Important changes at RapidShare.com

http://torrentfreak.com/rapidshare-cheapens-pricing-scheme-after-user-revolt-100707/

RapidShare Cheapens Pricing Scheme After User Revolt

Two weeks ago RapidShare announced a change in the pricing scheme for their premium members. Starting this month, account holders would’ve been required to pay an amount based on their daily usage volume along with a requirement to skip between various packages to avoid overpayment. This planned change resulted in a revolt among RapidShare users which forced the company to revisit its plans.

RapidShare has made several drastic changes to its service in the last months. They began in March when it became apparent that the company was trying to get copyright holders on board in an attempt to convert pirates into paying customers.
A month later RapidShare ditched its CEO Bobby Chang on claims he was no longer the right person to successfully lead the company. And in a continued effort to avoid the pirate site stigma, RapidShare killed its reward program and went after sites that infringed their trademark to facilitate illicit downloading.
Two weeks ago premium users of the file-hosting site were informed about another upcoming change that was set to go into effect this month. RapidShare announced that it would stop the existing payment plans to introduce 5 new packages. These new packages would have daily usage limits and users would have to switch between them according to their daily download demands.
The result was that most users would be worse off than with their current plans, or would be forced to switch back and forth between the various packages on a day-to-day basis. Unsurprisingly, many premium users complained to RapidShare, urging the company to reconsider their offer.
“As a result of the recent adjustments to our product and pricing model we have received a lot of feedback from our users,” RapidShare communicated to its users yesterday. “There was also positive response but we want to be honest with you: most answers were negative.”
“With our adjustments we have alienated many users. As a matter of course, that was not our intention. Instead, it is our goal to introduce a system that gives our users more flexibility. However, we are happy about every single user response that we have received as this is the only way we can learn what our users really want,” the company added.
To accommodate the complaints of the revolting users, RapidShare changed its payment scheme to a simpler and much cheaper offer. For less than 5 euros users can now buy 4 months of premium access with 10 GB storage and a 30 GB monthly data limit. Heavy users can buy additional traffic and storage space if required.
The main benefit of the revised scheme, besides the fact that nearly every user will be better off, is the change from a daily limit to a monthly one. Under the old scheme, users with the cheapest account had a 1 GB download limit that they would have to upgrade even though they might never go over the 30 GB a month.
With these changes RapidShare thinks that there wont be any future revolts from users over the new pricing scheme. “We are convinced that we will meet our users’ needs with the new and simple model,” the company said.

Bob_Harris

Looks like the people who demanded a refund jumped too soon.

Rapidshare is now probably the cheapest (and consistently fastest) file host around. I had 1 month left, but now with the latest changes I have roughly 750 rapids = 7.5month if I use 99 rapids per 30 days.

I can even disable the auto extend feature so at the end of the month I have to manually extend my account by 30 days. This is pretty good because sometimes I might not download anything of note for 1-2 weeks. If this 1-2 weeks falls at the end of the month then I essentially add these weeks of inactivity to my overall account period.

There might be an initial reduction in content due to "protesters" or the greedy moving over to file hosts that still reward for uploading (you will see these reward schemes die away eventually I would imagine) but rapidshare will remain very popular. Where there is demand, there will be uploaders.

tman

Bob_Harris wrote: »

Looks like the people who demanded a refund jumped too soon.

My thoughts exactly... Glad that I just complained about it rather than demanding that my account gets cancelled!
RS links are still as easy to find as they ever were imo

yoyo

Bob_Harris wrote: »

Looks like the people who demanded a refund jumped too soon.

Rapidshare is now probably the cheapest (and consistently fastest) file host around. I had 1 month left, but now with the latest changes I have roughly 750 rapids = 7.5month if I use 99 rapids per 30 days.

I can even disable the auto extend feature so at the end of the month I have to manually extend my account by 30 days. This is pretty good because sometimes I might not download anything of note for 1-2 weeks. If this 1-2 weeks falls at the end of the month then I essentially add these weeks of inactivity to my overall account period.

