Remote Collaborate With Gobbler

Cloud based backup services for musicians have come and gone over the past few years. So how is Gobbler different from the rest? GW Childs keeps his feet on the ground and head in the clouds.  

Do you ever ask yourself the question, “Is there any service left on the internet that hasn't been thought of?” 

Seriously, what hasn't been tapped? You can shop from home, buy groceries from the internet, order... ahem, other services from the internet, meet people from home... Where does it end?

Musician based services have also been, at least in my opinion, pushed to the very brim. You can share your music, sell your music, sell merchandize, share videos, play shows on the internet. Hey, you can even sell your sweaty t-shirt that you played in on the night before for hungry fans! Ewwww...

One service that's never really been perfected, or helpful for musicians has been the sharing of project files to collaborators living in other parts of the world. I'm not really saying this hasn't been tried, but it's just never been very elegant, or user friendly. 


Why Hasn't This Ever Worked Before?

A possible reason that no service has never really been fully accepted in the past is more of the fault of the music software developers, rather than the services that have tried to act as a collaboration medium. Every music developer has a different way of organizing how songs, audio, project files, etc are all backed up. Cubase is different from Logic, Ableton is different from Reason. 

Some are better, some are worse... But, how each project file is organized plays an intrinsic role in how you will ship this file to someone else. Seriously, miss one file, and you get an angry email, phone call, etc. Then... You get to go back and figure out what file is missing for the song to play... And, this is just one example for why it has been hard for music collaboration services to thrive. 


Meet Gobbler!

Someone's finally figured it out! I still remember the morning that I got my invitation email from Gobbler. The usual claims that other services for music collaboration services had made in the past, right there in another spam email. I almost deleted it, but a colleague of mine emailed me and and said... “Dude, you have to do this...!”

Later that day, I got another urge to sign up... Again!


What does it do?

Check this out.. Gobbler goes through your hard drive and identifies all of your different music project files. It even labels them by software type with the appropriate logo, look!

Gobbler labels music files


Then it gives you the option to back up the project file (Oh, I love you already). Mind you, this is a backup that understands music software.

The backup function is huge already, especially if you're on the road a lot, because if something happens to your music, it's backed up on Gobbler. And, all pertinent files will still be there, organized in the manner in which they'll be needed to work with your DAW software.

What's also cool is that you can share any project on Gobbler with others that use Gobbler, or even those that don't use Gobbler. Simply right-click on the chosen music file, select 'Send Project', and Gobbler will generate an email-like form that you fill out with the person's email address. Gobbler will upload the file for you to the Gobbler servers (you currently get 25GB free, depending on when and how you signed up). 

Gobbler 2


How Much Does it Cost?

Currently Gobbler is in Beta, this means it doesn't cost a dime. Once it's out of Beta, of course, there's always a price tag. For the meantime 25 GB online for free is nothing to scoff at, especially when it's being handled by software that understands your music software.

Gobbler 3


Yes, Gobbler does have proprietary software that must be downloaded to be used, you do need to sign up, etc. But trust me when I tell you this: It's easy, cool, and anyone that you collaborate with in other parts of the world will love you for it.

PS: You can manage your Soundcloud stream on Gobbler too!


Editor's Note

Andrew Reinfeld, Community Manager at Gobbler.com, contacted me to let me know about some changes to the service since GW Childs wrote the original review. Here's what he has to say:

The first and most exciting news is that we're giving away a FREE 1-year 25GB Gobbler account to anyone who signs up before December 7th.  Our beta community has provided invaluable feedback, ideas, & bug fixes that have made Gobbler better and this is our way of saying thanks. As an added bonus, we're going to be giving prizes to the top referrers, including $1000 cash to the person with the most referrals from now through December 7th. 

Here are links for more detailed info:

Thank You For Being Amazing Beta Users: A Letter From CEO Chris Kantrowitz


Sound Designer, Musician, Author... G.W. Childs has worn many hats. Beginning in the U.S. Army back in 1991, at the age of 18, G.W. began learning electronics, communications and then ultimately audio and video editing from the Department of Defense. Upon leaving the military G.W. went on to work for many exciting companies like Lu... Read More

Discussion

Gary Hiebner
Excellent. Can't wait to test it out and see what progresses there is with this project. Very interesting idea.

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