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Need Clarification on Downloads per X days

Home Forums Community Forum Need Clarification on Downloads per X days

This topic contains 7 replies, has 3 voices. Last updated by  Cristián Lávaque 4 years, 7 months ago.

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Posted: Friday May 11th, 2012 at 3:08 pm #13220

I’d like to make sure I understand how download counts work. I’ve tried doing some searches but didn’t find a concrete answer.

Lets say that I allow a certain user level to download 5 files every 7 days. Which of these scenarios is correct:

A. The user downloads 5 files in 7 days, and when the next 7 day period starts, he downloads 5 different files. Going forward he will always be able to re-download those 10 previously downloaded files. If I had 50 files, it would take him 10 weeks to download them all and he would always have access to re-download all 50 in the future.

B. The user downloads 5 files in 7 days, and when the next 7 day period starts, he downloads 5 different files but no longer has access to re-download the first 5. The 5 files are based on concurrent use. If I had 50 files, it would take him 10 weeks to download them all but he would not be able to re-download them.

I suspect A is the correct one based on what I’ve found so far. But if it’s B, how is the 7 day period calculated? Is it a static block of time or is it incremental where the 1st file “rolls off” the counter after 7 days and allows 1 more file?

Thanks!

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Posted: Friday May 11th, 2012 at 11:56 pm #13257

Hi Paul.

Right, A. [hilite path]Dashboard -› s2Member® -› Download Options -› Basic Download Restrictions[/hilite]

s2Member will allow access to these protected files, based on the configuration you specify below. Repeated downloads of the same exact file are NOT tabulated against the totals below. Once a file has been downloaded, future downloads of the same exact file, by the same exact Member will not be counted against them. In other words, if a Member downloads the same file three times, the system only counts that as one unique download. In addition, multiple variations of popular media formats are only counted once. This is because many site owners provide multiple download options to their Users/Members, for compatibility purposes. Files that have the same exact name, with one of these extensions, will only be counted ONE time: avi,wav,mpa,mpeg,mpv,mps,m1v,m2v,mp4,mp3,m3u,flv,f4v,3gp,3g2,aac,m4a,webm,ogg,ogv,pls,ogm,m4u,mov,qtl,asf,wmv,wvx,wma,wax,ra,rm,ram.

About how the time is calculated, I’m not sure myself, haven’t asked yet. I’m emailing Jason now. I’ll let you know when I hear back from him, or he may just leave a reply himself.

Posted: Saturday May 12th, 2012 at 4:09 pm #13316

Thanks for the reply. I have read the text from the s2Member docs, but the time period issue was clouding things for me. I wanted to be sure I understood it correctly because it makes a real difference in the way you decide to structure access levels and content availability.

In my particular case, I want to protect audio content (mp3) so “plays” will essentially count as “downloads”. I think that when you’re dealing with media it might actually be better if scenario B were the correct one, but I can understand why it’s not… it could get pretty complicated pretty quickly. And of course everyone’s business model will be a little different anyway. If you’re trying to not only protect content but also make it available on as many platforms as possible, there is no perfect solution (Flash and RTMP are great, but if you need to add HTML5 for iPad, etc. it opens up a huge can of worms).

If Jason has any clarifications to add, I’d still be interested in hearing them.

Posted: Saturday May 12th, 2012 at 5:47 pm #13321

OK. Yeah, I’ll wait for his comments too.

Posted: Monday May 14th, 2012 at 6:48 pm #13426
Staff Member

Thanks for the heads up on this request for support.

B. The user downloads 5 files in 7 days, and when the next 7 day period starts, he downloads 5 different files but no longer has access to re-download the first 5. The 5 files are based on concurrent use. If I had 50 files, it would take him 10 weeks to download them all but he would not be able to re-download them.

Following the example that you laid out…

s2Member allows X number of files to be downloaded, every X number of days, as configured by the site owner. A customer may download up to 7 different files in each 7 day period. The date calculation begins when the first downloaded occurs, and automatically resets back to 0 after 7 days has passed.

For example…

If a customer downloads 5 files today, they are not allowed to download any new files until 7 days later, when the next period begins for this customer. When the next period begins, 5 new files can be downloaded.

There is no distinction in these calculations regarding files downloaded in previous periods. A customer will NOT always have access to files they’ve downloaded in the previous periods. Once a new period begins, all previous downloads are wiped away. In other words, a customer could not download 5 new files, and then go back and download 25 files again, which they might have downloaded in the past.

Posted: Monday May 14th, 2012 at 9:33 pm #13432

Thanks Jason. So the rule:

Once a file has been downloaded, future downloads of the same exact file, by the same exact Member will not be counted against them.

Is true within the same period, and reset at start of the new one. Right?

Posted: Tuesday May 15th, 2012 at 1:27 pm #13532

Jason, thank you very much for the clarification! I’m actually happy to find out that I had assumed incorrectly and that s2Member works as it does. Maybe an extra sentence or two in the docs clarifying that re-downloads are only available during the specified download period would be helpful.

Thanks to both Jason and Cristián for responsive support, I appreciate it.

Posted: Tuesday May 15th, 2012 at 7:08 pm #13565

You’re welcome! I’m glad I could help a bit. :)

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