Hi all,
I was just wondering ... I've got a reseller account, and some of my friends have expressed interest in having me do some hosting for them. The problem I'm facing is one of statistics, which I hope you all can help me sort out.

So:
Do any of you have statistical data (or can point me in the direction), concerning static pages, hit counts, diskspace consumed, bandwidth consumed (on a monthly basis)?

For example, I'm trying to determine what a buddies' site might need in terms of disk space and bandwidth. He's got static pages (couple of dynamic), and has mp3's and what not he wants to serve up. I'm trying to determine a good set of packages to offer to my friends, but am stumbling on all the variables.

Thanks much for your responses.

Serving mp3s? Bad idea. Its probably not allowed in your provider's TOS and/or AUP.

Most people don't approach the bandwidth limits that their plans allow. You can always setup bandwidth as a factor of the diskspace, ie, 1gig/10gig, etc. and then charge them for overage.

I would seriously reconsider the mp3 thing, unless of course, the own the rights.

Serving mp3s? Bad idea. Its probably not allowed in your provider's TOS and/or AUP.


You say the word MP3, and everyone automatically thinks that it's copywrited music. There's absolutely nothing wrong with sharing MP3s of your own music that you own the rights to...which could very well be the case here.

Originally posted by Reality Hosting
You say the word MP3, and everyone automatically thinks that it's copywrited music. There's absolutely nothing wrong with sharing MP3s of your own music that you own the rights to...which could very well be the case here.

Adding to your post:

There is also nothing wrong with sharing copyrighted music as well if all the files are correctly presented in legal terms (no longer than 30 seconds per sample MP3 file).

In case he is selling CDs.

Originally posted by Artashes
There is also nothing wrong with sharing copyrighted music as well if all the files are correctly presented in legal terms (no longer than 30 seconds per sample MP3 file). In case he is selling CDs.


Those 30 second samples also require a license in the US even if you are selling CDs. Some of the licensing agencies might offer the license for free if you are selling the cd's but others require a payment with no exceptions.

The free 30 second sample is available to news agencies and schools.

IT's going to depend upon how popular the site is. Try loading the pages and assign some variable to the percentage of users downloading the MP3. Take this total and multiply it out. Given the uniqueness to this type of content, it's highly unlikely there would be some form of stats online or calculator that will directly answer your question.

They are indeed my buddies music, thus, he has full rights to them. I'm well aware of the rules / regulations of serving copyrighted materials, but thanks all for your concern, I appreciate it :)

Regarding FYH's post about online calculators and stats online -- is there such an animal for static and /or dynamic pages?

I can handle the simple math, what I suppose I'm most interested in is what you all have seen in your experiences (i.e. static site with x many pages and x many hits takes up y much diskspace, and z much bandwidth on average) over a range of site content.

If you all could provide me with that I would be greatly appreciative.

Thanks much :)

oh, I forgot ... we were wondering about whether it would be wiser to have folks download a sample of each song, and then if they like it the entire thing, or just download the entire thing straight off?

I think the former is a better idea personally, since if they don't like it, they can skip to the next, etc etc. If you agree with me on this -- what sample length to you think would be a decent figure (accounting for bandwidth and all) -- assume for these purposes that a 1 minute sample is a 2 MB .ogg or .mp3

Thanks again for all your responses