Rapidshare just announced that it will shut down at the end of March and is recommending that users store their files elsewhere.
One of the earliest file-sharing sites, the Swiss-based RapidShare was Founded in 2002, a very popular one-click file-hosting services on the Internet.
“Kindly note that RapidShare will stop the active service on March 31st, 2015. Extensions of STANDARD PLUS and PREMIUM will be possible until February 28th, 2015, We strongly recommend all customers to secure their data. After March 31st, 2015 all accounts will no longer be accessible and will be deleted automatically.”
RapidShare, has announced that it will shut down next month. There was no reason given but it is suspected that the loss of the majority of its users after the implementation of the draconian anti-piracy measures is likely for this shutdown.
RapidShare had many complicated legal battles with entertainment companies that wanted to hold the Rapidshare liable for the actions of its users, further complicating this was the U.S. Government labeling Rapidshare as a “notorious market.”.
Rapidshare made tremendous efforts to cooperate with copyright holders and limit copyright infringements. They even adopted one of the most restrictive sharing policies while (re)branding itself as a personal cloud storage service.
The anti-piracy measures seemed appeased the legal bombardment levied against them, but RapidShare’s visitor numbers plunged and consequently those lower visitor numbers meant dwindling advertising revenues which eventually cost most of RapidShare’s employees their jobs.
Five years ago Rapidshare was one of the 50 most-visited sites on the Internet, with millions of page-views per month, and in a just a few weeks it will be a distant memory like the Napsters of the ever changing Internet terrain.
Piracy will be present one way or the other as long as people sell overpriced products. I`m just looking at singers / movies / big software companies .. that have their stuff pirated like hell and still manage to make huge profits …this only shows how much overpriced their products are. Even if this site goes down , there will always be an alternative.