By the way, Dropbox is free for up to 2GB of storage.

Brill

Just had a play. This is a great addition - thanks Raf!

Very easy to set it all up at this end.

Great, thank you Raf!

You get free space for recommending a friend. This means you, friend.

well spank my donkey !!! this is awesome...wtg Raf

Very nice. Thanks Raf!

...and yes kiddies. This feature allows us to use our mobile devices to download files (even iPhones and iPads)

Now, when you get a GB of drum seps, they can be waiting for you when you get home from work!!

That is super convenient! This site is really quite awesome.Big thanks to Raf and co

This is a fantastic addition, Raf! Very very very good.

Rock On

B

Great job Raf!

Brannon, i tried to recommend you as a friend but they dropped my capacity to 0.1MB and are planning to suck my computer down their pipes.

@Breathtax: I laughed out loud.

Ben, They took you for a pretentious name-dropper. Did you tell them I was legendary? Seems like everyone forgets that part.

Great new feature, Raf. Thanks.

Great feature !!! Great Job Raf !!!

Nobody has been able to explain to me the advantage of this. If I want to download tracks from kompoz, why not do that? Is it better to send them to dropbox, then download them? This seems like an extra link in the chain of things, and quite counterproductive.

1- Your Dropbox "drive" is just that -- a networked (mapped) drive.

2- The files will be available everywhere you are. On your iPad, your iPhone, your PC, your other PC. You'll have access to them without having to copy or email the files to your other devices.

3- The files will be unzipped for you, ready to drag-and-drop into your DAW.

4- You can stream from Dropbox, and use it as a music player. No need to ever download the files if you just plan to listen.

I only need tracks on my PC to put in my DAW. I can stream from kompoz. I'm still not getting the need for a 3rd party. Wouldn't this make my downloads slower?

Well, you may not have a need for Dropbox. Cloud-based storage is a big deal for many. I personally like it.

It's an option. Kompoz gives you the choice: Dropbox or Zip. Both work. And Google Drive is coming soon.

Marty;
The dropbox will actually increase your download speed AND not tax your system while you are doing it.
When you execute a download command to Dropbox, the transfer takes place between Kompoz and Dropbox without using your processing power. This process if faster than downloading to your computer because both Kompoz and Dropbox have much faster connectivity than most home based internet.

The Dropbox app provides a Dropbox folder in your drive list. It appears just like any other drive or folder on your system. Yes, when you move files from the Dropbox folder to your DAW, you are essentially re-downloading the file, BUT, there is no select-this, choose-that function, it is literally a drag and drop just as you would from any other folder on your computer. Moving from Dropbox to your DAW is much faster than the standard Kompoz download.

I see your perspective, the result of the overall process isn't so much different than downloading to your computer, but some added advantages do exist.

You can download files from Kompoz using your mobile devices or a different computer than your music workstation. Let's say that a drummer uploads a large group of seps to your project, but you aren't home to download them. You can execute this download from your iPhone, then, when you get home, the files are already in your dropbox folder and ready to drop into your DAW. The Dropbox option just saved you time. You get to your workstation and start working rather than waiting for long downloads.

The other advantage is the offsite storage and access to the data from anywhere and on any device (including streaming.)

Another interesting benefit, at least for me, when you download a second file from the same project (but at a different time), it uses the existing folder rather than cluttering the download arena with multiple folders for the same project. (I've only done this once. This may only be true if it is the same day.)

If I had a mobile device (they don't work well here, none of that 1G, 2G, 3G stuff) and downloaded a file, how on earth does it get to my computer at home? I still have to download it, right? There's still no reason for me to use dropbox.

Love this addition! Sure makes things easier in transfer. Thanks for all you're doing Raf!!!

@Marty.
No additional download is necessary. The mobile device or other computer is simply telling Kompoz to send the file to Dropbox. The actual file resides on a cloud drive until you drag it into your DAW. If you don't use an iPhone or other mobile device, and your home computer has plenty of space, you probably don't need Dropbox.

I find that having a further option is great, but I don't understand what is said above: i.e. that the file is downloaded only when I drag and drop it into my DAW otherwise it just resides in the cloud. Actually every time I start my DropBox desktop application all the new files in my DropBox cloud are automatically downloaded into my local DropBox folder, not waiting to be dragged and dropped somewhere. Have I missed something in the DropBox settings?

Enrico.
I'm not sure how it works on a PC, but on my Mac, the local folder is just an image of the cloud folder. The files remain on the cloud until I move them out of the Dropbox folder.