There might be an initial reduction in content due to "protesters" or the greedy moving over to file hosts that still reward for uploading (you will see these reward schemes die away eventually I would imagine) but rapidshare will remain very popular. Where there is demand, there will be uploaders.

I noticed allot moving away from rapidshare even before the changes, just the competitors seem better value, I'm still happy I went with Hotfile now as its only €30 for 6 months and truely unlimited and is popular

Nick

dizzy_davidh

Bob_Harris wrote: »

There might be an initial reduction in content due to "protesters" or the greedy moving over to file hosts that still reward for uploading...

How can you ever label posters as greedy?!?!?!?

They are making their files available to you for nothing which is the very opposite of greediness. Also the rewards points they gain from their uploads\downloads fund the very accounts they post to which you then download from.

Those that don't use hosters who reward for usage have to pay for their hosting accounts somehow out of their own pocket, again so you can download their files.

Give them some thanks and don't be so quick to moan!

El Horseboxo

The new changes will have me staying with them until i run out of rapids at least. For some reason i have 47 gb left for the remaining 28 days. Must have been carried over or something. I have 6347 rapids as well. I'll be using my download managers scheduler to download during happy hour too. So overall RS is looking quite good. And i don't have any problems finding the latest things on RS either. Still seems to be loads of fresh links where i'm looking.

Duggy747

When this 1st came around I hadn't a clue what the fùck RS did but I've been with them for years and I've never had a problem with their servers. Since I only needed a basic account, and after much head scratching, it came out that you got 100 days extra for €4.99 on your account.

Was quite shocked to see one of my other sites transformed from having exclusive RS links to supporting other providers instead.

Whoever thought this was a good idea should be shot.

LFC5Times

I have rapidshare but don't really know the in's and outs of, just that I have used it before to get files etc.

I just logged into my rapidshare account there and it says I have 6457 rapids and it says traffic left 35,000 MB.

It also says RapidPro paid until 27 Days 9 Hours 54 minutes

Can anybody explain what any of it means?

Thanks

Cuddlesworth

LFC5Times wrote: »

I have rapidshare but don't really know the in's and outs of, just that I have used it before to get files etc.

I just logged into my rapidshare account there and it says I have 6457 rapids and it says traffic left 35,000 MB.

It also says RapidPro paid until 27 Days 9 Hours 54 minutes

Can anybody explain what any of it means?

Thanks

You can start by reading this

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055951489

Bob_Harris

LFC5Times wrote: »

I have rapidshare but don't really know the in's and outs of, just that I have used it before to get files etc.

I just logged into my rapidshare account there and it says I have 6457 rapids and it says traffic left 35,000 MB.

It also says RapidPro paid until 27 Days 9 Hours 54 minutes

Can anybody explain what any of it means?

Thanks

Basically it costs 99 rapids per month for a monthly 30GB cap.

(6457 / 99) / 12 = 5.4 years.

At the end of each month your account is automatically extended, i.e. they deduct 99 rapids and give you another 30days with 30GB cap.

You can buy more GB if you want, when you want.

Bob_Harris

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

You can start by reading this

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055951489

The latest changes are only discussed on the last page or two. Reading through the whole thread would only give him old information.

stevek93

30gb per month is useless to me. when there was a 25gb per day limit i would usually use it all.

Bob_Harris

stevek93 wrote: »

30gb per month is useless to me. when there was a 25gb per day limit i would usually use it all.

25GB a day? What exactly are you downloading? Full uncompressed bluray movies? And what ISP do you have, because they were very generous to let you continue.

25GB a day is a colossal amount unless it is for high volume business purposes.

McLoughlin

stevek93 wrote: »

30gb per month is useless to me. when there was a 25gb per day limit i would usually use it all.

There is Happy Hour were 10gb downloaded is credited as 1gb so if you were downloaded 25gb during Happy Hour it would only cost you 2.5gb.

Just bought a year account on Hotfile, €43, Unlimited Dls, 12TBs of Hotlink traffic.

Currently downloading at 3.43 MBs with JDownloader, Seems a hell of alot better than RS.

sink

stevek93 wrote: »

30gb per month is useless to me. when there was a 25gb per day limit i would usually use it all.

