Something like Vimeo, but that allows slideshows set to songs

February 9, 2015 2:29 AM

Vimeo is now removing any uploaded videos that contain any copyrighted music. Are there any services that have similar features to Vimeo, but don't do this?

I often make slideshows for friends or co-workers using iPhoto. Stringing together a bunch of photos from a wedding, say, or a trip. To go along with the slideshow I use a piece of appropriate music; a classical piece from a movie, or a popular song.

Until recently, I would post these to Vimeo as private password-protected videos.
My friends could go to a Vimeo URL that I gave them, enter a password and see a nice slideshow of their wedding.

Vimeo is now removing any uploaded videos that contain any copyrighted music.

Are there any services that have similar features to Vimeo, but don't do this?

I just want to share password-protected slideshows with some nice music with 10-20 people (not with the whole internet).

If there isn't a video service like this, I suppose I could just post the video files (which are usually 250-450MB) to some sort of page that allows you to send files that are too big for email (not as great for recipients who aren't tech-saavy, but better than nothing)...
Are there sites like this that can require a password to access the uploaded file?

Thanks for any suggestions!

posted by anonymous to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

If you upload the files to Google Drive and change the permissions so that anyone with the link can view them, then people can watch them, even without signing in to Google. If you want a file to truly be password-protected, then you can set the permissions so that only specific people (that is, specific Google accounts) can view it.

I regularly do this to share videos I make for my job with my colleagues. I normally use the "anyone with a link can view the file" option, because the URLs aren't easily guesssable. My videos are usually around 40-50 MB each, but the limit for uploaded files is 5 TB, so you shouldn't have a problem. After Drive finishes processing a video file, then viewers can just play it in their browser like they would on YouTube or Vimeo (before processing is finished, they can only download the file, not stream it).
posted by neushoorn at 4:09 AM on February 9, 2015 [4 favorites]

If you use something like MS Movie Maker or OpenShot you should be able to export the slideshow as a Flash or MP4 file of reasonable size, then simply put it on Dropbox or Google Drive or where ever. Any legit online service is going to part of the MPAA /RIAA mafia, so you have to avoid them, make the video yourself offline, and share somewhere they aren't watching.
posted by COD at 5:31 AM on February 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I'd say make the video on your desktop then export to dropbox, send the secret "share" link to the file to your friends seems like the best option. Most movie file types automatically get displayed in their own movie player, so you don't have to download to play and can stream it on the page itself (which also works in mobile, etc).
posted by mathowie at 3:58 PM on February 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

I forgot to mention if you're doing iPhoto exports already, and if you have an iCloud account, you can share them via iCloud Photo Sharing, which should give you a shareable URL to let friends see the movie on their desktops and mobile devices.
posted by mathowie at 3:59 PM on February 9, 2015 [1 favorite]