On my Mac, the Dropbox folder is a mirror of the cloud and they sync every time a file is added. i.e. the files exist in the cloud and on my computer. Google drive and Apples cloud server work the same as Dropbox.

I still don't understand how this works. Suppose I put a kompoz track in dropbox from work. It remains in the cloud until I get home and download it. How is this any different from me simply downloading it from kompoz?

@SLV and Brannon,

Thank you, now things are clearer. On a PC with Windows XP Pro there is no mirroring of the cloud, just the actual files are downloaded and are "physically" in the local DropBox folder, not as just images of remote files. I don't know how it works on more recent Windows versions.

Now that I look at it again, mine obviously works the same way (no ghost copies, actual files are in the Dropbox folder.)

Regardless, it's very convenient for me to use the Dropbox feature.

Ahh so it works like in Windows. I see I had misunderstood what Brannon said. I think the ghost-mirroring thing is true in the iOS DropBox App though.

The files are not mirrored. They physically reside in the Dropbox folder of your device (computer, mobile device, etc.). They are also duplicated in the 'cloud' on the Dropbox website. Here's a brief video that explains it....

I tried this both ways. Through the kompoz download process, I got 5 tracks sent to dropbox, at which time I had to log into dropbox and download the tracks one at a time. For me this is an extra step and a big waste of time. The dropbox tutorial doesn't explain how it is advantageous to the average kompozer to use this service. It's not.

Kompoz is my "cloud". The tracks are there, whether I download them at home or somewhere else.

@MDK "...I had to log into dropbox and download the tracks one at a time"

You should install their PC software so that you don't have to log into dropbox. It will give you a mapped drive where all your files will exist.

They still have to be downloaded to my computer somehow, whether I have the software or not. They cannot just appear instantly.

Yes, but it's done "behind the scenes". It's more transparent. Give it a shot.

Supposing my download is 100MB, and takes about 35 minutes from kompoz. You're saying the same 100MB will be downloaded any faster from dropbox? Transparent or not, I can't believe claims that 100MB of files is instantaneous or does not take any bandwidth.

Not saying that. Just try it.

you did:

"This means you don't have to download a large zip file using your browser anymore, sucking up bandwidth. You can now simply ask Kompoz to send the files (unzipped and ready to use) to your Dropbox account -- no need to wait for them."

I'm not saying these claims are false, they just seem to defy the laws of physics.

That being said, I will install the software on my computer and do a compare & contrast of both methods. I'm trying to be objective.

Marty, I don't see any great advantage for you unless you are using a phone, iPad or separate computer. I will be using it to download from my phone or computer at work so that the files will be on my work station computer when I get home.

My above statement is true. No giant zip file streamed through your browser. Instead, with Dropbox, you bypass the browser altogether, and use your native OS file system to copy files to/from a network drive (as needed). The Dropbox software makes this a seamless, more natural, easy-to-comprehend experience.

"I will be using it to download from my phone or computer at work so that the files will be on my work station computer when I get home."

That is the major advantage I get from Dropbox.

I do wish that it would forgo the dated folders when downloading from Kompoz. It would be really nice if tracks I download from the same project on different days would all end up in the same folder. I think this is a Dropbox protocol though and not related to anything we can control.

I think I understand how it works, but there is no advantage for me, personally to use dropbox. This would require that my home computer be on AND connected to the internet. When you have not used the internet for a certain number of hours, it is disconnected. The only way to reconnect is to restart the modem, and that cannot be done remotely.

I can see this might be advantageous for those who have a continuous internet connection and some kind of mobile device with an internet connection. That would definitely be time saving if the dropbox files were on my computer when I got home from work.

@slv : actually the date folders are a kompoz thing. I can change that. What does everyone think?

My vote is for the fewest possible directory levels. For my purposes, the name of the file I am downloading is enough.

@Raf - yes, please change the date folders. It's a pain in the butt to go back and delete the old stuff. Thx!

By popular demand, I removed the "date" subdirectory. It now creates only a subdirectory for each project. So if you download 3 tracks from "PROJECT A" today, and then 2 more from the same project ("PROJECT A") tomorrow, they will all be placed into the same directory.

Very cool. Thanks for that.

That's great, Raf. Thanks.

Is the "readne" file necessary for every download? Does anyone use it? Is it a legal thing?

I never read them; they just pile up in my Dropbox until I delete them. No biggie, just wondering.

This is really cool stuff, makes things simple...

SLV... I read it the first time, once the project is up
and running no need anymore...

So once is enough in my book too...