I found myself always wanting to trade albums with others. However, this can become time consuming and difficult to arrange. A solution I found was to use Google’s Gmail as a server to hold albums and others could download them. An application has been developed to facilitate easy file transfer, called Gspace. This post is meant to be a guide on joining the Musictide community that has been established on Gspace. It will outline the software installations needed, how to receive emails when others upload albums, and how to send emails once you have uploaded an album.

Get Gspace running:

Step 1) Get firefox: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

Step 2) Get Gspace: http://www.getgspace.com/

Step 3) Make sure everything is installed and updated etc. If you click on the “tools” drop-down in firefox, there should be an item called “Gspace” in that menu.

Step 4) Login. Go to http://www.gmail.com/
Ask the person who referred you for the login and password.

Step 5) Use Gspace. Click Tools>Gspace. Wait a few seconds and it should log you on. You should see a bunch of files and folders appear on the right. These are all of the files hosted by gmail. On the left is your computer. Use the arrows in the middle to move files from your computer to Gspace or from Gspace to your computer.

Adding Yourself to the “Upload Updates” email List:

This is a list of Gspace users. It is used to notify everyone when an album has been uploaded.

Step 1) Go to Gmail

Step 2) Click “Contacts” on the left.

Step 3) Click “Upload Update” in the first pane.

Step 4) Click the “+ person” icon above the pane.

Step 5) Add your info to the right pane. (Include email address and alias at the least)

Uploading an Album:

Step 1) Find the folder. You can navigate the folders in the left pane of Gspace, or click “Browse” above this pane.

Step 2) Prepare for upload. Select the folder in the left pane (your computer). Make sure you are in the root Gspace directory (the one with all of the folders)

Step 3) Begin the transfer. Click the Right Arrow between the two panes. You can see the status of each file as it uploads in the bottom pane.

Step 4) Contact the masses. Once all files have successfully uploaded, go to the normal Gmail page (if you’ve followed these directions, there should be a tab open in firefox with the normal Gmail page).

Step 5) Find the list. Click “Contacts” on the left of the page. Click “Upload Update” in the left pane. Click “select:All” at the bottom of the middle pane. Finally, click “Email” in the right pane.

Step 6) Compose the Email. It’s suggested that you put:

• Name of folder on Gspace (usually album title)
• Name of artist
• Your name/alias
• Possibly some info about the artist/album.

This might sound complicated, but you’ll get the hang of it very quickly.