There was never a 25Gb a day limit. The old system used to credit you with 5Gb a day, which would accrue up to a maximum of 25Gb. Any unused bandwidth above that 25Gb would be lost. I call BS on your 25Gb a day claim.

The current system is actually better value than the original system. TouchingVirus breaks it down pretty well here.

TouchingVirus wrote: »

Old RS
5GB/day x 365 = 1825GB/year for €55

Traffic accumulated up to a maximum of 25GB, anything more was wasted.

New RS
30GB/month x 12 months for the basic RapidPro = 360GB/year for 1188 rapids

1825-360 = 1465GB "missing" when compared with Old RS

1465/5 = 293 blocks of additional traffic required (5GB per block)

293x14 = 4102 rapids (14 rapids per block of 5GB traffic)

1188+4102 = 5290 rapids/year for 1825GB traffic

5290 = 5000 + 400 rapids = €49.75 + €4.99 = €54.74

You'll have 110 rapids left over from this purchase, which you can use to buy another 7 blocks of 5GB traffic (35GB) so for €54.74 per year you can get 1860GB traffic/year instead of €54.99 for 1825GB/year

Traffic also has no accumulation limit because you're buying traffic with rapids when you need it, not getting it on a daily basis.


Edit

I should add that I'm happy to keep my account with Rapidshare given these changes. I now have a bigger incentive to utilise Happy Hours to keep my own costs down, traffic doesn't disappear (I get what I pay for) and it doesn't require Micromanagement of any sort. Given my usage I could be looking at €30/year instead of €55. If the uploaders will stay then I'm happy out

TouchingVirus

Deleted User wrote: »

So... if I'm downloading, if I go over my limit, I get an extra 5GB allocated to me? If I go over that, I get another 5GB given to me?

SO i'd be correct in saying, If I download 40GB in one month (they provide you with the first 30GB "free") I'm down 28rapids?

Yes, you are correct

I could very easily hit, and have before, 200GB in a month.

I call bullsh*t on you being able to do this unless you're talking over a year ago or very specific circumstances.

Rapidshare used to give 10GB/day over a year ago, so a month's traffic was 310GB max [31-day month] provided you never let it accumulate because 25GB was the accumulation limit. For over a year though it's been 5GB/day so even in a 31-day month you could only get 155GB down. The only other way you could achieve this is by utilising the "Happy Hours" between 02:00-10:00 CET where only 10% of what you downloaded is taken from your traffic or if you had TrafficShare (extra traffic) that you dipped into when going over.

That would now cost me a fortune?

No. If you use 'Happy Hours' then you can get 300GB per month (10 times your traffic). If you don't want to use happy hours then this is how it will work.

200GB = 30GB (given each month) + 170GB (extra traffic required). 170GB/5GB = 34 blocks of 5GB required.
34 * 14 rapids per 5GB = 476 rapids extra.

So for that month, you'd need 99 (basic package) + 476 rapids = 575 rapids

At a rapid cost of €9.95 for 1000, the cost for that month would be €5.72. Hardly a fortune considering the old RS cost per month was €4.58. You have to remember though, for that €4.58 you were only getting a maximum of 155GB of traffic, not 200GB.

Thus, if you want to download 200GB a month, 12 months in a row, your account will cost you €69?

12 * 575 rapids = 6900 rapids

6900 = 5000 + 1000 + 1000 rapids = €49.75 + €9.95 + €9.95 = €69.65

That €69 is an overall cost, though. You won't be required to pay for trafficshare.

TrafficShare does not exist anymore. It was used in the old days to top up your traffic. It's been superceded by the 5GB blocks for 14 rapids.

200GB x 12 (months) = 2,400GB (2.4TB)
2,400 / 69 (Euro) = 34.7

So... 35c per GB?

Math fail :P It's 6900/2400 (6900 cent in €69) = 2.88c per GB

Runnin on the actual figure it's 6965/2400 = 2.90c per GB

CFoo

IrishTonyO wrote: »

don't know what sites you are using if 95% are gone, it is nothing like that anywhere I have been

Unfortunately for me, the 0-days sites I go to are posting using different hosts now. Since the changes, there have only been 2 posts using rapidshare.

