Rapidshare

To add more value to the existing Rapidshare reward point system leading online file-hoster Rapidshare.Com is introducing the new RapidShare points system 2.0 - with introduction of the new system users earn a Premium-RapidPoint when Premium users download a total of 100 MB traffic volume generated by any of their files bigger than 5 MB, these Premium-RapidPoints will now be counted separately from the classical (Free-)RapidPoints, users can exchange Premium-RapidPoints for Free-RapidPoints and ReferrerPoints.

The good news is to compensation for the waiting time until the new points system kicks in, Rapidshare.Com is offering summer special discount allowing users to create a 30-days Premium Account for only 1998 Free-RapidPoints instead of 10000 points earlier.

There are quite a few decent automated downloaders supporting simultaneous downloads from various file-sharing services like RDesc and Tucan, but all new Java based multi-platform FreeRapid Downloader would be one of the best multi-service downloader we have ever came across, supporting fully automated downloads from 87 file-sharing services like Rapidshare, Megaupload, Mediafire and Hotfile to name a few.

The utility supports plugin based architecture allowing easy expansion of supported file-hosters and comes equipped with features like support for proxy lists, download history, smart clipboard monitoring, simple CAPTCHA recognition, automated plugin updates, multi-language support and interface skins.

Latest version of the fully automated Rapidshare Auto Downloader for free users is now available, the fresh release adds new features and fixes existing bugs.

This release features new functions to organize downloads in better manner with options to move a group of links up and down, ability to add comments (can be used to save archive password) and new system-tray icon feature.

Rapidshare premium users were very disappointed when the leading file-hoster decided to cut heavily on premium users daily download bandwidth, to provide some relief to heavy-downloaders the service has now announced Rapidshare Happy Hours for Premium customers, during HappyHours only 10% of data downloaded will be counted to your traffic balance for example if you download 500 MB during HappyHours, only 50 MB will get deducted from your daily traffic-limit, same applies to use of RapidPoints and TrafficShare for your downloads.

Currently HappyHours will be effective from 2 A.M. to 10 A.M. Central European Time, daily unused traffic accumulation limit is also relaxed to 15 GB from earlier 12 GB.

There are numerous automated download managers for Windows supporting major file-hosters like Rapidshare, Megaupload and Mediafire, but if you are looking for something which gets the job done on other platforms like Linux, open-source utility "Tucan Manager" would be the answer, developed in Phython the cross-platform utility lets users upload and download files on Rapidshare, Megaupload, Gigasize and Mediafire supporting both free and premium account functionality.

The fast and simple to use utility supports plugins making it easily extensible with other services, the application is in ALPHA stages and definitely posses a lot of potential considering its open-source multi-platform nature.

We have shared quite a few automated Rapidshare file-downloaders on this blog and here is yet another download manager for Rapidshare free users, free utility Rapidshare Auto Downloader lets you manage and download a group of Rapidshare links one after another without user intervention.

The interface is not intuitive and can definitely be worked upon for better navigation and ease of use, if you are looking for a decent Rapidshare download manager this will get the job done.

In an interesting development leading one-click file-hoster Rapidshare.Com announced public release of Rapidshare Application Programming Interface (API) meant for developers to create Rapidshare based applications, As per the official statement the Rapidshare API is now completed and will get released to public for external beta testing soon once complete API documentation is finished.

Rapidshare API will let programmers utilize RapidShare internal functions to create powerful applications based around the service via a simple and handy format.

Free automated Rapidshare download utility Rapidshare Plus is now updated to version 3.1 with several new features, the new version supports automatic queue saving, support for Rapidshare link list, improved clipboard paste functionality, new minimize to tray function and advanced error handling capabilities to name a few.

You can now also configure Rapidshare Plus to auto-execute applications conditionally this can be helpful for executing IP renewal applications like automatic router re-connector.

Firefox extensions like RSFind makes copying Rapidshare links from webpages fast and simple, but it lacks the essential feature to check Rapidshare link validity, but no worries as the new extension named Unofficial RapidShare Tool takes care of small annoyances related to copying and validation of Rapidshare links automatically, apart from copying Rapidshare links to Clipboard, Text File, HTML and XML formats the free Firefox addon can also check validity of the links automatically with fully customizable color coding options to distinguish working and non-working Rapidshare links on a webpage.

Rapidshare.Com has decided to decrease the download limit for new premium customers to 80 GB per month from 300 GB earlier (10 GB per day), old premium account holders will continue to enjoy the earlier limits until they extend their premium account after the policy change.

The new download limit roughly translates to 2.6 GB of daily downloads which should be more then enough for most users, but can be a limiting factor if you have a very high-speed connection and download heavily, if you are not happy with the new limit give Rapidshare alternative VIPeers or MediaFire a try.