How to lift 2gb limit on file sizes?

[rodypl]

Hey guys!



So a few months ago my company was going to release a product that was 5gb big. That file, like all my other products, are hosted on my own servers. To my surprise, even if the files were hosted on my own servers (that are very good, by the way) e-junkie prevented me from selling a 5gb file. It said the file had to be 2gb or less, even if it's hosted on my servers.



Since I was pressed for time, I split the product into 3 parts of less than 2gb each so I could sell with e-junkie.



Now my problem is my upcoming product is about 15gb large, and there's just no way to split that file into 8 parts to sell with e-junkie. That would just be too much hassle for the customer, and it wouldn't look good for the product either (I don't want buyers to buy something, then have to arrange it together later because it has too many parts). Plus, I would have to create 8 new products and that would mean I have to pay e-junkie more because I have more products (which means you win, I lose)



So how can I do away with this 2gb limit that, too be honest, doesn't really make sense? My servers are ready to send files however big to clients, and I feel that this limit just has no benefits to it at all. What does e-junkie gain by limiting my files to 2gb? Is it so it forces me to create more products thus forcing me to upgrade my subscription? How do I upload something higher?



Thanks!

[E-junkie_Monster]

Sorry, the 2GB limit cannot be lifted. Beyond that size there's too much that can go wrong on a regular download via commercially available internet connections.



The only way to send out files larger than that is to break them up into smaller pieces using an archival utility in ZIP or RAR format so that they can be downloaded in smaller pieces and recombined on the buyer's end. The various parts can be sold as one product using the method described here:

http://www.e-junkie.com/ej/help.package.htm#bundle



Your account currently has room for 25 more products so adding 8 more will not require any upgrade.

[rodypl]

Thanks for the reply!



I get that I still have 25 more products to go, but at the rate I'm going, 15gb is just the beginning, which means I'll reach the 25 product limit in roughly 3 products.



Does that seem fair to you that I'll have to upgrade my account just because I'm being forced to split my products into multiple parts? If I have to split products into multiple parts, then these parts shouldn't count as a product themselves. So those 8 parts should only count as 1 product on my subscription, not 8.



"Beyond that size there's too much that can go wrong on a regular download via commercially available internet connections."



Could you explain this further? Not sure I understand the reason.

[E-junkie_Guru]

Sorry for the confusion; we discovered some years ago that downloads barely larger than 2 GB were running into mysterious problems, but ultimately our sysadmin concluded those problems were in fact due to a server-side hard limit imposed by the maximum value a 32-bit signed integer can represent: 2,147,483,647, which in bytes is 2 GiB (2.147 GB). Thus, bypassing this limit would require a major, comprehensive overhaul of our system from 32-bit to 64-bit architecture.



Also bear in mind how long it would take to download files that large, considering that outside of major metro areas, broadband service may top out at only 1.5 Mbps or so:

http://www.numion.com/Calculators/Time.html



Sellers with extremely large files to provide often use a disc-fulfillment service that can automatically duplicate and mail out data DVDs on-demand whenever an order comes in, rather than expecting buyers to babysit a download potentially for hours -- this help page lists the disc fulfillment services known to integrate with E-junkie:

http://www.e-junkie.com/ej/tips.integration.cd-dvd.htm



Finally, if you still prefer to provide your product data as a download, we can recommend using us with the Continuata advanced download management service, which can support far larger files than we can, along with advanced features such as multi-part concurrent downloads that automatically reassemble into a single file upon completion, easy pausing/resuming of downloads in progress, and more. Integrating them with E-junkie is a simple matter of configuring your product with the "Send transaction data to a URL" option enabled, so you can paste the Payment Variable Information URL provided by Continuata into that product's settings, so we can notify them when the product is purchased. Find out more about Continuata here (see Products > Connect Downloader in particular):

http://www.continuata.com/

[rodypl]

I'll check out Continuata. Sounds interesting. Thanks!



Will the new update you guys have been planning allow you to go 64 bit?

[rodypl]

Is Continuata something that is operational now? I've looked through their website but there doesn't seem to be anyway to Sign Up.

[E-junkie_Guru]

Continuata takes a more personal approach to getting new clientele on board; use the Contact link on their site to inquire about signing up for their services.



At present, we have such minuscule demand for >2 GB file delivery, and place such a priority on maintaining a stable and reliable system, that overhauling our system to migrate to 64-bit architecture anytime soon is not a priority for our Dev/Ops personnel, as far as I'm aware.

[rodypl]

Thanks. I've contacted them.



You still haven't answered my question though. Does it seem fair to you that once I reach my 60 product limit I'll have to upgrade and pay more, but I won't actually have 60 products. Just a few products split into multiple parts (that count as 1 product) because I had to?

[E-junkie_Guru]

Since we don't take a cut of sales, nor charge any transaction/bandwidth fees or other per-sale/-download fees, our monthly flat rates have to account for the potential demand to process orders for those products and deliver downloads of those files. Data just sitting there in a database or file storage doing nothing at all is fairly cheap to maintain, but actually doing useful things with that data, processing and moving it and maintaining the systems to do so, is the real expense.



Selling a product that bundles 8 individual files takes about as much to process as selling those same 8 files as individual products, but the demand is potentially higher as those 8 files will always be ordered together as a group, and in your case each of those 8 files would be 2 GB and thus incur higher bandwidth usage/costs for us to deliver than a collection of smaller files.



If you'd be using Continuata, they would handle file segmentation and reassembly, so you'd only need 1 product slot per actual product at our end (rather than bundling it as multiple products in 2 GB chunks). In fact, if you turn over file delivery to Continuata for all your download products, you could use a much cheaper Tangible Goods Only plan at our end, since you wouldn't actually be using us to store or deliver downloads at all -- these plans are the ones we list without any storage space included:

http://www.e-junkie.com/ej/pricing.htm

[rodypl]

Thanks E-JunkieGuru for providing real, truthful answers, that actually help me instead of just fabricating bogus reasons why E-Junkie can't/won't do something.



Though I'm not pleased with some of e-Junkie's limitations, at least you're offering solutions. So thanks!