I'm mighty impressed, despite initially thinking (as others have) it has nothing over Dropbox I think that it is something that I'll use. Not sure if I'd pay for it though ...

veidr 16y ago

I work with some nontechnical users who occasionally need help getting too-big-for-email files to somebody. Thinking of them, I tried this out. Dragged a 280MB file onto the big orange box, and got a Mac-style indeterminate progress indicator. OK. Make coffee, check the weather, type this post up to here, and still all I see is the same spinning indeterminate progress indicator. No actual indication of progress, what is happening, or when/if it will be done. I'm pretty sure those users I mentioned would by now have, a.) created another browser window and tried again, b.) clicked on the spinning wheel a few times to try to elicit some kind of feedback from the app, and then c.) closed the windows and given up.

jonpaul 16y ago

Cool. Did you do any kind customer development? Analyze any problems, etc?

trustfundbaby 16y ago

I went to their site at http://letscrate.com http://letscrate.com ... I don't like that I have to drag a file from my folder to the browser to upload it ... doesn't seem like normal workflow .. but it could catch on I guess. Would be really cool if I just clicked and my OS file selector opened up for me to select a file ...

trustfundbaby 16y ago

Do you get a custom url with a paid account?