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Hi all,

I've just recently come across an offsite / cloud backup solution called Gobbler. Basically, anyone can create a free account that comes with 25gb of storage space. The bundled application scans your local and removable drives for project files (Logic, Pro Tools, Studio One, etc.), lists them all and then asks which ones you want to backup. The assets are stored offsite (which the website assures is "military-grade" in terms of security) and you can send the assets over to another Gobbler user to keep the projects synced.

There's all these other features like SoundCloud integration and geographical drive tagging as well. The premise of the service seems perfect for what we all do.

Here's the official homepage for Gobbler

But I'm curious; I've hardly ever heard of this service before. No audio professionals I've spoken to have acknowledged it's existence and a quick search of this site doesn't seem to point to any references of it even though it's been in a public BETA phase for over 8 months now.

I just wanted to check whether anyone here had come into contact with the service (I was invited by a colleague myself) or if anyone had any thoughts or comments at all.

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8 Answers 8

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Hey SSD,

I'm Andrew, the community manager at Gobbler. I've appreciated the great convo going on here about our software & online backup.

In response to the TOS concerns: We borrowed the TOS from another generic backup service when we were in alpha (we couldn't afford lawyers to draft this up) & we are finally making changes to this. Check the conversation out here http://community.gobbler.com/gobbler/topics/question_about_your_terms_of_service

I am more then happy to answer any questions or concerns you have about Gobbler.

Thanks for giving us a try!

all the best

Andrew [email protected]

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Hey there... I tried it out a while ago... found a little bug (that's since been fixed) and haven't really had a chance to try it out since. I know that Marti Humphries of the Dub Stage in LA (Sam Raimi's current mixer) is a big believer in it...

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I haven't tried it out myself (my internet connection doesn't really make it viable..), but I know of several people who have tried it or are using it - both in music and post. I believe some of them are on here, so hopefully they will chime in.

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Recently, a friend of mine send me a link to download it. Unfortunetely, I haven't been able to use it yet.

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Before you start, you should have a look at the Terms of Service. For example:

  1. Your Content Ownership and License to Gobbler

a. You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, upload, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, uploading, posting or displaying the content you give Gobbler a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, translate, publish, store, and distribute any Content which you submit, upload, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Gobbler to store, send, and promote the Services.

b. You confirm and warrant to Gobbler that you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the above license.

... in my eyes this makes it unusable, at least for professionals...

Ben

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  • Ooh, that IS a little underhanded. The chances of them abusing this right are probably quite slim, but it still raises my suspicions on why they would include that in the T&C.
    – Will Tonna
    Commented Jul 8, 2011 at 16:15
  • Whoa, wait. WHAT?!?!
    – Steve Urban
    Commented Jul 8, 2011 at 17:05
  • I think that @AGZFX has explained and linked to the misunderstanding that these terms might have created.
    – Will Tonna
    Commented Jul 8, 2011 at 23:14
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I referred over 120 people to Gobbler and won their contest. The program works well and their support is great. Its a small company and they seem to really believe in and are excited by what they're doing.

On the subject of their TOS they've addressed this on their forum, http://community.gobbler.com/gobbler/topics/question_about_your_terms_of_service

Basically, their TOS came from a boilerplate they got online before they could afford a lawyer.

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    Thanks for clearing that up then... I was starting to get a little anxious on working with a solution that could potentially decided to make public any files I upload to their servers. I guess it's just another reminder NOT to skip over legal stuff.
    – Will Tonna
    Commented Jul 8, 2011 at 23:16
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I had some contact from them recently to get more coverage of their system on my blog, but on looking a bit closer into how they determine what files are being referenced by the PT session I found out they simply grab the audio files folder, rather than reading the PTF document (which they cant until they become a 3rd party developer with Avid, paying a fee etc). I regularly use over the limit of 64 tracks per drive and have to span across disks, with media in SFX drives, and audio drives so using Gobbler for a backup just isnt viable until they can read the PTF document and truly backup a PTF, rather than just the folder it resides in. Be aware!

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  • Is that right? I predominantly work with Logic at the moment and the few PTF project I have aren't near 64 tracks so I wouldn't have come across that. Are they planning on approaching Avid with that sort of concept?
    – Will Tonna
    Commented Jul 12, 2011 at 15:45
  • Yup - Mike Thornton over in the UK has picked up on this also and is pushing for them to become a true Avid 3rd party developer so they can read/parse the file locations from the PT session document properly rather than just a default folder location.
    – Brent_in_Sydney
    Commented Jul 18, 2011 at 21:57
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Gobbler is working really well for me. I am using it for version control between work and home, as well as for collaborating.

It's also great for finding Pro Tools sessions that I forgot to finish.

I like that it just grabs the audio folder rather than read the ptf, as that means that my notes as well as script are uploaded as well.

As a free service it is excellent, there are things that could be improved, such as being able to delete sent files from the list, or grouping sessions into folders within the Gobbler window, but these are minor.

A lot of free services have the strict terms of service. If I am working on something more sensitive then I always have access to a bespoke system.

I thoroughly recommend the service, and intend to keep on using it.

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