[Download] Anime: Pay-For-Use Anime FTP

In December last year, I wrote a short post on pay-for-use anime direct download sites/FTPs - featuring a couple of the more established ones, i.e. [Download] Anime FTP and National-Anime.

Right after that post, I subscribed to a few of them to see whether or not they actually fulfill the promises they print on their index pages (e.g. hundreds of anime series, fast speeds, etc.).

So, now that I’ve garnered sufficient experience to answer that question, here’s my first review on a paid anime direct download site/FTP:

1) Background:

• Name: [Download] Anime FTP
• URL: http://danimeftp.com/
• Age: Approximately 2-3 Years
• When I Started Subscribing: Dec. 2005
• Still Subscribing: Yes
• Transparency: High (open forum available)
• Background Rating: 4.5/5

Background rating is based only on age of site/FTP and transparency level. Any site older than 1.5 years with a high transparency level (e.g. open forum available, reasonable negative posts not moderated away, etc.) merits a 4.5/5 rating. This rating exists because the older, more established and more transparent a site is, the less likely it is to encounter problems or close down in the near future.

2) Content:

• Type of Content: Unlicensed Anime, Manga, J-Dramas, K-Dramas, and OSTs
• Content File Formats: High Quality (HQ) file formats (e.g. .avi, .mp4, etc.) only
• Total Size of Content: ~4TB
• No. of Anime Series: ~400
• No. of Anime Movies: ~50
• No. of Drama and Live Action Series: 50+
• No. of Manga Titles: 80+
• No. of OSTs: 1000+
• Content Rating: 4.5/5

Content rating is based on the depth, diversity, and above all, total amount of content provided by the site/FTP, relative to similar sites out there. [Download] Anime is clearly one of the largest repositories of anime and drama, but its lack of licensed anime pulls its overall rating down (only slightly though, since you should be getting licensed anime from DVDs).

3) Updates:

• Update Frequency: Almost As Soon As Episode Is Released
• User Requests Possible: Yes (as long as title requested is unlicensed)
• User Request Method: Forum
• User Request Response Speed: ~1 Day
• Speed over Exclusivity: Yes
• Multiple Fansubbers Uploaded: Upon Request
• Updates Rating: 5/5

Updates rating is based primarily on update frequency and user request response speed. In the case of [Download] Anime, the latest episodes are uploaded almost as soon as the episode is released on Bittorrent. The admin’s response time to user requests is also highly admirable, with requests usually fulfilled within a day. This factor alone separates DA from almost all pay-for-use DDL sites I’ve used. The “Speed over Exclusivity” criterion refers to the admin’s preference towards providing the latest episodes of a certain series (no matter the fansubber), rather than stick with a particular fansubber till the end.

4) Connectivity:

• Download Protocol(s): FTP
• Download Accelerator Supported: Yes
• No. of Connections: 1 or 5 (depending on speed cap)
• Speed Cap: Unlimited for 1 Connection or 250KB/s for 5 Connections
• Connectivity Rating: 4/5

Connectivity rating is based on all the factors given above. Generally, HTTP sites get a higher rating compared to FTP-only sites given the slight accessibility and usability hit involved in downloading through FTP (e.g. university students who have their FTP ports blocked off won’t be able to use DA, etc.). However, the fact that DA provides two different connection packages is a big plus for me as I would not be able to max my Asian-based downlink with only 1 connection. As most of you would know, most, if not all, DDL sites are hosted in the US, and thus, give unstable (i.e. low) speeds to Asian users unless multiple connections are provided.

5) Speed:

• Server Based In: US
• Advertised Uplink: 100mbit Cogent
• Advertised Average Speeds: 1.5 MB/s for FIOS users, 100kb+ to 400kb+ for most US users
• Test File Provided: Yes
• My Average Speeds: 75KB/s (on a 1mbit, i.e. ~110KB/s max., Malaysian connection)
• Max. Tested Speed: 400KB/s (on a 5mbit, i.e. ~550KB/s max., Singaporean connection)
• Speed Rating: 4.5/5

Speed rating is based on um… speed. Since my home connection is a lousy 1mbit, I opted for the 5 connection (250KB/s speed cap) (no longer any speed cap) package - which has allowed me to max my connection most of the time. Of course, your experience may vary - especially if you have extremely good connections (i.e. 5mbit and above). So, make sure you download the test file a few times (at different times) to confirm your own speeds.

6) Support:

• Support Available: Yes
• Support Channels: E-mail and forum
• Response Time: ~1 day
• Support Rating: 5/5

Support rating is based on all criteria above. When I first started, I swarmed the admin with a barrage of e-mails containing rather pointless questions - all of which were replied in a timely and polite manner. Since then, I haven’t had much chance to use support because I’ve had few problems.

7) Price:

• Payment Modes: Monthly, Every Three Months, or Per 1 GB
• Payment Channels: Paypal, Credit Card, and Amazon Honor System
• Price: US$6 per month, US$15 per 3 months, or US$1 per GB
• Price Rating: 4/5

Price rating is based on all criteria above. DA’s monthly price is slightly higher than National-Anime (US$5) or AnimePremium (US$4.95), but if you pay per 3 months, then you’ll get US$5 per month as well. This still deserves a high 4/5 rating when you consider that AnimeGround and Anime-Direct are priced at US$10 per month, while yurikamome.info goes at 700 Yen per 10GB.

Overall:

• Background Rating: 4.5/5
• Content Rating: 4.5/5
• Updates Rating: 5/5
• Connectivity Rating: 4/5
• Speed Rating: 4.5/5
• Support Rating: 5/5
• Price Rating: 4/5
• Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Price, speed and content are the main criteria used when formulating the overall rating. I’ve found [Download] Anime to be a very solid pay-for-use anime FTP, with a large selection of content, excellent speeds, and most importantly, a reasonable price. While even this would normally entitle it a rating of only 4/5 given the lack of HTTP connectivity and licensed anime, I decided to give it an additional .5 for the various “extras” that have made my day, i.e. 5 connections (with reasonable 250KB/s speed cap) (the default is now 5 unmetered threads), excellent support, and high transparency level.

Edit: DA’s admin recently clarified that the default is now 5 unmetered connections.

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