Where to host MP3 files?

Hello,

I have a paid app on Amazon App Store, which plays different MP3 sounds from my FTP at HostGator. This one app creates about 350 GB of traffic per month, and even if HostGator says that they offer “unlimited” bandwidth, I’m not sure if they would tolerate 1 TB of traffic. Just to make sure, I’ve contacted their support and they said that as long as I don’t burden their CPU and RAM too much, they don’t care about the bandwidth.

Anyway, I’d be happy to know, if anyone else has such an app and if yes, where do you host your MP3’s?

Thanks.

Why not bundle the Mp3 inside the App rather than hosting them outside? That way, you don’t have to worry about usage and extra server cost.

1 TB traffic is nothing in 2013 dude :slight_smile: so you should be fine

Thanks for answering.

I have about 600 MB of MP3’s so I can’t bundle them in. I’d like to release a few more similar apps (I buy the sounds and then sell them in apps) and I was thinking about buying another hosting plan, because I already host 8 WordPress sites (each with 300-500 visits per day), and I don’t want to risk any performance issues or a ban from HostGator.

I closely monitor “Processes” tab and I never had more than 8 (from 25) at the same time. They say it’s not allowed to have all 25 used up for more than 90 seconds.

So you think I should be fine hosting all MP3’s on one account? It’s not that hard risking 100 USD/year, but then again, a 100 here, a 100 there, and it adds up.

Just be aware that Google doesn’t like people having many very similar apps - unless they are really something different and not only differ in skin.

Thanks for pointing that out - I’ve read that in their Developer Program Policy: “Do not post repetitive content.”

I have my app on Amazon’s App Store only, however, I see some of the publishers having the same apps on Google Play also, and all their apps are essentially the same. One is Sounds of Oceans, another Sounds of Birds, etc. - they have 10+ cloned apps.

It’s true that I plan to release a jigsaw puzzle game soon, but I’ll only re-skin in three times. One for kids, one for everybody, and one for adults only. :wink: I hope they won’t mind that.

Do you anyone who got their app/s removed, because they re-skinned it to many times? It’s good to know this stuff, because I really don’t want to (knowingly) violate any of their policies.

I haven’t heard, it’s just better to be safe than sorry, right? 3 apps should be more than fine. Some people just go insane and release for example 50 almost identical apps.

Sure you can if you are using Google Play store, that’s what the expansion files are for. They store up to 4 gigabytes. They are free, lightning fast, and you don’t have to worry about them ever again which is the best part.

On the Amazon store you can’t use them though…

Yeah, sure, I totally agree.

I know one of those - I’ve just remembered him now. :slight_smile: He has 32 same apps, and not long ago, a major GP player had 50+ such apps. But they’ve took them all down, except for one. I think there were several issues there - TM names, only RSS feeds, and 50+ same apps. The only app that is left on GP has over 1 mio downloads and 72.000+ ratings.

I never knew that this is what expansion files are used for. Thanks!!

However, I can’t use GP for selling apps, because I’m from an “unsupported country”. I’m thinking about opening a bank account in Austria, so I could sell them, but I still need to figure out the costs and everything.

@bluedot, are you storing the files in SD card after downloading from hostgator. Bundling with the app doesn’t look nice. Its not Fifa’14 for which people are crazy (approx 1.5 GB and that too not completely free).
You can try amazon’s s3 cloud service which is a CDN (pay as you go) and would work with all kind of app stores and thus provides fail over support for your content. Expansion file is play store only feature.

600MB of sounds. Man, is it ocean, air, bird, cat sounds?

@javaexp, I just stream the files to the device. I have an internal music player which connects directly to the MP3’s located on my FTP.

Hm, paying for a service is not an option for me, because I’m selling the app for 0.99 USD, and once it’s sold, I don’t make any money out of it anymore.

It’s a mixture of everything. :slight_smile:

@javaexp, I just stream the files to the device. I have an internal music player which connects directly to the MP3’s located on my FTP.

Hm, paying for a service is not an option for me, because I’m selling the app for 0.99 USD, and once it’s sold, I don’t make any money out of it anymore.

It’s a mixture of everything. :slight_smile:

You are wasting money in purchasing those animal sounds man. Just download it from internet. How can some one copyright an animal/ocean sound without animal/ocean telling that ok this is my sound.
Anyways, do try amazon s3 cloud service. You will get a Java SDK for it to make your life easy.

Just want to be on the safe side. :wink: These sounds are not expensive and some of them are published under a CC license.

Guys, I’m on 700 GB per month of bandwidth at the moment. I sell my app for 0,99 USD and I can’t afford any dedicated servers or S3 cloud service, as I only earn money once, when the app is sold, and I get about 0,50 USD per sale.

Any ideas, how do those bigger guys, who have 100’s of thousands of downloads handle the traffic? I have only one “sounds” app and I can’t handle it. :slight_smile:

how about using the file hosting services like mediafire, kingfiles etc.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will contact MediaFire to see if they would allow direct linking.

EDIT: I see that direct linking is possible with a PRO plan, but I wrote them anyway about possible bandwidth limitations. I’ll let you know what they reply.

Us Unmetered dedicated server. $150 a month No bandwidth limit. I crashed host gator shared server one time and they shut my site down.

Thanks, I didn’t know you can have unlimited bandwidth for $150, that’s cool. However, that could be useful for another project of mine. I moved my MP3’s to another account on HostGator, so that if any troubles arise, my main account should stay OK.

I’ve just received a reply from MediaFire and they offer 1000 GB of bandwidth for only 2 USD per month (it’s a time limited offer). I just might go with that! Thanks for your help, guys!

you are welcome.

eventually stop using hostgator/godaddy for storing files as they are not meant to do that job. Many forums where people post pirated softwares, use this bulk file hosting websites.