Lainabaina

OK, I've got my head around all the rapids and am starting to wish I'd just gotten a RS account before all these changes came in. Bought my 400 rapids but it seems they're just sitting in my account; my 'paid until' says not available and my 'traffic left' is at 0 bytes. Do I need to do something to activate the account or transfer rapids as payment against the first 30 days? Can't seem to find anything earlier in this thread or in the RS FAQ about the actual procedure of using these rapids...

Any idea?

LFC5Times

I am downloading some rapidshare files via jdownloader, usually it downloads at around 550-650kbps but now it downloads at around 550kbps sec then it drops to 80kbps and up and down like spike.

Also when copying the files into jdownloader the download would start immediately, now it is taking a few minutes to start.

Are these the effects of these changes or do I need to change settings on my account?

Thanks

Cuddlesworth

LFC5Times wrote: »

I am downloading some rapidshare files via jdownloader, usually it downloads at around 550-650kbps but now it downloads at around 550kbps sec then it drops to 80kbps and up and down like spike.

Also when copying the files into jdownloader the download would start immediately, now it is taking a few minutes to start.

Are these the effects of these changes or do I need to change settings on my account?

Thanks

I would suggest starting with your ISP. Rapidshares bandwidth is still perfect.

LFC5Times

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

I would suggest starting with your ISP. Rapidshares bandwidth is still perfect.

Am with eircom and did a speedtest there and results where download speed - 5.24mb/s, upload - 0.24mb/s and ping was 73ms.

Surely there shouldn't be such absurd spikes in the download speed?

Also there are 10 smaller files as part of the main file, and it is only d/l one small file at a time - I could be wrong but I always thought it did at least 2.

You can see a pic of it below, it doesn't seem to be as drastic as it was early but still slowing down compared to what it is usually like.

Sorry for the mad pic
[IMG][/img]

Cuddlesworth

LFC5Times wrote: »

Am with eircom and did a speedtest there and results where download speed - 5.24mb/s, upload - 0.24mb/s and ping was 73ms.

Surely there shouldn't be such absurd spikes in the download speed?

Also there are 10 smaller files as part of the main file, and it is only d/l one small file at a time - I could be wrong but I always thought it did at least 2.

You can see a pic of it below, it doesn't seem to be as drastic as it was early but still slowing down compared to what it is usually like.

Sorry for the mad pic
[IMG][/img]

You did a speedtest there. But as you said before, it spikes. Pull some linux .iso's from http://ftp.heanet.ie/

Voodu Child

LFC5Times wrote: »

Am with eircom and did a speedtest there and results where download speed - 5.24mb/s, upload - 0.24mb/s and ping was 73ms.

Surely there shouldn't be such absurd spikes in the download speed?

You sure its not dropping in speed as one RAR finishes and another one starts? It always takes a few seconds to get to full speed after starting a new section.

iquitalready

LFC5Times wrote: »

I am downloading some rapidshare files via jdownloader, usually it downloads at around 550-650kbps but now it downloads at around 550kbps sec then it drops to 80kbps and up and down like spike.

Also when copying the files into jdownloader the download would start immediately, now it is taking a few minutes to start.

Are these the effects of these changes or do I need to change settings on my account?

Thanks

Voodu Child wrote: »

You sure its not dropping in speed as one RAR finishes and another one starts? It always takes a few seconds to get to full speed after starting a new section.

Looking at the photo you uploaded, Voodu Child's assessment may be correct. Check the max downloads box (Max. Dls.) in the bottom right-hand corner of JDownloader and see if it's set to 1 - if so change to 5 and try again.

sink

My rapidshare premium account is not working with JDownloader. I can login via the web but it just comes up as invalid account in JDownloader.

That is probably what's causing LFC5Times bandwidth problem because he's downloading as a free user not a premium user.

LFC5Times

sink wrote: »

My rapidshare premium account is not working with JDownloader. I can login via the web but it just comes up as invalid account in JDownloader.

