First Look: Memeo Send with special deal for TUAW readers

Do you need to send large files to clients or friends? Sending those big files through email can be a problem, since sometimes the receiver's ISP limits the size of files that can be received. It's slow and expensive to send files on external hard drives, USB flash drives, or DVDs through express mail shipping methods. If you've ever tried to explain the simplicity of FTP to someone who is less than computer-savvy, sending huge files through FTP becomes a problem.

Enter Memeo Send, which was announced today. The application is free to download (you can also send or receive files from a web browser) and with your free download you are given the opportunity to set up 3 file deliveries. At the end of that time, you can purchase extra deliveries for about US$1 each. If you don't need to send files very often, you won't pay much -- Memeo Send is strictly pay-as-you-go.

Read on for more information, including a special offer to the first 400 TUAW readers who use Memeo Send.

I had a chance to test the application and service, and it works very well. After a fast download and installation, you can use Memeo Send to create a free account. Once the account email has been validated, you can drag and drop packages of files to send to recipients. Using an encrypted connection, the files are uploaded to Memeo's servers.

Once the Send Securely button has been clicked, a dialog informs you of exactly how many delivery credits will be needed to deliver the file. For the 2.7 GB MP4 file shown in the screenshot above, the "cost" was 2 delivery credits. It would have been more if I had sent a larger file or had addressed the file to multiple recipients.

The upload wasn't exactly speedy, probably limited by the maximum upload speed for my cable modem connection and the fact that the file being sent was already compressed data. I started the upload and went to bed -- I wasn't about to wait for seven hours or so for the file to be uploaded. In the screenshot below, you can also see that the Delivery Status bar shows that the recipient had already been notified. That's a slight bug, since the notification email wasn't actually sent until 4:27 AM (7 hours, 35 minutes later) when the file transfer was completed.

When the files are sitting on Memeo's servers, the recipients are notified via email that a package is ready to be downloaded. The email that the recipient gets looks like this:

The two Download buttons indicate that the recipient can download the files using the Memeo Send desktop application, which runs on either Mac OS X 10.5 / 10.6 (Leopard / Snow Leopard) or Windows XP and Vista. If they choose, recipients can also download the file using a standard web browser like Safari, IE, or Firefox. The files are downloaded over an encrypted connection, and upon completion of the download the sender is notified that the files have been delivered.

I had some problems receiving the download file. First, although my "recipient" email address was in the system, I had never entered a password, so I needed to do a password reset. This would be very confusing to a novice user. Second, after logging in with the Memeo Send client software, the receive page (see below) noted that the "download was resuming" but it never actually started. After starting the Memeo Send client software two more times, the download finally began. Downloads were much faster (it took about 45 minutes for the 2.7 GB file), which is what I'd expect given the difference in maximum upload and download speeds on my cable modem service.

Once my download was complete, the "sender" (also me!) received the following confirmation that the recipient had received the file:

Whether Memeo Send will have value to you or not depends on the size and number of files you'll be sending to others, whether or not you need notification that a file has been successfully delivered to your recipients, and on the technical savvy of the recipients. For many of the clients I work with, we use private servers to transfer our big files. However, I regularly have to walk new or technically naive clients through the process of downloading and installing an FTP client, and then connecting to my server. Those are the clients who would benefit the most from the ease of use of Memeo Send, particularly if they use the web client to download the files.

Special Deal!
We love giving away stuff to TUAW readers, and Memeo has provided a wonderful offer. To the first 400 readers who use Memeo Send to go beyond the built-in 3 delivery credit limit, Memeo has provided 50 free delivery credits (value of US$49.50). Taking advantage of this deal is simple; when you've used more than your free 3 delivery credits, Memeo Send will ask you to buy more. Enter the coupon code TUAWSEND in the proper area when you're buying those credits, and you'll be charged absolutely nothing for the next 50 delivery credits.

What's your favorite way of easily sending large files to clients or friends? Be sure to leave a comment below if you use some other method to do those pesky file transfers, and be sure to let us know how you like Memeo Send if you give it a try.