With the support of iLok, more tips & tricks from the community, this one is a different solution from Tunes on sharing files when collaborating on a project

I have something I have used for a long time for collaboration with others. We all have several services to share files. e.g. box.net, dropbox, copy.com. These are great but as we all know they sometimes slow us down in our workflows.

I have a tip for sharing files with people you are collaborating with. Most people will recall AOL’s Instant Messenger Application. It’s still available for download in the legacy file area. What some people don’t realize is that you can setup file sharing with it. You can even set it up to automatically accept files. More importantly is that AIM makes a direct connection to the person you are sharing files with. It will even bypass firewalls.

So without the hassle of setting up a server with new clients or collaborators or adjusting your firewall settings, you can share files directly to someone else’s computer at the highest bandwidth your internet connection will allow.

I have used this in the last couple of years when doing guitar tracks for a client who wants to listen back and give notes or when fixes are needed because their arrangement has changed since they gave me the original arrangement. I just export the guitar track, grab the exported file  and drop it into the chat I have initiated with them and away it goes. They grab it and drop it into their session and are able to listen right away.

Some caveats….

• It doesn’t work well during peak internet traffic hours.
• It also doesn’t seem to like MP3s. (ISPs might be blocking them).
• However I have had no trouble sending .WAVs or .AIFFs Give it a try.

Hopefully this will continue to work until something really amazing comes along. 

If you want to find all the community tips then just click on the Community Tip tag at the bottom of the story and you will get them all together in one page.

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