My tryst with 4 Shared!

Of course, whenever I want to find something I go to Google, like most of you do! I type in what I want Google to find out for me, hit search and wait. 75% of the time the Google Guys come up with what I am looking for. I did the same thing when I wanted to find out if some of the songs I liked were available for download.

Let me tell you, for most of my favourite songs, Google was a disaster. Of course Google gave me what it thought are the most relevant of all the results. But that was not the point! I wanted to download these songs. But Google took me to many sites that do not have a download link. [I am not sure if that is a part of Google Policy!] Most of them had a link to another site where, I was told, I could download the song I was looking for. The site that the link took me to had a link to another site that allowed me to download the song. It was a never ending line of cross links! Exasperated!

That was when I stumbled upon 4Shared. It is an online storage system, where you can store and share your files. It lets you store any kind of file and has got a 100 GB file storage option, if you are a paying member. You are right, you can be only a paid member on 4Shared. The free membership lasts only for 30 days.

What I liked about 4Shared is not the fact that I can store my files online. I live in India, and in spite of being one of the prominent IT hubs, we are not always sure if we can access Internet all the time. So I prefer to store my files on my computer and not anywhere else. If I have to share files and collaborate, I already have a Google Docs Account. I don't usually upload anything other than Office Documents and Goolge Docs is the only people I trust with my Office Documents.

What I liked about 4Shared is not the fact that it permitted me to log in using my Google Id. Now, I don't use my Google Id to log in on any site for the fear of spam and hackers. I'll not use my Google Id unless I know Google approves 4Shared. Even if I use my Google Id to log in, I know that my honeymoon with 4Shared is going to last only for the 30 Days Trial Period. Because, the way things are, I don't have a credit card or pay pal account to pay 4 Shared.

Following are a few things I liked about 4Shared:

1. I liked 4Shared because it permitted me to download shared files even without a membership and logging in.
2. It tells me that the file is virus free, so at least for time being I don't have a virus-phobia when downloading from 4Shared.
3. It keeps the downloading simple. I didn't have to worry about where a link on 4Shared would take me to! It was almost like I know where I was going. They have kept the user interface neat, straightforward and simple.
4. It has a cool search engine. I don'y know if Google powers it. But I know that using the search on 4Shared I could find many of the songs and videos I wanted.
5. It gives you a preview option. You can see your videos or hear your songs before you download them.

I don't know if 4Shared has enough Premium Members to cover their expenses. But I know that I got most of the songs I wanted!