- Megaupload
-
Megaupload Limited Megaupload.gif Type Limited Founded 2005 Headquarters Hong Kong Key people Kim Schmitz (CEO)
Finn Batato (CMO)Website www.megaupload.com Alexa rank 
68 (November 2011[update])[1]Type of site one-click hosting website Available in 20 languages Launched March 21, 2005 Current status Active Megaupload is an online Hong Kong-based company established in 2005 for the use of uploading and downloading files. It includes a video browsing section in the site Megavideo, MegaLive, MegaPix and Megabox as well as a sister company called Megaporn (formerly Megarotic) which hosts user uploaded pornographic content (Megaupload itself also allows such content).
Contents
Usage
The basic service is available for free and allows users to upload files of up to 2 GB. Free users cannot download files larger than 1 GB, however. Free registered users are offered 200 GB of total file storage. Premium users have unlimited file storage. After a successful file upload, the user is given a unique URL which allows others to download the file.
Any file uploaded anonymously will expire if there are no downloads for at least 21 days. For free registered accounts, the file expiration period is 90 days. Premium accounts have no expiration period as long as the user remains a premium member.[2]
Non-registered users have to wait 45 seconds in the download queue and a certain amount of time between transfers after a certain number of megabytes had been downloaded.[2] Registered users have to wait 25 seconds in the download queue.
Paying premium members are able to hotlink.
Statistics
- Unique visitors: 46,000,000
- Page Views: 450,000,000
- Reach: 3.5%[3]
Localization
The website is maintained in 20 languages, including Arabic, Chinese (traditional and simplified), Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, and Vietnamese.
Software
Mega Manager
Mega Manager screenshot
Megaupload also released its upload/download manager, Mega Manager,[4] a download manager which features a link-checker for Megaupload links as well as options to manage uploaded files, and to access the online control box that is also on the Megaupload site. Mega Manager bears striking resemblances to Conceiva DownloadStudio version 5, self-evident in its "Options..." dialog box and some other aspects of the program. Mega Manager allows users to automatically resume interrupted up- and downloads, which is especially important when transferring large files or transferring several files unattended.
Megakey
Megakey is an adware application which removes premium limitations on Mega services during "happy hour" periods in return for the verification of personal identity/demographic, and the substitution of ads on third party websites. Currently, more than 45 million people use Megakey[citation needed].
FileBox
FileBox is a Flash applet which can be embedded onto any external webpage. It allows for users to upload content to MegaUpload without having to visit the website itself or download the Mega Manager.
Related services
MegaVideo
MegaVideo is an associated, ad-supported video hosting service. For non-members, it is time-limited; it blocks itself after 72 minutes, and then allows to resume watching after a 30 minute period.
MegaPix
Launched in late 2010, MegaPix allows for the uploading of images, competing with other image-hosting services such as Photobucket, ImageShack, TinyPic and others.
MegaLive
MegaLive is a live video-streaming service, competing with Ustream, Justin.tv and Livestream.
MegaBox
MegaBox is a music/audio-hosting service for the uploading of whole music libraries and playlists.
Reception
Inaccessibility in some countries
Although its incorporation is located in Hong Kong, the company does not operate in Hong Kong. Users with Hong Kong IP addresses have been banned since 2009. Not even the homepage was accessible by them. Any purchased premium accounts will still be able to access the Megaupload site in Hong Kong until the last membership day. Some third party download managers can circumvent this, for example, the Megamanager and JDownloader. IPs from Mainland China have also been blocked. The reason for the block remains unclear[5], although many speculates thats is due to the very high internet speed limit[6] in Hong Kong which cause losses on bandwidth.
As of 23 May 2010, access to Megaupload has been intermittently blocked by the internet authorities in Saudi Arabia by their regulator Communications and Information Technology Commission.[citation needed] Megavideo has also been blocked in the United Arab Emirates due to pornographic content being accessible through the service.[citation needed]
In Malaysia, as of 9 June 2011, the Malaysian government through Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission has ordered all ISPs in Malaysia to block Megaupload and Megavideo. Some ISPs have reportedly blocked all the sites on the list while other ISPs have been throttling connection speeds.[7]
Criticism
Megaupload Toolbar is claimed to redirect users to a custom error page when a 404 error occurs in the user's browser. It is also claimed to contain spyware.[8] However, FBM software asserts that the Megaupload toolbar is free of spyware.[9]
References
- ^ "Megaupload.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/megaupload.com. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
- ^ a b "Megaupload FAQ". http://megaupload.com/?c=faq.
- ^ Google.com
- ^ Megaupload.com
- ^ Is Megaupload dead in Hong Kong?
- ^ An Example of Hong Kong High Speed Connection,range from 100mbps to 1000mbps
- ^ "SKMM Meminta Penyedia Internet Menghalang Akses ke 10 Laman Perkongsian Popular (Malay)". 9th June, 2011. http://amanz.my/2011/06/skmm-meminta-penyedia-internet-menghalang-akses-ke-10-laman-perkongsian-popular/.
- ^ Megaupload Toolbar is a Spyware which Changes Browser Settings, TheCredence.com, 13/08/08
- ^ "MegaUpload Toolbar on Spyware-Net". http://www.fbmsoftware.com/spyware-net/Application/MegaUpload_Toolbar. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
External links
Categories:- File hosting
- File sharing
- File sharing services
- Hong Kong websites
- Internet properties established in 2005
- One-click hosting
- Video hosting
- Video on demand services
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