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MP3 Download Not Working

(6 posts) (2 voices)

Started 1 year ago by sbhbws
Latest reply from wzp
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sbhbws
Member

Hi, just installed, set up shop, tested transaction cycle with Paypal. All seems to be working fine. Getting email and Thank You page links. The only problem is that the download part isn't delivering. I double checked the file URL, I put it in different places. When the link does work, the file I got from the download was a 17k file, not the original 8MB file. Sometimes I get a "Download file cannot be found" message from the plugin—I guess that means there's a mismatch between the stated file location URL and the actual location. The curious thing is that when I type in the actual location of the MP3 file in my browser, I get a 404 error message from my WP site.

I am at my wits end with this. I've been all over this site looking for the solution but haven't found anything. The plugin seems to be working fine on the face of it, why do you think that it isn't delivering the whole file in the download? Could it be a server issue? If so, what do I need to do or ask the web host to do to correct.

Please help. Thanks.

Posted 1 year ago #
sbhbws
Member

Just looked at my Download Manager debug log file. Looks like it's a PHP safe mode on issue. I'll see if it can be resolved with the web host. So if we turn off PHP Safe mode, everything should be working fine then?

Posted 1 year ago #
wzp
Moderator

If you get a 404 error when you try to access the product file directly from your browser, something is wrong, that has nothing to do with eStore.

As for the partial downloads, you might try changing the download method to 2, 4, or 6. For large files, you might also be having problems because of server performance or configuration issues. If the majority of files you plan to sell are very large, you might want to consider using the Amazon S3 integration option; which offloads the burden of downloading from your server to the Amazon S3 servers. Using the S3 integration option means that downloads are no longer dependent on the reliability level of the server you are using.

Posted 1 year ago #
sbhbws
Member

Thanks for the reply. My web host told me to put in a php.ini file to turn off safe mode. I did that and extended the script exec time but it made no difference. I also tried the different download methods to no avail. Now it transpires that the problem is a completely different one. The 404 error message is a telltale sign. On the face of it, it seems like it has nothing to do with how e Store works. What I've found out is that most web hosts out there simply do not allow "hotlinks" to MP3 files. And this creates a whole new problem that has to be surmounted for one to be able to sell MP3 downloads with e Store. No hotlinking of MP3 files means that accessible URL anywhere on my website won't work for e Store, I have to host the files elsewhere that allows hotlinking. That, should hopefully take care of the problem.

In view of this, I have suggestions for future improvements for e Store. First of all, I wouldn't want the files I sell to be publicly accessible on the web anyway, whether you encrypt and fake the download link or not, the fact is, the file is publicly accessible. I would have preferred to put my files in a root directory that is not accessible to the public. I would then deliver the downloads as files attached to an email that is instantly sent to the buyer. That would be safer and would also circumvent the hotlinking ban that most web hosts impose for MP3 and movie files. After all, for many of your customers who only sell a small number of ebooks, the file size is small so would work fine as email attachments. I would welcome such an additional feature with e Store.

Posted 1 year ago #
sbhbws
Member

I have now resolved the problem. It all came down to the web host not allowing hotlinking of MP3 files, which is all too common these days. I had to host all my MP3 files elsewhere. E Store works like a charm and the masking of the download url is vital to the viability of the whole enterprise.

Posted 1 year ago #
wzp
Moderator

You can do this now, using the Amazon S3 integration feature. The files are stored on Amazon S3. The encrypted links will redirect buyers to the Amazon S3 servers. You can also use the eStore Admin function to manually generate emails.

Posted 1 year ago #

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