As some of you know, despite everything I am going to quite a bit of trouble to get all of the episodes of Dink, the Little Dinosaur. After which, I'll set something up to make getting them better for the fans. However, do you know how frustrating it's been trying to get them?
A torrent search leads you to one without seeds or lechers. This makes that one just impossible to download. Other than that, you can find a better one, but you have to pay for the torrent downloader to get it. (The torrent is set up to have it downloaded specifically from this one.) No thank you!
A YouTube search only brings up about 16 of the 42 episodes.
Finally, you search, "Dink, the Little Dinosaur Downloads". Third link in you get what seems to be the saving grace to your problem. A search engine that helps you locate files on a site called Rapidshare. Also, EVERY episode of Dink, TLD is there. Sure you have to download them one at a time and put in a 3 digit code to ensure you're not a bot, but it's worth it, right? WRONG!
Rapidshare, as of this moment, has proven itself to be THE absolute worst sharing file service I have ever run into.
The first thing you'll note is that it has a choice between Free and Premium User. Since you aren't paying for this, you are forced to pick Free User. This in turn causes several problems.
First off, you have to wait a certain amount of time before you can download the file. For me, it's been anywhere between 45 and 90 seconds, but I suspect it has to do with my 2MB connection speed. Those of you with slower ones will probably have to wait longer, and I bet that would be a pain.
Next up, the download takes FOREVER! I find myself trying to find a way to spend 45 to 90 minutes just to get a 94 MB file. (Sometimes I get lucky and only have to wait 10, but that's rare.) I'd hate to see how long a 1 GB file takes to download from this place.
Also, do you know how much bandwidth this takes up? The download slowed the loading of THIS FORUM'S Home Page to a snail's pace! It was horrible! To be honest, other places I've used to download files only slow it down a tiny bit. They don't cause as much of a problem as Rapidshare does.
Finally, there are restrictions to being a Free User.
The first thing is that you can't download all the time. You have to wait a whole hour at least between downloads before you can attempt to download again.
The final thing you want to know that really makes this terrible? Their server is overloaded VERY OFTEN! As a Free User you really have to time the download just right. If you don't, you have to wait until it is no longer overloaded before you can get it. How long does that take? To be honest, it could be hours.
I've seen better service from other various file sharing sites than this one. Also, they give you that greatness absolutely free! Places like SendSpace are so much better. Even ones like 4Shared that have a limit to how much you can store for your users I would rate better. They are just so much better and faster and they do it for free.
This goes out to Rapidshare, when I finally have them all, I'm done with you. Fans of anything shouldn't be restricted like this. I can't make it better for everyone, but I can at least make it better for one fanbase out there.
Fans of Dink, the Little Dinosaur, you will be saved from this tragedy. I promise you that.
