Dropmark Brings Dead Simple Collaboration to the Cloud
By Kyle Mammarella
Dropbox showed us how simple sharing and storing files in the cloud can be. Now, Brooklyn-based design studio Oak has launched its own web app that makes sharing and collaboration even easier.
First introduced in private beta back in June 2011, Dropmark is a presentation and collaboration tool that allows you to create collections of files, links and text the way you want your audience to consume them. With its simple drag-and-drop file sharing, you can Dropmark anything: photos, videos, websites, music, documents, and notes. You can even invite friends or co-workers to collaborate and edit your Dropmarks in real-time.
In a sense, Dropmark combines the characteristics of two popular cloud-based services. Like Pinterest, Dropmark allows you to organize and share all of your favorite things you find on the web and also allows you to browse other people’s collections. In terms of music, it offers a way to discover new songs and artists. Similarly, Dropmark also offers the collaborative aspects of Spotify, allowing users to create, interact and share playlists instantly.
For the music aficionado, Dropmark offers a few key features that enhance streaming music in the cloud. First, it recognizes various sources and file types for easy playback, including YouTube, Vimeo, and SoundCloud. All three currently let you create playlists, (in SoundCloud’s case they are called ‘sets’), but with Dropmark, you can mix the three together to create one seamless playlist – hit play on one item and then the rest will be played one after another without having to do anything else, regardless of their formats.
The easiest way to create playlists is to install a browser extension that’ll bring up a sidebar you can use to quickly add files to any collection. Currently, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari are supported, though you can add a bookmark to other browsers as well. Simply drag in video links right from YouTube or Vimeo and/or song files from SoundCloud. You can also upload your own videos and songs by dragging them directly from your desktop. You can make it public or share with individuals and can quickly add as many collaborators as you want without making them sign up.
You can also create podcasts in iTunes by uploading your audio files. To share, copy the URL of your collection and paste it in iTunes under Advanced > Subscribe to Podcast. If you wanted to make your podcast private, you can adjust the settings so that iTunes prompts you for an e-mail address and password to subscribe to the collection.
Signing up for Dropmark is simple. They currently offer two account types, Basic and Pro. Basic accounts are free, offer 250MB of storage and allow for unlimited items. A Pro account costs $4 a month for 25GB of storage. Its easy registration is also convenient for when you want to invite others to collaborate on a collection and is not necessary for when you want to give others view-only access by sharing the collection link.
In terms of music consumption, Dropmark is the hands-down winner against Dropbox. Dropbox may make file-sharing and downloading slightly easier, but Dropmark comes out on top with its ease in collaborating and sharing playlists, as well as its streamlined playback of content from numerous sources. Moreover, Dropbox may raise issues of piracy, as it could potentially facilitate illegal file-sharing; as far I can tell, Dropmark’s music content is still tethered to its sources (Vimeo, YouTube and SoundCloud), which at least guarantee a higher degree of copyright compliance. That’s not to say that Dropmark is without its faults. While it was very easy to add content to the Dropbox Sidebar, editing those playlists and switching between collections was not as simple. Also, there do appear to be some content limitations from material on SoundCloud, most likely the result of licensing restrictions. Still, Dropmark is a fun and simple way to create and share playlists and, given the low price point, a real gem.
Kyle Mammarella is a New York based artist manager and music enthusiast.