That is probably what's causing LFC5Times bandwidth problem because he's downloading as a free user not a premium user.

Hi,

It was coming up free user but I am a premium user so I couldn't understand it.

So I am after completely removing jdownloader from my computer and reinstalled it adding in the rapidshare premium account details again and it all seems back to normal now.

Thanks all for your replies etc

EGriff

The new system seems grand for me. I bought my 12 month account in December and looking at my account now I have enough rapids to last me 35 months. 30 gig would be plenty for me most months and even if I need more the rapids I have will still last well beyond December.

As long as the uploaders stick with RS I'm happy. JDownloader is acting a bit wonky though.

Cuddlesworth

Yep, down here too. Looks like they have blocked jdownloader.

Skittle

Guys, just update jDownloader, there's an update to handle this issue. I did and it worked as normal.

mp3kid

McLoughlin wrote: »

There is Happy Hour were 10gb downloaded is credited as 1gb so if you were downloaded 25gb during Happy Hour it would only cost you 2.5gb.

When is this Happy Hour ? How can i avail of it ?

iquitalready

mp3kid wrote: »

When is this Happy Hour ? How can i avail of it ?

Happy hour runs from 1am - 9am (Irish time) every morning. If you use JDownloader, you can schedule downloads to start and stop at these times as well as shut down your computer when all downloads are finished. It's invaluable.

LFC5Times

Hi,

Can someone tell me exactly what it means by the term and figure of traffic left (13.75gb) in the picture below.

Is that what I have left for the rest of the month?

If Yes to above, if I say use that up in 3 days time, am I able to get more traffic for the rest of the month and so on?

As far as I know I have a few thousand rapids in my rapidshare account anyway

Cheers in advance

[IMG][/img]

Bob_Harris

LFC5Times wrote:

Is that what I have left for the rest of the month?

Yes

LFC5Times wrote:

If Yes to above, if I say use that up in 3 days time, am I able to get more traffic for the rest of the month and so on?

Yes, in your rapidshare account click the "Charge Traffic" and you can purchase, with rapids, more traffic there.

Gadgetman496

I am at loss to understand what is going on with my account.

I purchased a years premium subscription on 28/03/2010 at a cost of 54.99 EUR but when I check my account status it reports that I have 10 day(s) 16 hours 9 minutes left?

What is this all about?

I just don't understand why you had to try and fix a perfectly good system by implementing such complicated & hard to understand changes.

I use it mainly for downloading so does that mean in 10 days my account is expired even though it's only 4 months into a 12 month subscription?

-

iquitalready

gadgetman496 wrote: »

I purchased a years premium subscription on 28/03/2010 at a cost of 54.99 EUR but when I check my account status it reports that I have 10 day(s) 16 hours 9 minutes left?

What is this all about?

I use it mainly for downloading so does that mean in 10 days my account is expired even though it's only 4 months into a 12 month subscription?

No. They have changed from a subscription based model to a credit one. When the new system came into effect, they converted whatever time you had left (8 months in your case, plus any trafficshare you may have had) into 'Rapids', which is what they are calling their currency if you like. It now costs you 99 Rapids for 30GB of traffic volume every 30 days. If you need more, you can top up by 5GB which costs 14 Rapids each time. This is my Rapidshare a/c:



So in this instance...

1. This is how many Rapids I have left in my account. I had roughly 6 months left in my subscribtion plus about 40GB of additional trafficshare volume I had purchased. At a cost now of 99 Rapids per month, this will last me over 3 years!

2. The time left here indicates how long I have left in my 30 day period. I don't have to worry about this as Rapidshare will automatically extend this at the end of the period for an addition 99 credits.

3. This is the traffic volume I have left in the 30 day period. You get 30GB to use and I have just over 11GB left. If I use this up before the end of the 30 days, Rapidshare will automatically add another 5GB and debit 14 Rapids from my account.


Overall, I'd say this system is much better than the old one. As you can see from my account, the 54.99 I spent last December will last me another 3 years. It is also more flexible in that if you go into 'Settings' you can turn off automatic extensions, thereby saving your even more money if you knew you weren't going to be using Rapidshare for an extended period of time.

