Filed under: Software
Anzan
Anzan is an interesting new application from Yellow Camp Software that sets out to bring the simplicity of iChat to the world of file transfers. Anzan, much like IM programs, requires that both machines have the program installed on it. Once that is done you have a buddy list which shows you who is online and ready for file transfers. Now, before you get your hopes up about transferring files across the continent, both computers running Anzan need to be on the same local network.That may limit the appeal of Anzan, but it has a few features which make it a killer app for anyone who has lots of Mac on a local network. You can push out the same file to multiple Macs, and even include a little note about the file. You can have a 'whitelist' of senders from whom Anzan will automatically accept transfers, and it is dead simple to use. If you can IM you can Anzan.
Since Anzan is useless on just one machine the price starts at $18.95 for two licenses and goes up from there.
[via Musings from the Software Underground.]
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Michael Rose said 11:39AM on 5-14-2007
Isn't there a way to do this with iChat, Bonjour and an AppleScript? I seem to recall that...
Reply
Kevin said 11:56AM on 5-14-2007
I'd install hamachi (hamachi.cc) to create a local area network over the internet and see if Anzan would work.
Reply
Ben said 12:03PM on 5-14-2007
You may want to give a look at DropCopy as well.
Reply
Alex said 1:19PM on 5-14-2007
I can't think of any reason someone would want to buy this. There's hundreds of solutions for transferring files between computers already, dozens of them free and simple.
Looks like a good interface, but reinventing the wheel and adding limitations isn't really a good idea :)
Reply
Mat Lu said 1:25PM on 5-14-2007
Yeah, I vote for DropCopy on this as well:
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/01/23/dropcopy-share-files-and-clipboards-across-your-network/
Reply
Gerald Buckley said 6:22PM on 5-14-2007
iChat! and you still get that yummy IM ability with no more app sprawl in your Apps folder. Refresh my memory here... does Adium do this yet?
Reply
James Young said 3:28PM on 5-14-2007
Both Pando http://pando.com/ and Boxcloud http://www.boxcloud.com/ are very similar, appear better, and are free
Reply
andrew harrison said 6:50PM on 5-14-2007
"Refresh my memory here... does Adium do this yet?"
depending on the protocol you're using, yes. GTalk doesn't support it, but I think most others do.
Reply
Stephan Cleaves said 7:57PM on 5-14-2007
Hi, I'm the author of Anzan. I'd like to thank Scott for the nice write up of the functionality Anzan provides. I'd also like to clarify the goal of Anzan. The app was designed to be an easy to use and efficient means for sending files between multiple Macs and particularly multiple people on the local network.
It is certainly possible to send files with iChat but you are limited to one at a time and only a single recipient at a time. With Anzan you can send multiple files and even folder hierarchies to multiple Macs at the same time. This is particularly beneficial for offices where email and jump drives tend to be the existing solution to file transfer.
Anzan also uses direct peer to peer communication so your transfers are as fast as copying files to a mounted filesystem. A product like Box Cloud (which is fairly limited for the free account and is a monthly charge for more capability) sends your files to a remote server on the internet and the user has to download it from there. Compared to Anzan it is very slow. True it does allow you to send files to people anywhere on the globe, but that was not a goal for Anzan in the 1.0 release.
Anzan also lets you send a message with the file to help the receiver understand what the file is for and records a history of your transfers to allow you to easily find transferred files. Anzan may not be the solution for you but I believe it provides a solution that did not previously exist that may be exactly what many users are looking for. I hope people will give it a try. And while it was directly mentioned in the article Scott links to there is a 20% coupon that is valid until May 21st: ANZAN100YC
Thanks for your time,
Stephan Cleaves
Reply
jpagani said 9:19PM on 5-14-2007
There is a need for as product like this for some of us. I've had recurring problems with file transfers over 500mb dropping out on ichat and given up using it. A web based solution is hopeless, especially for those of us in countries with bandwidth limits. I've found Drop Copy to be very very slow and intermittent. I've heard there are other solutions but they seem complicated. So there is a serious need for this.
Reply
Gerald Buckley said 5:15PM on 5-15-2007
@Stephen - Thanks for dropping back in and setting the record straight. That alone was what tipped the scale and had me clicking over to Yellow-Camp (no offense Scott).
Reply