

Ask HN to review: app to save files from web directly to your Dropbox - vanwilder77
http://boxmydownloads.com/

======
Blahah
In addition to agreeing with the other comments about it not being clear what
it does, you need to get a native English speaker to fix the grammar,
punctuation and tone. The Privacy Policy page is fine, but the About and home
pages need copy editing.

For example, on the home page:

"Download any URL from web directly to your Dropbox!" should be...

"Download any URL from the web directly to your Dropbox!"

"We will create a new folder in your Dropbox `My Downloads`, and have only
this folder access." should be...

"We will create a new folder in your Dropbox called 'My Downloads', and we
only access this folder."

There are lots more examples.

Also, it seems to me a major use-case for this service is to get around
download restrictions. Say I'm at work and I want to download a file, but
can't because of the corporate firewall blocking me. As long as my company
allows dropbox, I can use your service to download the file. Same with
bypassing censorship, etc.

~~~
vanwilder77
Thanks. I ve updated the corrections.

I guess it also comes because of my Indian accent!

~~~
onedev
"We promise, we won't screw up with your Dropbox folder."

Should be

"We promise, we won't screw up your Dropbox folder."

But it'd be even better if you just left that out in my opinion. It creates
doubt because you're stating something that is kind of expected from a service
like this.

~~~
vanwilder77
Thanks onedev!

I think the same, but some people here, doubted that - `what if it screws up
my Dropbox`.

And we dont because we respect your users Privacy. But just to make them feel
secure, I had to add that line.

But thanks, I guess people have to trust us if they use our service. I ve
removed that from the Homepage.

~~~
chrischen
I think the better solution would to be very explicit and clear about what
your app does. Stating that it creates a "My Downloads" folder and just puts
files into that folder, and nothing more, should be enough to assuage fears.

~~~
vanwilder77
Thanks chrischen! That makes sense.

I have updated the message. To -

"We will create a folder in your Dropbox `My Downloads`, and all your
downloaded files will land in it."

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pulakm
What exactly is the intended use case? On my home computer, it's faster for me
to right click, save and my Dropbox opens up.

On other computers, I have to remember to go to your website (and thus
remember your URL) and sign into Dropbox. I might as well download it to a
Downloads folder and then upload it to dropbox.com.

~~~
coob
One use case I'm imagining - being on a poor 3G connection and wanting to save
something to your Dropbox for later. I don't want to have spent hours
downloading it over 3G when I can use this and have it ready on my otherwhere
located desktop which will have it by the time I get there.

------
roh26it
Wouldn't this work so much better as a Chrome/Firefox plugin?

~~~
vanwilder77
Yeah, exactly.

Just right click on the link that would like to save. And it will be
downloaded in your Dropbox folder.

Thanks, I m already in the process of building a Chrome extension.

~~~
downboy
Or even a bookmarklet.

------
wingerlang
I have no idea what you are selling. How does it work?

~~~
redact207
Agreed, it's not very clear. How does it support YouTube? If I give it a
YouTube page does it resolve and download the video to my Dropbox? How do you
get access to create the "My Downloads" folder? How can I trust you guys not
to ruin my Dropbox? What's the difference to saving to my local Dropbox
folder?

It'd be nice to have more of your story on the "About" page - what's your pain
point that made you create this app to fix? What are the bio's of you guys?

Otherwise the site looks nice & clean. It's simple which pairs well with the
Dropbox look & feel, but lacks a bit in a persuading sales proposition.

~~~
vanwilder77
We create the `My downloads` folder when you authorize our app. And please we
will only download the files to your Dropbox, which you asked for.

We are solving the problem of users downloading their files to their local
machine and then uploading it to their Dropbox (huge files).

And yeah, if you give it a Youtube URL, it will upload the video as it is, to
your Dropbox.

~~~
ashazar
"We are solving the problem of users downloading their files to their local
machine and then uploading it to their Dropbox (huge files)."

At first, it makes sense. But after a second thought; this (uploading directly
to Dropbox) will happen when and if you want to download that file only for
backup or to use/view it later.

Because if i use the app and save that "huge" file directly to Dropbox, i have
to wait for it to be downloaded to my computer to use/view it.

Did i understood correctly? Or it saves the file locally as well?

~~~
mineo
If I understood the intention correctly, it's not about saving time
_downloading_ files when saving them from the internet to your computer or
Dropbox, it's really about saving the time you spend _uploading_ large files
that you downloaded from the internet from your computer to your Dropbox. At
least where I live the upload speeds on normal internet connections are way
smaller than the download speeds, so what this app basically does (I think) is
download the file to your Dropbox via their server, so you don't have to spend
the time _uploading_ the huge file to Dropbox because those guys did that part
for you.

~~~
vanwilder77
Exactly!!

We also provide additional support to save the videos to your Dropbox for
popular sites (including Youtube, Vimeo)

~~~
redact207
You need to add this whole message from this point up the tree onto your site
front & centre.

-"Slow, costly internet connection? Save your bandwidth and download quotas by..." (identify problem)

-"Our service saves files from the internet directly to your dropbox without using your connection" (how it works)

-"Spending $x per yGB? At $4.99 per year you can save $z" (value proposition

-features (esp security), how it works (diagram?) pricing/signup

Good luck & congrats on your launch

~~~
vanwilder77
Thank redact207! I ve created a `How it works` page and have added all the
required info there [http://boxmydownloads.com/how-it-
works](http://boxmydownloads.com/how-it-works)

------
jhgaylor
There's the added benefit of downloading a copy of the file once when you sync
with dropbox instead of a download and an upload.

------
vanwilder77
Added our Goal to the About page:

[http://boxmydownloads.com/about/](http://boxmydownloads.com/about/)

Our goal: "We intent to move your `My Downloads` from your local Desktop/
Laptop/ Mac, to your Dropbox."

------
nerdyhacker
I like the flow of the app, its really easy to know what you need to do.

It would be really useful, if I could add downloads from my phone (maybe a
native app) which integrates with Save functionality.

------
jwcrux
Why can't users just change their browser settings to download files to the
locally synced Dropbox folder? Wouldn't this accomplish the same thing?

------
martin-adams
My advice would be not to depend too heavily on users downloading YouTube
videos.

~~~
vanwilder77
actually, I m focused to make it easier for users to save files to their
Dropbox.

I m trying to move that `My Downloads` directory from the users local machine
to their Dropbox folder.

And I m starting that by moving their Videos, to Dropbox.

So I started that by doing this small thing (for videos).