Do bear in mind that I am looking at this from the perspective of a downloader; it maybe quite a different experience for people who upload a lot.

Hope that helps.

Gadgetman496

Well guess what iquitalready?

That was an excellent explanation & very easy to follow.

Appreciate the effort you went to in making that so understandable.

Kudos to you sir

-

naughto

how can you find out when you subscription run out??

Hiawog

Have a look at http://www.zippyshare.com/

Free for uploads and downloads and incredibly fast for a free service.

They provide an uploader for users but unlike RS, there is no downloader program. Check download.com for free download managers.

I've just taken down their test file as listed on their blog - about 3.5 mins for 100mb.

P.S. I cannot open their FAQ at present. Their biz model is advertising so they may require minimum download numbers.

ROS123

I noticed this thread seems to be coming to a gradual end. Without reading every page, what was the general consensus, is there a consensus.

SickBoy

Me personally I've signed up to Hotfile.
I think Rapidshare have done themselves no favours with these changes.
Some people seem to think that the newer changes have given them more regarding prolonging their accounts and with the use of happy hours the data quotas can be avoided using download managers that are happy hour aware.
Right now there seems to be no problem finding content but going forward this might change.

sink

Some of my favourite sites have moved away from rapidshare and i've gone with them to hotfile. Still have my rapidshare but only using it for 10% of what I used to. At this rate it will last for several years.

I've noticed that hotfile is slower for single files mid afternoon. I only get ~200kbps if I'm just downloading one file. If I download 5 files at once I can still usually max out my connection at 800kbps.

Hank Scorpio

Im really confused by this system. I had a 3 month rapidshare subscription, although it was close to running out, before the new system was implemented.



Could some-one please explain what the 704 rapids mean?

Traffic left appears to be 3000mb/3GB - Whats the default value for this?

What happens in 2 days and 2 hours time, does my account expire?

I read above but it still isnt clear to me, sorry but im finding this system very complicated. :mad:

Bob_Harris

nuxxx wrote: »

Im really confused by this system. I had a 3 month rapidshare subscription, although it was close to running out, before the new system was implemented.



Could some-one please explain what the 704 rapids mean?

Traffic left appears to be 3000mb/3GB - Whats the default value for this?

What happens in 2 days and 2 hours time, does my account expire?

I read above but it still isnt clear to me, sorry but im finding this system very complicated. :mad:

Are you sure you read the above? :pac:

In 2 days and 2 hours your account will be automatically extended for 30 days, with 30gb cap, costing 99 rapids. This happens every 30 days until you run out of rapids or you turn off auto extend.

At any point you can buy more traffic using rapids.

Hank Scorpio

Bob_Harris wrote: »

Are you sure you read the above? :pac:

In 2 days and 2 hours your account will be automatically extended for 30 days, with 30gb cap, costing 99 rapids. This happens every 30 days until you run out of rapids or you turn off auto extend.

At any point you can buy more traffic using rapids.

ok thanks

what would happen if i used my 30GB in 1 day? would i need to wait 29 days before i can download again?

p.s what does the happy hour system offer? I read somewhere its 1am to 9am irish time

SickBoy

Traffic counts for 1/10 of it's size so you could download 10gb and only loose 1gb of your download allowance.

RolandIRL

nuxxx wrote: »

what would happen if i used my 30GB in 1 day? would i need to wait 29 days before i can download again?

you can buy additional traffic. i think it's 14 rapids for an additional 5GB download and 1GB storage.

Bob_Harris

Has the monthly traffic for 99 rapids been upped from 30BG to 50GB?

I just checked and it says I have 43,652MB left for this month.

IrishTonyO

Find very few search results for rapidshare these days,

iquitalready

Bob_Harris wrote: »

Has the monthly traffic for 99 rapids been upped from 30BG to 50GB?

I just checked and it says I have 43,652MB left for this month.

Not that I'm aware of. But it does carry over any unused traffic, so most likely you had thirteen-and-a-half gigs left when your thirty days were up.